Being antagonistic or obnoxious does not, under the law, justify the use of physical force. So, what is seen on video constitutes felony assault and battery, absent some evidence that Tyson was threatened with imminent bodily harm. There are no witnesses who say that. Just that the guy was pestering Tyson. Self-defense is a tough sell when you’re the former heavyweight boxing champion.
There are photographs of the alleged victim with blood on his face and he sought some medical attention. Police did reportedly go to the scene, but the recipient of the punches did not want to cooperate or press charges. Prosecutors technically don’t need that because they’ve got video evidence of the attack. However, that footage does not show what led up to the assault or provoked it. So without the alleged victim’s statements about that, I tend to doubt that charges will be brought…but they could be.
He might also be prohibited from flying. That’s a separate decision by the airline and the FAA.
Depp V. Heard
I feel sorry for the jury. How in the world are they going to sort this out? Depp claims his ex-wife defamed him by essentially calling him a wife beater. She claims he defamed her by having his lawyer call it all a hoax.
What we’ve heard is how ugly and destructive their relationship was amid constant fights and physical confrontations. All of it in a haze of drug and alcohol abuse. They each claim the other was punched in the face and suffered constant verbal and physical attacks. Their marriage counselor may have described it best when she testified that she saw “mutual abuse.” So, I wonder how much credibility either one really has. I would not be surprised if the jury rejects both lawsuits…finding that she didn’t defame him and he didn’t defame her.
Overall, Depp may regret bringing this case and airing in public all their dirty laundry. When he took the witness stand he opened the door to being confronted on cross-examination with many of his text messages which present a hauntingly dark side of his character. Really repulsive stuff like calling his wife a “worthless hooker”…and writing “I hope Amber’s rotting corpse is decomposing in the f—ing trunk of a Honda Civic.” He also texted about drowning and burning her.
Call me crazy, but I’m guessing that’s not going over well with the jury. He lost his defamation case in Great Britain. He should have cut his losses there.
