The second day of testimony in the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard dueling defamation trial proved to be more entertaining than the first, thanks to witness Isaac “Ike” Baruch, who managed to elicit lighthearted laughter in an otherwise sober courtroom.
Baruch, Depp’s engaging, dramatic pal of 42 years, was called by Depp’s team to testify that he never saw any signs of domestic abuse against Heard in the four years he lived next door to them. He came close to tears in describing what he called Heard’s “fraudulent” accusations against Depp.
Baruch, an artist, was asked in cross-examination by Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, if he’s angry at Heard. He said he liked Heard and considered her a friend.
But he said he was so stressed by the ordeal of Depp v. Heard that he can’t make art anymore. Baruch said he was angry about “phony pictures taken and put in the tabloids and the fake narratives and the way (Heard) got a fraudulent domestic violence claim to extort and blackmail” Depp.
“What I am is tired. I want this all to end, for her to go heal and him to go heal,” he said, his voice breaking and rising. “There are so many people affected by the malicious lie she created, it’s gone out the door and around the world, and I can’t even paint anymore.
“I’m not angry at anybody, I want the best for her, I want her to take her responsibility, to heal and move on,” Baruch added. “There are so many people affected by this stuff, it’s not fair and it’s not right, what she did and what happened, for so many people to be affected. It’s insane.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a December 2018 op-ed she published in The Washington Post (which is published in Fairfax County) claiming to be a victim of domestic abuse, which he denies.
Heard is countersuing him for $100 million, claiming his former lawyer defamed her in rejecting the claims of abuse she first raised in their corrosive 2016 divorce, which went unproven after the split was settled out of court.
Baruch enlivened the trial, which is being televised by Court TV, not just with his testimony but with the way he expressed himself: He made the jurors and other spectators in the courtroom chuckle. He spoke in a plain manner that seemed authentic, saying several times, “Hey, I’m from Brooklyn.”
