Press: The jury and I both got it wrong on Amber Heard

Last week in Washington, we saw something even more unusual than a total solar eclipse (which happens only every 360-410 years in a given location): a member of the president’s Cabinet publicly admitting she goofed. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that she was “wrong” in thinking inflation would be only “transitory.” 

Well, today, at the risk of further shocking already shaken Washingtonians, I want to add another rarely seen phenomenon to your list: a political columnist, namely me, publicly confessing he was wrong. Yes, I got it “wrong” about Amber Heard. But so did the jury. 

The jury got it wrong by getting so wrapped in the glamor of Hollywood that it ignored the preponderance of evidence and crowned the apparent perpetrator of domestic abuse as the actual victim. And I got it wrong in ignoring the importance of the case, wrong in getting angry at the media for paying more attention to the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard case than the latest round of mass shootings, and wrong in dismissing the whole matter as much ado about nothing. 

Here it is. Let me say it again: I was wrong. The issues raised by the Amber Heard case were extremely important, and its outcome’s very dangerous for all current and future victims of domestic abuse. 

Let’s review again what happened. Depp and Heard met and began their relationship in 2009 while filming “The Rum Diary.” It was, apparently, a turbulent relationship from the beginning. One friend described it as “mutual abuse.” Their marriage in 2015 lasted only a year, during which time charges of physical violence continued to fly back and forth, Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp, and her photo with a bruised face and bloody lip appeared on the cover of People magazine. They divorced in 2016. 

Two years later, Amber Heard penned an op-ed for The Washington Post about violence against women in which, without mentioning her former husband by name, she identified herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Whereupon, Depp sued her for defamation, seeking $50 million in damages. She countersued him for $100 million. The comedy played out in a Fairfax, Va., courtroom with tragic results when the jury sided with Depp, awarding him $10 million while tossing Heard a $2 million consolation prize. 

On its surface, that decision is an outrage. It validates the Donald Trump approach to charges of sexual misconduct. When a powerful man is accused of sexual abuse, don’t admit it and don’t apologize. Instead, attack! Accuse the women of lying and sue them for libel. Since the 1970s, Trump’s been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by at least 25 women. He not only denied it, he threatened to sue them all. Now, seeing Depp’s success, Trump probably wishes he had. 

No doubt, the Depp verdict will also have a chilling effect on the #MeToo movement. For far too long, victims of sexual abuse were afraid to complain, for fear of being targeted as promiscuous. But, after watching confirmed or accused sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly lose their jobs, more and more victims found the courage to speak out. Now the tables are turned. The troubling message to women from the Depp jury is: Even with lots of evidence, if you dare accuse someone of sexual assault, you will not only not be believed — you may have to pay millions in damages. 

It was an ugly trial with an even uglier result. Johnny Depp won. All American women lost. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”   

This column has been updated from an earlier version at 11:14 AM on Wednesday, June. 8.