Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard Trial: Judge rejects Amber Heard's request to declare mistrial

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Amber Heard's legal team says one of the jurors in the defamation case filed against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp improperly served on the jury.

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According to the Associated Press, a memo was filed Friday in Virginia's Fairfax Circuit Court. It asked the court to declare a mistrial and to order a new trial.

Heard's legal team suggests that Juror No. 15 was a younger individual with the same last name as the person who should have served. The AP says a "jury panel list" in the case included a person who would have been 77-years-old at the time of the trial. Voter registration information lists two individuals with the same last name "apparently" residing at the same address, according to the AP.

A judge later rejected the claim saying that the juror issue specifically was irrelevant and that Heard can’t show she was prejudiced.

Depp sued Heard over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse."

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After a bombshell trial that saw both Depp and Heard take the stand, the jury found in Depp's favor on all of his claims and decided he should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages -- but the judge reduced the punitive damages award to $350,000 under a state cap.

Heard's lawyers had previously asked a judge to throw out the verdict against her arguing that the jury's decision was not supported by the evidence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report