Amber is embarrassing herself by trying to make it sound like shes had her free speech taken away. Legal experts completely disagree:
Amber Heard on Wednesday lamented that she lost the right to "speak freely and openly" after a Virginia jury found her liable for defamation in her ex-husband Johnny Depp's case against her.
But legal experts told Insider that the six-week, sensationalized trial was never truly about freedom of speech and posited that the verdict is unlikely to have future implications for First Amendment law.
"This isn't really a free speech issue, this is really a credibility issue," said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. "The jurors found that she lied, and she knew she was lying."
While the First Amendment enshrines Americans' right to freedom of speech, the doctrine does not protect against defamatory speech false statements that are presented as fact and do subsequent harm.
"This is not about the First Amendment," Mitra Ahouraian, a Beverly Hills entertainment attorney, told Insider.
"You cannot lie and say statements that harm people. That is not protected speech," she added.
Depp's legal team worked hard to poke holes in Heard's story during cross-examination, highlighting inconsistencies in her testimony and casting doubt on her reliability in a trial tactic that proved successful.
For instance, Heard claimed to not play any role in abuse, but was contradicted by a recording played in court that showed Heard saying she "hit" Depp, according to Ahouraian. Heard testified she acted in self-defense.
Heard also said in 2018 she had donated the $7 million from her divorce settlement to charity, but testimony from the trial revealed she hadn't actually donated the money. She said she hadn't yet donated it because Depp sued her for $50 million, but that she still planned to.
Several experts also told Insider that Heard's graphic descriptions of violence committed against her by Depp did not match up with the photos of her injuries presented in court.