After conviction of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, understand the crime of defamation

The trial that involved the Hollywood actors came to an end this Wednesday (1st) Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The case, which had worldwide repercussion, was concluded with the verdict that both are responsible for defamation . Crime is common in Brazil, however, with much less significant compensation than the millionaires that were imposed on artists.

Amber Heard will have to pay $10 million in damages and Depp, $2 million.

According to Brazilian law, the defamation offense, provided for in art. 139 of the Penal Code, occurs when a person, with the intention of discrediting the reputation of someone before society, utters words that are offensive to their image, thus subjecting themselves to a penalty that can vary from three months to one year of detention. and fine.

Both Brazil and the United States have legislation that criminalizes defamation, as explained by constitutional lawyer Camilo Onoda Caldas, a partner at the law firm Gomes, Almeida e Caldas Advocacia.

However, in the US criminal law is statewide. In other words, each state has a specific law for the subject, but all of them, in their general aspects, are similar to our Penal Code.

“The most substantial difference between Brazil and the United States on this issue is within the scope of civil law, the branch of law that regulates compensation for moral damages”, explains the lawyer.

In the US, it is not uncommon for multimillion-dollar damages to be fixed, while in Brazil, amounts for moral damages are infinitely lower, whether in cases where someone was a victim of defamation, or in cases involving aggression and domestic violence.

Camilo Onoda Caldas, constitutional lawyer

Criminal lawyer Raíssa Isac, a partner at Bernardo Fenelon Advocacia, says that it is important to point out that the lawsuit filed by Johnny Depp against Amber Heard for defamation, although it was judged by the Jury Court – which is done in Brazil only in cases where that the crime has been committed against life, being, therefore, linked only to the criminal sphere – refers, in fact, to a process of civil jurisdiction.

“Thus, at no time was discussed the criminal type of the crime of defamation, but only the right to compensatory damages that originated from the offenses made against the author’s honor”, ​​said Raíssa.

Depp sued Heard, his ex-wife, for defamation over a 2018 editorial she wrote for The Washington Post, in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Although Depp was not named in the article, he claims it cost him lucrative acting roles.

Heard counter-sued her ex-husband for defamation over statements Depp’s attorney made about his abuse allegations.

Weighing the allegations, jurors claimed that the two defamed each other.