As we get ready to hear the Johnny Depp verdict, what more can really be said about this trial? Over the past six weeks, I’ve been watching it play out in court, and also been consuming the seemingly endless takes about the social dimensions. The end of #MeToo? The rise of TikTok bullying? A YouTube bonanza for legal punditry? Six weeks is a very long time.
As someone who has been following this case from the beginning—as a reporter who traveled to Fairfax, Virginia for pretrial motions (often it was just me and someone from CourthouseNews in the gallery), and as someone who has been talking to insiders with both camps for years—allow me to make two key observations.
