Johnny Depp's rebuttal witnesses testify in the Amber Heard trial: Key moments

Entertainment and medical experts, as well as Warner Bros. executive Walter Hamada, countered testimony from Heard's defense during the sixth and final week of the trial.

Johnny Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard continued Tuesday in Fairfax County, Va., with a slew of rebuttal witnesses on behalf of team Depp.

After Heard's witnesses concluded their time on the stand Monday, Depp's lawyers introduced testimony from Dr. Richard Shaw, a forensic psychiatrist; Dr. David A. Kulber, Depp's hand surgeon; Walter Hamada, president of DC Films at Warner Bros.; Richard Marks, an entertainment lawyer and Hollywood expert; and Mike Spindler, an economic damages expert.

Rebuttals will continue through Wednesday, with Kate Moss, Depp's ex-girlfriend; Dr. Shannon Curry, another forensic psychologist; Morgan Tremaine, a former TMZ producer; and Depp, among others, expected to testify.

Read on below for key moments from the depositions Tuesday.

Johnny Depp in court during his defamation trial against Amber Heard
Johnny Depp in court during his defamation trial against Amber Heard. STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Surgeon fields questions about Depp's severed finger and whether he could've struck Heard with the injury

Dr. David A. Kulber, a Cedars Sinai surgeon who treated Depp's severed fingertip after his volatile 2015 Australia trip, testified about placing a cast on the actor's finger. Depp's lawyers asked if Depp could have punched Heard repeatedly (an allegation put forth by Heard's sister, Whitney Henriquez) during a violent altercation following the Australia incident.

"He could have hit someone, but then it probably would have injured [or] damaged the cast," Kulber testified. When asked if he observed cast damages when he treated Depp for surgery, he said, "I don't recall. Nothing that comes to mind."

Heard previously testified about the alleged attack, describing it as the first time she hit Depp. She claims he was approaching her sister on the top of a flight of stairs and swung at her, prompting Heard to yell, "Don't hit my f—ing sister" before hitting him. Depp then grabbed Heard by the hair and repeatedly punched her, Henriquez testified.

Asked if Depp would have been able to form a fist with the cast, Kulber testified he would not. "He couldn't move his third and fourth fingers because of the bulkiness of the splint. Typically, postoperatively, it's a bulkier splint right after the surgery," he explained. Could Depp grab someone with that hand? "He could attempt to grab someone," Kulber said. "I don't know how successful he would be. He had his index finger free and his thumb free, but other fingers were probably not."

Entertainment lawyer and economic damages expert refute Kathryn Arnold's previous testimony

Richard Marks, an entertainment lawyer and Hollywood expert, and Mike Spindler, an economic damages expert, pushed back on previous testimony from Kathryn Arnold, an entertainment industry consultant. Arnold had testified that Heard would likely have enjoyed a similar career trajectory to stars like Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Ana de Armas, and Gal Gadot "if not for the hoax allegations" from Depp's team. She also estimated that Heard suffered $50 million in damages due to Depp's lawyers denying her allegations in the press.

Marks testified that there is no "comparableness" between Heard and those other stars, noting, for example, that Momoa had already played Aquaman in other films and Zendaya had a much longer tenure in the industry as a former Disney Channel star. Later, Spindler testified that Arnold's analysis of the economic damages was "unsound" and had no real underlying calculations.

Warner Bros. executive denies Heard's claim that her role was reduced in Aquaman 2

Walter Hamada, president of DC Films at Warner Bros., refuted Heard's previous testimony that her role as Mera in Aquaman 2 was "pared down" in the aftermath of Depp's alleged smear campaign against her. Heard previously testified that she had to "fight really hard" to keep her role in Justice League, Aquaman, and the upcoming Aquaman 2 after Depp's lawyer accused her of orchestrating a sexual abuse hoax. The studio "didn't want to include" her in the Aquaman sequel, Heard testified.

When asked if Heard's role in the film was ever reduced for any reason, Hamada said, "No. I mean, again, from the early stages of development of the script, the movie was built around the character of Arthur and the character of Orm. Arthur being Jason Momoa and Orm being Patrick Wilson, so they were always the two co-leads of the movie." The film was always pitched as a "buddy comedy" between Momoa and Wilson, Hamada testified, adding that Heard was paid for her services in both films and her compensation was never affected by Waldman's comments. He testified there were discussions of possibly recasting Heard due to an "issue of chemistry" with Momoa, but at no point did the studio ever release Heard from the Aquaman 2 contract.

Social media and internet analytics expert counters previous testimony about negative online content targeting Heard

Doug Bania, a social media and internet analytics expert called by Depp's defense, refuted previous testimony from Ron Schnell, the social media forensic expert for Heard's defense. Schnell quantified negative hashtags and tweets about both actors, including #AmberHeardIsAnAbuser and #JusticeForJohnnyDepp, and testified that "it's not that big [of] a stretch" to presume that Waldman's hoax statements correlated to posts that may have damaged Heard's reputation.

Bania called Schnell's analysis "unsound," saying that he didn't find a correlation between Waldman's statement and posts with similar hashtags during his review. "These hashtags are only hashtags that Schnell, in his opinion, felt... were negative towards Ms. Heard," he said, adding, "Mr. Schnell provided no evidence that any of the tweets were related to the Waldman statements. He also provided no evidence that there's any causation that the Waldman statements caused any economic harm towards Ms. Heard."

Psychiatrist testifies that previous characterizations of Depp's mental health were unethical

David Spiegel, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction and intimate partner violence called on by Heard's defense, previously testified that Depp has behavior consistent with someone who has substance abuse issues and is a perpetrator of intimate partner violence. Spiegel also said that Depp displays various narcissistic personality traits. During a heated cross-examination, Depp's defense argued that Spiegel violated the Goldwater Rule, an ethical principle that states physicians shouldn't voice professional opinions in the media about the mental health of individuals they have not personally examined, and without consent or legal authority.

Dr. Richard Shaw, a forensic psychiatrist for team Depp, testified that Spiegel's opinion was "unreliable," arguing that he didn't conduct sufficient examination to arrive at his analysis. "He expressed a number of professional opinions about Mr. Depp that we heard about yesterday, and, again, he did so without an evaluation, without consent," Shaw testified.

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