In court documents dated July 8 in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia, which supplemented an earlier filing, Heard’s attorneys claimed that the information on the jury list sent to the attorney before trial did not match the demographics of a juror.
Juror 15 appears to have been born in 1970, but the summons to be a juror was for someone with the same last name born in 1945, according to court documents.
The memo stated that “Jury 15 was not the person who was called to serve on the jury on April 11, 2022, and therefore was not part of the jury and could not have served properly on the jury at this trial.” “Therefore, the trial must be declared invalid and a new trial ordered.”
The documents indicate that Juror 15 and the individual who was originally called to serve on the jury both lived at the same address.
“As the Court undoubtedly agrees, it is very troublesome for an individual who has not been called to serve on jury nonetheless to appear on jury duty and to serve on jury, especially in such a case,” the suit continues.
It is unclear whether the court was aware of the alleged error prior to trial.
CNN has reached out to the court and Depp’s attorney for comment. Depp’s lawyer has 30 days to respond to Heard’s proposal.
The court filing argues that Heard’s due process was jeopardized if the individual was not the same as the listed person, or if the writer did not verify his identity.
Heard and Depp were both found liable for defamation in lawsuits against each other last month, but the jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp and just $2 million to Heard.
In a filing last week, Heard’s lawyers previously raised the potential case for a juror and claimed that the damages awarded to Depp were excessive and unsubstantiated at trial. They also accused Depp of relying on “timed and judicially privileged statements as a basis to discredit him through allegations of insinuation.”
