While most of the world was captivated by Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation trial, it appears a few jurors could hardly stay awake to listen to it all!

The case’s court stenographer is opening up about what went down in the Fairfax, Virginia courtroom while the exes battled it out over domestic violence claims in an op-ed Amber wrote in 2018. And these latest revelations are kind of shocking!

In a new interview with Law & Crime Network, Judy Bellinger revealed that a “few” jurors fell asleep several times! While the jurors’ names have been sealed for at least a year because of the high-profile nature of the case, per Judge Penney Azcarate’s order, Judy could easily recall the individuals that had a hard time paying attention to the many pieces of evidence and testimony brought forth in the case. She recalled:

“There were a few jurors who were dozing off.”

What??

She added that they were seated in the front and back row, often falling asleep while video deposition was played, continuing:

“And it was tough. There were a lot of video deposition, and they would just sit there and all of a sudden I’d see their head drop.”

Oh my goodness! We know this was a long trial with a lot of information to consume, but it’s wild to think that some of the people deciding such an important verdict were dozing off!

Interestingly, there was one juror who was just as intently focused on all the little details of the trial as folks at home, but she wasn’t even allowed to help make the final decision! Bellinger explained that the “best” juror was one of the alternates picked at random and ultimately didn’t get to help decide the verdict. For those that don’t know, alternates listen to all the evidence like the other jurors but they are only called upon to help decide the verdict if they are needed to replace another juror. On this, Judy said:

“Unfortunately, the one alternate that was on there, she was probably the one that listened the most. I watched her facial expressions, she was very deeply into every word that was being said. I thought she would’ve made a great juror, and she did not get to see it to the end.”

She just so happened to be one of apparently few who were “paying close attention” the whole time, too. Wow! Hear the court reporter’s full reflection on the jurors (below)!

It’s hard to know if this info will be helpful for the Aquaman star’s potential appeal, but it certainly seems like an asset! Either way, though, her attorney Elaine Bredehoft is already confident she has “excellent grounds” for an appeal. On Thursday’s Today show, she claimed her client was “demonized” by Depp’s team and on social media, something she thinks could have swayed the jury’s verdict:

“They went home every night, they have families, the families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it.”

The jurors were instructed not to research the case or look at social media commentary, but with how viral the legal matter was and with how long the trial lasted, it does seem hard to believe they didn’t see or hear anything.

As Perezcious readers know, the seven-person jury side with Depp by the end of the trial (just like most of the public did as well). He was awarded $10.35 million in damages while Amber also won $2 million. Would this outcome have been different if everyone had managed to stay awake?? We guess that’s up to Amber’s legal team to debate in an appeal. For now, what are YOUR thoughts? Sound OFF (below)!

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