In court documents dated July 8 from the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Va., which supplemented an earlier filing, Heard’s attorneys say the information on the jury list sent to the attorneys before the trial does not appear to match. the demographics of one of the jurors.
Juror 15 was apparently born in 1970, but the jury summons was for a person with the same last name who was born in 1945, according to court documents.
“Juror No. 15 was not the person called to serve on April 11, 2022 and therefore was not a member of the jury and could not have properly served on the jury at this trial,” the memorandum states. “Therefore, a mistrial must be declared and a new trial ordered.”
The documents indicate that Juror 15 and the person originally called to serve on the jury both live at the same address.
“As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply disturbing for someone who is not called as a juror to nevertheless appear as a juror and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this,” continues the case.
It is unclear whether the court was aware of the alleged error before the trial.
CNN has contacted the court and Depp’s attorneys for comment. Depp’s attorneys have 30 days to respond to Heard’s request.
The court filing argues that Heard’s due process was compromised if the person was not the same person on the list, or if the clerk failed to verify their identity.
Heard and Depp were both found guilty of defamation in their lawsuits against each other last month, but the jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp and only $2 million to Heard.
In a filing last week, lawyers for Heard had previously raised the potential question from the juror and claimed that the damages awarded to Depp were excessive and unsupported by the evidence at trial. They also accused Depp of relying on “justice-mandated and court-favoured statements as the basis of his defamation by innuendo.”