Courtroom View
The room, one moment at a time
The same case as the Chronological View, drawn as the room it happened in. Move the line along the bar, or step with Previous and Next, and the room changes with the moment: who was in it, who was only on a screen, and which parts of it stood empty.
- In the room
- By video
- In the case, not recorded in the room
- ?About this part of the room
In the room
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The judge, before trial
Bruce D. White
Ruled on the pre-trial motions before the case passed to Azcarate. The sources used here do not date the handover, so he is seated up to the first ruling the chronology gives to her.
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The trial judge
Azcarate, C.J.
Penney Azcarate. Overruled the plea in bar on August 17, 2021, allowed the cameras, and presided over the six weeks of trial.
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The plaintiff
Depp
Sued on March 1, 2019, over three sentences in an op-ed that never named him, asking $50 million. He attended jury selection, moved in and out by court staff through special entrances.
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On the stand
Depp
Called by his own lawyer Jessica Meyers on the afternoon of April 19, 2022. Direct that day, cross-examination from the 20th, finished on the 25th.
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The plaintiff
Depp
Not in the room. He was in the United Kingdom, where he had been playing concerts, and stayed there for the verdict because of commitments made before the trial.
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Counsel for Depp
Adam Waldman
Three statements this lawyer gave a newspaper are what Heard counterclaimed over. The admission to appear in Virginia was revoked in October 2020. The statements stayed in the case and the lawyer did not.
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Counsel for Depp
Camille Vasquez
Spoke for Depp in court on April 19, cross-examined Heard in May, and gave his closing argument.
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Counsel for Depp
Benjamin Chew
Opened for Depp on April 12, 2022, telling the jury the op-ed was plainly about him. On April 19 called the witness who came before Depp.
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Counsel for Depp
Jessica Meyers
Called Depp to the stand and took him through his testimony.
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The defendant, and counterclaimant
Heard
Wrote the op-ed, and in August 2020 counterclaimed for $100 million. She attended jury selection, and she was in the room for the verdict, described as stoic while it was read.
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On the stand
Heard
Called by Elaine Bredehoft on the afternoon of May 4, 2022. Four days: May 4 and 5, then May 16 and 17. Recalled on May 26 as the last witness either side called.
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Counsel for Heard
Ben Rottenborn
Opened for Heard, put some 760 questions to Depp in cross-examination on April 21, and gave her closing argument.
Reuters, Apr 12, 2022; Pool TV feed, Apr 19, 2022; Wikipedia, “Depp v. Heard”
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Counsel for Heard
Elaine Bredehoft
Examined witnesses on April 19 and called Heard to the stand on May 4, 2022.
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On the stand
Christi Dembrowski
Depp’s sister, and the first witness called, on April 12, 2022.
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On the stand, earlier that day
Sean Bett
Depp’s head of security. He was already under cross-examination when court opened on April 19. The judge had to ask whether he was in the room or waiting outside.
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On the stand, earlier that day
Keenan Wyatt
Called for Depp by Benjamin Chew on April 19, the last witness before Depp himself.
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On the stand, earlier that day
Dr. Dawn Hughes
Heard’s expert witness. The cross-examination finished on May 4, 2022, and Heard was called straight after.
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The jury
Seven jurors
Chosen in a day, on April 11, 2022. Seven is the usual size for a civil jury in Virginia. Five men and two women returned the verdict on June 1: for Depp on all three of his statements, for Heard on one of her three. No split among them is on record.
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The jury
Four alternates
Chosen with the seven. An alternate hears the whole trial and takes a juror’s place if one cannot go on.
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The public gallery
Closed for the day
The courtroom was closed to the public while the jury was chosen. People had lined up for wristbands from before seven in the morning, and those who got one watched by closed circuit from an overflow courtroom.
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The public gallery
The public and the press
Seats in the room went to those who had lined up for a wristband. Later that week a friend of Heard’s, a journalist who had been sitting at the front, was reported to have been removed for texting and posting from the room, and barred for the rest of the trial.
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The public gallery
The public and the press
Seats in the room went to those who had lined up for a wristband, and some fans camped outside to get one. On the day of the verdict a crowd gathered outside the courthouse as well.
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The public gallery
Not in use
Nothing was heard in this courtroom on this date. During the trial people lined up from early morning for a place on these benches.
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The public gallery
Not recorded
The sources used here do not say who watched.
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The witness stand
Empty: no witnesses yet
This day was jury selection. The first witness was called the next day.
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The witness stand
Empty: the evidence is closed
The last witness had been heard on May 26. This day was the judge’s instructions and the lawyers’ closing arguments.
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The witness stand
Empty
Nobody testifies on the day of a verdict. The room is there to hear the jury.
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The witness stand
Not in use
Where a witness sits to testify under oath. Witnesses wait outside the room until they are called, so that none of them hears another’s evidence first.
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The jury box
Empty: no jury yet
A jury is chosen at the start of a trial and this case took three years to reach one. The seven jurors and four alternates were picked on April 11, 2022.
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The jury box
Empty: the jury has gone
The jurors were discharged after the verdict on June 1, 2022. A month later Heard questioned the identity of one of them, and the court rejected that objection on July 13.
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The bench
Empty: no case yet
Where the judge sits, raised above the rest of the room. On this date the case had not reached a court.
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The witness stand
Empty: no case yet
Where a witness sits to testify under oath, beside the judge and facing the lawyers. On this date the case had not reached a court.
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The jury box
Empty: no case yet
Where the jurors sit, along the wall nearest the side that has to prove its case. On this date the case had not reached a court.
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The plaintiff’s table
Empty: no case yet
Where the side that brings the case sits with its lawyers. It is always drawn on the left here. On this date the case had not reached a court.
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The defendant’s table
Empty: no case yet
Where the side that answers the case sits with its lawyers. On this date the case had not reached a court.
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The public gallery
Empty: no case yet
Benches behind the bar for the public and the press. Courts sit in the open, so anyone may take a seat. On this date the case had not reached a court.
Days in court
- Apr 11, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. Jury selection. The courtroom was closed to the public for the day. AP, Apr 11, 2022
- Apr 12, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. Opening statements, then the first witness. The trial was broadcast from a pool camera in the room. Reuters, Apr 12, 2022
- Apr 19–25, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. His evidence, over four days. Pool TV feed, Apr 19, 2022
- May 4–17, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. Her evidence, over four days. Pool TV feed, May 4, 2022
- May 27, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. The judge’s instructions and the closing arguments. Wikipedia, “Depp v. Heard”
- Jun 1, 2022 Fairfax County Circuit Court, before Judge Azcarate. The verdict is read. Fox 5 New York, Jun 1, 2022
- London This happened in the High Court in London, in a different case: his libel claim against a newspaper. Heard testified there as the newspaper’s witness. She was not a party.
- London This happened in the Court of Appeal in London, in his libel claim against a newspaper.
- Nov 10, 2020 A deposition, taken in Reston, Virginia, and not in court. Lawyers for both sides attend, and there is no judge and no public.
- Jan 12, 2022 A deposition, taken in Irvine, California, and not in court. Lawyers for both sides attend, and there is no judge and no public.
Notes
How this was made, and what it leaves out
Source
Built from the Fairfax County Circuit Court record: the complaint and counterclaim, the court’s published letter opinions, the pre‑trial orders and the verdict form.
Two depositions are quoted: hers from the 2016 California divorce, a copy stamped as a filed exhibit, and his from Fairfax in November 2020. Both are cited by page and line.
Trial testimony comes from pool‑feed transcripts, which warn on every front page that they are professionally transcribed but not official; they are cited by date for that reason. What they record was still broadcast from open court — the one part of this record with no provenance problem.
What is sealed
Some exhibits were admitted under seal, and some were unsealed only after trial, in batches. Which is which needs establishing before anything here relies on it.
Neither deposition was unsealed by order, and his is marked confidential pursuant to protective order — much of it was later played in open court, but the copy does not say which parts. They reached the public by being bought from the court clerk, much of that crowdfunded by one side’s supporters: a weaker chain than the docket archive the other cases here are built from, and worth knowing before trusting any of it.
Names
Both parties are public figures who litigated in public and testified under their own names, so no pseudonyms are needed. The testimony includes detailed accounts of violence on both sides; this page will cite and summarize them rather than reproduce them.
What this is not
Not legal advice, not a finding, and not a verdict. A jury verdict is what a jury found on the questions put to it, which is narrower than what this case is popularly taken to have settled. Where the record does not reach, this page says so and stops.
Tell me what I got wrong
If something here is missed, misrepresented or unfairly portrayed, let me know. Point me at a filing or record and I will verify it on my end. I actively look to correct, improve and remain unbiased.
No account, no name, no email. The submission stores what you typed, your address and your browser string, to make abuse traceable and for nothing else.
Record reviewed through September 28, 2026. The case ended on December 19, 2022, and nothing has been filed in it since, so this page is complete as to the docket — which is not the same as complete.
Terms
Plain English
Words this page uses because the court uses them. Nothing here is special to this case.
The paperwork
- Docket
- The court’s numbered list of everything filed in a case. Entry 42 is the forty-second thing filed.
- ECF No.
- How a filing is cited: its docket number. A number after a dash, like 42-4, is an attachment to it — usually an exhibit.
- Complaint
- The document that starts a lawsuit and sets out what the plaintiff says happened. An amended complaint replaces it.
- Answer
- The defendant’s formal response to the complaint, admitting or denying each allegation.
- Declaration
- A written statement signed under penalty of perjury. It counts as evidence without the witness appearing in person.
- Exhibit
- A document, screenshot or record attached to a filing as proof of something asserted in it.
- Transcript
- The word-for-word record of a hearing or a deposition. Cited by page and line, so 55:7 means page 55, line 7.
- Errata
- A formal correction a witness files to their own sworn testimony after reading it back.
- Under seal
- Filed with the court but kept off the public record. Both sides and the judge can read it; nobody else can.
How a case moves
- Motion
- A formal request that the court do something. The other side files an opposition; the moving side may then file a reply.
- Discovery
- The stage where each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other. It has a deadline, and missing it matters.
- Deposition
- Sworn question-and-answer, out of court, recorded by a court reporter. Lawyers for both sides attend; there is no judge.
- Subpoena
- A court order compelling someone who is not a party to hand over documents or give testimony.
- Evidentiary hearing
- A hearing where witnesses actually testify and are cross-examined, rather than lawyers simply arguing.
- Protective order
- An order limiting what either side may do with the material it receives in discovery.
- Magistrate judge
- A judge who handles pre-trial matters. On some questions they recommend, and the district judge decides.
- Paperless order
- A short ruling typed straight onto the docket. It has no document behind it, which is why some entries here do not link.
The motions that can end things
- Motion to dismiss
- Argues the case cannot proceed even if everything alleged is true — usually because the court lacks power to hear it.
- Summary judgment
- Argues the facts are not genuinely in dispute, so the judge can decide without a trial. If facts are disputed, it fails.
- Motion in limine
- Filed before trial to decide what a jury will and will not be allowed to hear.
- Spoliation
- Destroying or losing evidence you were obliged to keep. The duty starts once you know a lawsuit is coming.
- Sanctions
- A penalty for misconduct in the litigation itself. They can run from a fine to losing the case outright.
- Adverse inference
- A sanction where the jury is told it may assume the destroyed evidence would have hurt the side that destroyed it.
- Rule 11
- The rule requiring that filings have a factual basis. A Rule 11 motion says the other side asserted something it could not support.
Tests the court applies
- Jurisdiction
- Whether this court has the power to hear this case at all. A federal court needs a federal claim, which is why one date decides so much here.
- Burden
- Which side has to prove a thing. If they do not, they lose that point, even if the other side proves nothing either.
- Retroactive
- Whether a law reaches conduct from before it existed. Usually it does not, unless Congress clearly said so.
- Hearsay
- Repeating what someone said outside court to prove it was true. Generally not allowed, with many exceptions.
- Authentication
- Showing a document or screenshot is genuinely what its proponent says it is. The bar is low, but it is not nothing.
- Probative
- Actually tending to prove something. Evidence can be admissible and still carry very little weight.