Unsealed documents

**Unsealed documents** refer to the 6642 pages of court documents from the US trial that were unsealed after the trial and paid by Depp supporters to make them public.

## Background

Andrea Burkhart, a pro-Depp lawyer in Washington state who had garnered YouTube subscribers from content primarily devoted to covering the US trial, raised the funds by asking her Twitter followers to pitch in so she could purchase the documents. She informed her followers that a copy could be purchased for a total of $3321. Less than an hour later, Burkhart tweeted that the fundraising goal had been surpassed. In subsequent tweets, Burkhart announced that she received $7,000 extra money and donated them to Children's Hospital Los Angeles and The Art of Elysium.

## Content

Part 1:

* (Clerk's) CL-2019-2911 Unsealed Documents - Page Count (pdf)
* 1 - 9.3.21 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 2 - 9.3.21 - Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 3 - 7.7.21 - Reply Memorandum (pdf)
* 4 - 9.24.21 - Motion to Compel Rule 4.10 exam (pdf)
* 5 - 7.7.21 - Second Notification (pdf)
* 6 - 9.24.21 - Opposition to Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 7 - 9.24.21 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 8 - 8.8.21 - Defendant's Exhibit to Plea in Bar (pdf)
* 8x - 8.8.21 - Defendant's Exhibit to Plea in Bar (pdf)
* 9 - 10.1.21 - Opposition to Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 12 - 12.22.21 - Motion to Compel (pdf)

Part 2:

* 13 - 12.22.21 - Memo in Support of Omnibus Motion (pdf)
* 14 - 1.4.22 - Opposition (pdf)
* 15 - 1.6.22 - Emergency Motion (pdf)
* 16 - 12.22.21 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 16x - 12.22.21 - Motion to Compel Production (pdf)
* 17 - 1.28.22 - Memorandum in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 18 - 12.22.21 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel Production (pdf)
* 19 - 1.20.22 - Opposition to Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 20 - 2.25.22 - Opposition to Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 21 - 2.25.22 - Exhibit 1 to Memorandum (pdf)
* 22 - 2.18.22 - Motion to Compel Compliance (pdf)
* 22x - 2.18.22 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)

Part 3:

* 23 - 2.25.22 - Memo in Support of Motion to Compel (pdf)
* 24 - 3.11.22 - Motion for Sanctions Praecipe (pdf)
* 25 - 3.11.22 - Opposition to Motion for Sanctions (pdf)
* 26 - 3.11.22 - Motion for Sanctions (pdf)
* 26x - 3.11.22 - Memorandum in Support of Motion for Sanctions (pdf)
* 27 - 3.11.22 - Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment (pdf)
* 28 - 3.22.22 - Defendant's Motion in Limine (pdf)
* 29 - 3.22.22 - Defendant's Memo in Support of Motions in Limine (pdf)
* 30 - 3.14.22 - Plaintiffs List of Exhibits (pdf)
* 31 - 3.22.22 - Plaintiff's Motions in Limine (pdf)
* 32 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiff's Designation of Opposing Expert Witnesses (pdf)
* 33 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiffs Opposition to Motions in Limine (pdf)

Part 4:

* 34 - 3.28.22 Plaintiffs Designations and Identification (pdf)
* 35 - 3.28.22 - Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiffs Motions in Limine (pdf)
* 36 - 4.1.22 - Motion for Reconsideration (pdf)
* 37 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiffs Objections (pdf)
* 38 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiffs Corrected Designations (pdf)
* 39 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiffs Supplemental Designations (pdf)
* 40 - 3.28.22 - Plaintiff's Objections (pdf)
* 41 - 5.16.22 - Memorandum in Support (pdf)
* 42 - 5.16.22 - Motion to Seal Records (pdf)
* 43 - 5.25.22 - Opposition to Motion to Exclude (pdf)
* 44 - 7.7.22 - Bench Memorandum (pdf)

Part 5:

* 45 - 7.7.22 - Motion to Exclude (pdf)
* 45x - 7.7.22 - Memorandum in Support of Motion to Exclude (pdf)
* extra1 - 7.15.22 - suspending bond order\_Redacted (pdf)
* extra2 - 7.22.22 - Notice of Appeal (pdf)
* extra3 - 7.22.22 - Bond for Costs (pdf)

## Revelations

The most important revelations in the documents are:

* Johnny Depp was revealed to “inappropriately” seek to include nude photos of Amber Heard as evidence, along with information on her “brief stint as an exotic dancer years before she met Depp.”
* Johnny Depp 'Refused' Amber Heard's Request to Wear Mask During Deposition
* Depp’s team shielded him from undergoing a psychiatric evaluation on grounds that he “does not allege a specific cause of action for intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress; does not assert that Ms. Heard’s actions caused him a specific psychiatric injury; and does not claim that Ms. Heard’s actions caused him to experience unusually severe emotional distress.” That stands at odds with the narrative Depp presented at trial, in which Heard factored as a serial abuser in both a physical and emotional sense.
* Depp’s team objected to a request from Heard’s team that the actor “please describe in detail each and every incident” in which he said Heard physically or emotionally abused him, including “dates, times, and location as well as a description of the communications and actions leading up to, through, and following such alleged violence or abuse.” Heard supplied that level of detail in her courtroom testimony, but in the documents, Depp declined to comply.
* Depp fought to keep his texts with his friend Marilyn Manson out of court. Manson, who is currently married to Lindsay Usich, texted Depp in 2016 about an “Amber 2.0” situation. “Lindsay just puled [*sic*] an amber on me…please delete,” he wrote. Depp texted back, “I been reading A LOT of material on that and sociopathic behavior…it is fucking real my brother!! My ex-cunt is goddamn TEXTBOOK!!!” Then Manson wrote, “I got a serious police amber type scenarios with L’s family. I’m fucking stressing. I don’t know if you are back but I need asylum somewhere because I think the cops might be headed my way.” Depp reportedly worried that this exchange with Manson would make him appear “guilty by association.”
* The unsealed docs also concern missing texts in which the actor referred to himself as a “lunatic” and a “fucking savage.” Those descriptors appeared in an apology Depp had allegedly sent Heard after (again, allegedly) assaulting her on a plane in 2014. After that incident, Depp’s ex-assistant Stephen Deuters texted Heard, “If someone was truly honest with him about how bad it really was, he would be appalled,” referring to Depp. “I’m sad he does not have a better way to really know the severity of his actions yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I remember them in full, in full detail, everything that happened. He was appalled, when I told him he kicked you, he cried.” Depp reportedly sent Heard an apology, explaining that his “illness somehow crept up and grabbed” him again, an apparent confirmation of Heard’s assertion that Depp was under the influence at the time. According to The Daily Beast, though, Depp’s legal team couldn’t find the texts on the actor’s iCloud, raising the possibility that they had been “deleted.” And though they were admitted as evidence in the U.K., they weren’t allowed in the U.S.
* Heard’s attorneys reportedly encouraged her to go for a larger sum in her divorce settlement, emphasizing that she was potentially entitled to “tens of millions of dollars” from *Pirates 5* alone because Depp shot it while the pair were married. From the beginning, Heard attempted to rebut the criticism that she had invented a false abuse claim to get more money out of her more famous ex-husband by saying she was donating the sum to charity. (At trial, it emerged that she hadn’t actually done that yet.) When she declined to follow her lawyers’ advice, they reportedly praised her for being “amazingly true to your word, that this is not about the money.” Judge Azcarate removed that particular divorce-related line of evidence from the jury’s consideration.
* Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, was also barred from questioning Depp’s former agent Tracey Jacobs about the aftermath of a TV appearance Depp made while allegedly drunk and high “to the point that Disney studio executives called Ms. Jacobs asking, ‘What the hell was wrong with your client?’” Heard’s team said it was a similar story with the filming of *Pirates 5*, during which Disney execs allegedly warned Jacobs that Depp’s substance use was not ‘going to be tolerated,’ that they were ‘not going to put up with this,’ and that ‘there was no love between Johnny and Disney, given the *Pirates 5* situation.’” At trial, Depp insisted Heard’s op-ed was the reason that his relationship with Disney had soured and that Captain Jack Sparrow was written out of any future *Pirates of the Caribbean* movies. Heard maintained that Depp ruined his professional prospects himself.

## Reactions

The newly exposed court documents were seen by many as a net win for Heard after she faced widespread backlash online during the trial — as well as a bit of karma for her detractors. Lawyers expressed the opinion that the unsealed documents reflected poorly on Depp and may have come as a surprise to the fans who helped get them published.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ashley Collman (Aug 7, 2022). Johnny Depp fans helped raise thousands to get unsealed records from his defamation trial. But did they backfire?. Insider.
2. ↑ Emma Nolan (August 2, 2022). Johnny Depp 'Refused' Amber Heard's Request to Wear Mask During Deposition. Newsweek.
3. ↑ Emma Nolan (August 2, 2022). Johnny Depp Fans 'Damaged' His Reputation by Unsealing Documents—Lawyer. Newsweek.