[imagesource: Jim Lo Scalzo / Pool Photo via AP]

Last Friday, after a lengthy defamation trial which grabbed the world’s attention, legal teams on behalf of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard made their final arguments.

Depp’s team argued that Heard “ruined his life by falsely telling the world she was a survivor of domestic abuse” at his hands in a 2018 op-ed piece for The Washington Post.

Heard’s team stated Depp ruined her life by launching a smear campaign “of global humiliation” following their divorce, reports NPR.

Either way, having spent weeks tearing into each other and exposing the abusive details of their marriage, nobody comes out as a winner.

The seven-person civil jury began its deliberations at 3 p.m. Friday and finished for the day about two hours later. They will resume Tuesday…

When the jury deliberates, it will have to focus not only on whether there was abuse but also whether Heard’s op-ed piece can be considered legally defamatory. The article itself focuses mostly on policy questions of domestic violence, but Depp’s lawyer point to two passages in the article, as well as an online headline that they say defamed Depp…

Heard’s lawyers said Heard can’t be held liable for the headline because she didn’t write it, and that the two passages in the article are not about the abuse allegations themselves but how Heard’s life changed after she made them.

The trial has been picked apart and memeified on social media. Hashtags appear to show overwhelming support for Johnny Depp, and rather innocuous clips have been saddled with sinister and often ridiculous accusations.

I’m sure I speak for many of us when I say I’m glad this one is almost over.

But before we wrap up, here’s a summary of the key turning points in the trial via The Guardian:

Each side was given 61 hours over the 47-day televised trial to present their case, with dozens of witnesses and experts weighing in on Depp and Heard’s tempestuous 15-month marriage

If this trial has taught me one thing, it’s the inability of people to recognise or understand a mutually abusive relationship.

In eight minutes flat, here are the key moments:

[sources:npr&guardian]