Photo: Matteo Chinellato | Shutterstock
It doesn't look good.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Aug 01, 2022
Johnny Depp and his legal team are being accused of altering audio tapes and other various forms of evidence during his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
More than 6,000 pages of court documents were recently unsealed, shedding new light on the highly publicized case, including Depp's crude text messages to friend Marilyn Manson, and allegations that Depp manipulated photos of his injuries.
Johnny Depp's team allegedly edited audio and photographic evidence.
According to the filings, Heard’s team argued that metadata from photos and audio submitted by Depp as evidence in the case “reveals the items were ‘Modified’ days before their production in this case."
They claimed that Depp “produced multiple partial audio recordings that begin and end in the middle of a sentence," and that metadata “indicates the [audio] recordings were created in September 2015 and then modified in June 2016, and again one day before their production, but Depp only produced the modified version.
'This raises significant concerns of manipulation, alteration, and deletion.”
The documents show a filing from Heard's legal team that states photos of Depp's bruises and scratches allegedly from Heard contained "Created and Modified" dates of years after the alleged altercations took place.
After repeatedly requesting the full audio of these conversations, Heard's legal team was denied it.
Heard's legal team even went as far as to hire a forensic expert who testified that he'd looked at the metadata and discovered "anomalies that call into question the authenticity of the multimedia documents."
Despite his findings, his testimony was not allowed as evidence in the trial.
Depp's legal team also argued against efforts made by Heard's team to submit portions of his medical records as evidence. Depp's lawyers claimed Heard "wants a circus, and clearly intends to take this trial down a number of unnecessarily salacious rabbit holes, including and especially with respect to Mr. Depp's medical history."
The topic of altering photos had originally been brought up during the defamation trial between Heard and Depp, where Depp's lawyers accused the actress of editing photos of her alleged injuries to make her "face look more red."
During the trial, two photos were presented side-by-side for the court to see. Heard claimed they were two separately taken photos with different lighting.
"The light is on in both of these pictures though," Depp's attorney, Camille Vasquez, argued. Heard pushed back by saying one of the lights is a "vanity light."
"Isn't it true you just edited these photographs?" Vasquez asked Heard. "And you just enhanced the saturation from one of these photos to make your face look more red."
Heard denied both claims, stating that she has "never edited a photograph."
With the release of the unsealed documents, this is the first time Depp has been accused of altering photos of alleged injuries and audio tapes.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.