Amber Heard mistrial claims explained as actress and team allege that Juror 15 was a fake juror

On Friday, June 8, Amber Heard's legal team sought a motion to label the defamation lawsuit by Johnny Depp as a mistrial over claims of a fake juror. They allege that a wrong individual appeared in place of Juror 15, who was summoned during the trial.

According to legal documents obtained by Deadline, Heard's attorney Elaine Bredehoft and her associates on the actress' legal team claimed that the wrong person showed up in court as Juror No. 15. The statement read:

"As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this…This was a high-profile case, where the fact and date of the jury trial were highly publicized prior to and after the issuance of the juror summonses."

They previously raised the same concerns in a filing made on July 1, where the legal team filed a motion to dismiss the verdict or to issue a retrial. They also demanded an investigation by the courthouse into Juror 15 and the discrepancies.

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What did Amber Heard's legal team argue about Juror 15's discrepancy?

The redacted filing obtained by multiple publications states that a jury duty summons was sent to the juror in question in April 2022. As per the filing, the summons went to an address where two individuals of the same last name resided. The summons was meant for a 77-year-old individual (born in 1945). However, the person who showed up at the courthouse for jury duty was a 52-year-old. Juror 15's identity has not been revealed to the media in either of the filings made over this issue.

In the redacted filing, Amber Heard's legal team mentioned:

"Thus, the 52-year-old- (redacted) sitting on the jury for six weeks was never summoned for jury duty on April 11 and did not 'appear in the list,' as required."

Heard's attorney Elaine Bredehoft added:

"In this case, it appears that Juror No. 15 was not, in fact, the same individual as listed on the jury panel… Ms. Heard's due process was therefore compromised. Under these circumstances, a mistrial should be declared, and a new trial ordered."

The Aquaman star's attorneys also claimed in the filing that the juror in question was not adequately vetted. This discrepancy raises questions about how a 52-year-old individual would make it past the verification process by the court officers. The filing also insinuated that someone claimed that Juror 15 was 77 in an online form as well. As of now, the only source of information in regards to the discrepancy in the vetting process is the filing of Amber Heard's legal team.

The Virginia-based Fairfax County courthouse has yet to release the investigation's findings regarding this discrepancy to the public. Attorney turned YouTube legal analyst Lee Wallace reacted to the memorandum filed by Amber Heard's legal team and said:

"In this particular case, I would be willing to bet that Amber Heard had done some jury focus groups or some work around what age person would be best for her case. And probably Amber was told or assumed that older jurors were going to be better for her case…that maybe older jurors would be more likely to think, 'You know, women are victims of DV (Domestic Violence, men really can't be. So she might have been thinking to herself that, 'An older juror will buy my side of the story more easily than Johnny's.'"

As of now, it remains to be seen whether these allegations impact the previously made verdict of the case, which favored Johnny Depp. In the trial, the actor won $8.35 million from Amber Heard.