A Judge's Perspective on the Depp/Heard Court Case
Season 1, Episode 4
In episode 4, Conversatio host Julia Long sits with with Judge Richard Boner to discuss the role of body language in the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard court case. Judge Boner also shares his perceptions of the case.
SPEAKERS
Judge Boehner, Julia Long
Julia Long 00:04
Welcome to Conversatio the Belmont Abbey college podcast. This podcast focuses on the way of formation and transformation so that each of us reflects God’s image in an ever more palpable and transparent way. I’m Julie along and today I’m joined by the Honorable Richard Boehner, who is on staff with Belmont Abbey and also has a lot of experience in the legal space as a superior judge. Today, we’re going to talk about the Johnny Depp Amber Heard case and really dive into some of the psychology and motives behind it. But before that happens, I’d like to give Judge Boehner a chance to introduce himself.
Judge Boehner 00:39
I finished law school in 1975, at UNC School of Law came to Charlotte, that fall as a assistant public defender in a newly created office, public defender office, and I spent a little over two years doing indigent criminal defense. Part of it initially was in district court, I ended up spending most of my time trying jury cases in Superior Court representing people who were indigent, who were charged with felonies. And then I left the public defender office in 1978, basically was burned out and and joined the city attorney’s office representing the city of Charlotte and did some litigation for the city of Charlotte. also advise some of the city departments including Douglas airport, and the Public Works Department. And then I had the opportunity to go into private practice in 1980, with a guy with whom I was running at lunch at the why. And that was a litigation firm, so I jumped on that firm and was a member of that firm. For seven years. We had some claps that we represented the bus company in Charlotte. We represented some businesses we represented. Jim Crockett promotions, the professional wrestling promoter, okay, we represented all the professional wrestlers Crockett had Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, okay, yeah. And then I had always thought about being a judge, and had worked. They’d been politically active. And the Republican Party had worked on Governor Martin’s 1984 campaign for governor had worked on alignment Whelan’s congressional campaign, and 84 and 86. And so, as it turned out, Governor Martin had the opportunity to appoint some what are called Special superior court judges, and a vacancy came open in the spring of 1987. And I was the one who he appointed. And so I did that for our special Superior Court Judge going all over the state of North Carolina holding court. The legislature, which was controlled by the Democrats, basically abolished all the seats of the Republican judges Martin and appointed and mind, mind was one of the ones that was abolished. So I’d left my firm, our firm was over, dissolved my law partner and moved to Asheville. he remarried, moved to Asheville, so I was kind of at wit’s end. And as luck would have it, the legislature had created a new District Court seat in Mecklenburg County, I ran for election and a contested race for that seat was elected in the 88 election and became a district court judge. And then I did that for 10 years, and then the 98 election, decided I was either gonna go back to practicing law, or I was going to try and get on Superior Court. And so I ran against two incumbents for our spot and one of them was terminally ill, she ended up resigning because of medical reasons. So I basically walked into the seat and the 98 election and wasn’t a superior court judge, resident superior court judge from 98 till the end of 2014, when I retired, so you
Julia Long 04:02
have a long experience in this legal space, and kind of in several different capacities. So one of the things and I am by no means an expert in the way that you are, but one of the things that I always try to look for maybe this is my journalistic training is okay, what are both sides saying? And what can I look at as fact, right, like, what do I think, aside from the He Said, She Said, aside from the emotions, aside from whatever, you know, what can I pull from this as fact, and I think, looking at the details of this case, for me, it’s a little bit challenging because it feels like when you read the details, and granted, this is all being filtered through the media, right, but when you read the details, it feels a bit like kind of just a spat, right, like an argument and, and a part of me is sitting here thinking like, should this even have gone to the courts? You know, like, Is this really a legal issue? Or is this an issue? You know, you mentioned earlier defamation. Is this an issue of pride or image? And when does that become a legal issue?
Judge Boehner 05:16
I think you could call this this case, lifestyles of the rich and famous. I think even if you ball, boil it down to its basics, it’s basically a spike lawsuit. Okay.
Julia Long 05:29
And what does that mean?
Judge Boehner 05:30
Basically, it’s payback, revenge or payback. You know, I mean, if I were Johnny Depp, I would probably think what I’m being accused of might actually enhance my app, my creds as being basically a wild wild guy, you know, like Charlie Sheen, you know, they actually wouldn’t hurt me. He says he thinks he lost the one of the pirates movies, because the sixth one, but I think I think he’s gonna have a hard time proving it. I think he’s gonna have it because he’s gonna have to overcome the requirement of proven malice, basically proving that she just intentionally made all this up that she’s testified about.
Julia Long 06:18
And that was one thing that was interesting to me when I was reading the footnotes. So for the audience’s benefit, it seems like Amber heard and Johnny Depp were involved for quite a long time before they got married. So for all intents and purposes, they knew each other, right, she didn’t meet him and they didn’t get married. After six months, they had a long standing relationship and hopefully know each other’s character, then I believe it was in 2018, or 2019, when she wrote the article, and it looks like it took things about a year to kind of respond or for the official claim to be made. And then that’s when the defamation case came up. So in kind of thinking about this, I mean, that’s one thing I’m wondering is, is it safe to assume that this is Johnny Depp’s retaliation to her? He didn’t like what she said. And so he’s like, Okay, well, this is about something larger, because this is my image. And I’m assuming even that’s that.
Judge Boehner 07:14
Yeah. Well, again, other than losing the role, pirates, the Pirates of Caribbean number six, what other damage? Is he sustained? I mean, our people are not going to pay to go see him. In any of the future roles. I mean, he’s he’s out other roles other than, than the the pirates movies. I mean, he played public enemies to play John Dolan during public enemies, and, and he’s had other roles. So I’m just wondering how he’s going to show that of maybe losing them what he would have gotten for the movie, that is any worse off?
Julia Long 07:49
Yeah. And that’s a point to I mean, so we’re kind of seeing the reactivity of Disney here, right, because this happened before a verdict is even gone out. I mean, should that lead us to believe that the case has validity? Or do you think that was just Disney being safe?
Judge Boehner 08:08
Probably Disney being safe. There’s like they’ve been safe in Florida.
Julia Long 08:14
And we’ve seen that, you know, kind of this reactive behavior on the part of companies and businesses in our culture, you know, with the MLB, kind of going in and removing the all star game, right. And I think once you have a business or a company that’s as big as Disney, and they kind of pull out. I mean, that’s not good for Johnny Depp. Because then the public is something that could be purely reactionary on Disney’s part, the public probably takes that and says, I will if Disney believes it, should I,
Judge Boehner 08:42
I suspect not could be wrong, but I suspect if you went out on the streets of Gastonia, or Belmont, and took a poll, as your opinion of Johnny Depp changed any because of this lawsuit. I’m wouldn’t be surprised a lot of folks would say what lawsuit?
Julia Long 08:58
You don’t even think people you don’t think people are aware.
Judge Boehner 09:01
I think some people who basically don’t work during the day, who don’t have anything to do, they run out of soap operas to watch will probably pay attention to it. But, you know, I suspect that people were holding down normal jobs, they might pay attention here and there. But you’ve also got, again, it’s the lifestyles of rich and famous. You a lot of people gonna say who cares? Yeah, who cares? These rich people, these celebrities, you know, much of Hollywood types, who cares? I mean, you know, among the average American Hollywood folks aren’t popular, right? There’s a perception that the Hollywood folks tell tell the average American here’s what you ought to think and here’s what you ought to do. And I think to a certain extent, a lot of folks don’t could care less what what goes on in Hollywood and what these folks do and what they think.
Julia Long 09:49
Yeah. And I think you raise a really good point because it’s tough for the average American to relate to the rich and famous right? There are solutions. They have to their problems that we don’t have, they have a different way of living in a different lifestyle. Right. One thing that I think that is an area of relatability if it’s true is that if Amber Heard or Johnny Depp for that matter if either party was abused, unfortunately, there are a number of average Americans that can relate to that.
Judge Boehner 10:19
Yeah, to some extent, but But you know, you got some lady who basically is, is barely getting by maybe lowering lowering income person. They’re gonna say, yes, she was abused, but gosh, look at look at, she can get away from it. And look, she can but you know, she’s got her own income and her own wealth. You know, how am I supposed to relate to that I’m barely getting by.
Julia Long 10:46
So the situations might be similar, but the outcomes are vastly different. Whereas the average American doesn’t have the resources to go through, you know? Yeah. So, I mean, let’s shift gears a little bit and talk about so as a judge, if you were presiding over this case. What would what would be in your head? What would you be thinking?
Judge Boehner 11:05
Well, I went out to win. I tried cases, the judge, I always liked watching the witnesses testify, and I could get a sense of how I thought they were coming across to the jury. Matter of fact, I tried a case here in Gaston County years ago, that went to the northwest Supreme Court. And it was a case in which Kmart had been sued by a couple who had been walking around Franklin Square Mall, for exercise and who were accosted by security guards for Kmart. And they, they were accused of dumpster diving. And one of the security guards grabbed the lady and her husband, her husband got into one of the cards was taken down to the ground to the pavement, the wife got dropped, jumped on the back of the security guard, she was thrown to the pavement, Andrew. And anyway, long story short, during the trial, Kmart calls one of its witnesses a higher up for Kmart Corporation, and I remember thinking watching him testify, this guy is arrogant, the jury is not going to like this guy. And you know, he just comes across as pompous, you know, self and I was right. I mean, Kmart got popped, they got the gig, they got a punitive damage award, it was like a $20 million punitive damage award handed down by the jury in that case. And I think a witness, particularly corporate witness, can can can do a lot of damage to their their case, if they come across badly, and or any witness who comes across badly can do can do a lot of damage to the case they’re testifying for
Julia Long 12:44
right. And that’s in large part why witnesses are so important, right and why the prosecution and defense go through so much to choose them. I saw I can’t remember who it was. But um, some news outlet was reporting on Johnny Depp’s facial expressions during the trial. And just some things they had noticed the facial expressions, he was able to make the way he was physically able to contort his face. And they said that I think it was a psychologist who was commenting on it and saying like, this is part of what makes him a good actor. But in the court space, you’re shaking your finger at medium. So these
Judge Boehner 13:19
would be thinking if I were on that jury is when he’s when he was testifying. Is this Johnny of the real Johnny Depp? Or is that just Johnny Depp? The actor? Is he acting? Is this all an act? Is this all put on? He’s got that disadvantage that the average witness doesn’t have is he’s known basically play characters and play roles. And I think one of the jurors might say, well, you just say playing a role here. Can we believe this is real? Or is this just made up?
Julia Long 13:46
And what do you do in that case, as a judge and a jury who has been tasked well, how
Judge Boehner 13:50
do you I’ll give you an example we one of the things we do in criminal cases. And let’s say we judges in criminal civil trials. When we give the jury their instructions, one of the instructions we give them goes something like this, ladies and gentlemen, you’re the judges of the credibility of the witnesses, you must decide for yourselves whether to believe the testimony of anyone’s you can believe all or any part or none of what witnesses said on the stand. In deciding whether to believe witness, you should use the same test of truthfulness that you use Nerva day affairs. These tests include the opportunity to witness to see hear or know or remember the facts are conscious about which the witness testified the manner and appearance of the witness any interest bias or partiality, the witness may have the apparent understanding and fairness of the witness whether the testimony is reasonable and whether the testimony is consistent with the other blieb lens in the case. And I’ve looked at we tell jurors is if you’re listening to this person you’re trying to make up your mind whether they’re telling the truth. Use a site doula, consider that how you would would make that same decision if you were buying a car from somebody it or if you were being sold a service by some slick salesman, you know, would you how would you approach it from that standpoint? And I think that’s where he’s got a disadvantage in that. I think people are going to jurors gonna be thinking, well, you know, again, this guy is a professional actor, how do we know if what he’s doing, whether it’s as a put on or whether it’s real?
Julia Long 15:21
Yeah, authenticity is definitely called into question here because it is his career. And you have to wonder, is that fair, but then I think the issue of fairness on the whole and these types of things is tough to discern. Something that you said is really interesting to me, you said that, as a judge, you’re really looking at the witnesses and how you think the jury is going to respond? What role does body language play into that
Judge Boehner 15:47
weighs a lot, and any good trial lawyer will tell you that when you’re preparing your client, the person your representative to testify, there are certain things you tell him, one, you know, keep your cool. Don’t let the guy the other lawyer, get under your skin. You know, sit up, don’t slouch. And whenever you whenever you answer the questions, don’t look at me. Look at the jury, you’re talking to them. You’re not talking to me, you know, look at the jury, you know, keep your head up. Don’t be and speak clearly. Because jurors are gonna be paying attention to your to the body language, they’re gonna be little they’ll notice all things. Let me give you an example. I had a had a case where a guy had been a prisoner in the Mecklenburg County Jail. And he was we were trying to jury case he called his one of his witness, another inmate at the Mecklenburg County Jail. And the witness stand was over here to my right. And I could not see the Bible, where he was going to be, he was gonna put his handle. But when he was called the witness stand, and asked us to put his to speak sworn. I didn’t see it, but the jurors did. If this is the Bible, he did this. I’ll hate his hand down on the Bible. He had his hand over it, but not own it. Yeah. Oh, wow. So it was obviously it was quite a lot and didn’t want to have his hand on the bar. But he knew enough to if want to put his hand on the good book and tell a falsehood. And it because that’s what he was planning to do. And the jury didn’t believe anything he said,
Julia Long 17:22
Right. Oh, wow, that’s so fascinating.
Judge Boehner 17:25
And you can tell to I’ll tell you something else. I was telling some friend of mine today. My law partner, we did an insurance defense litigation, we represent insurance companies on automobile cases and personal injury cases. And my law partner was really skilled trial attorney. And let’s say that you had a woman plaintiff, who was claiming she was injured in automobile accident. My law partner, when he took her deposition will be just really nasty. And during the deposition, really just, you know, aggressive and nasty. And of course, he’d get her or get her back up, you know, and everything else. So whenever he would actually try the case in front of the jury, and she’s on the witness stand, it’s his turn to cross examine. She’s thinking, here it comes. Here it comes. So she, he takes very manually and everything and she bites his head off in front of the jury, because she’s, she remembers what happened in front of the deposition, she’s expect the same treatment. That’s how she’s primed to react. And so she’s biting his head off in front of the jury. And he’s being very nice. And like, what am I doing?
Julia Long 18:28
That is attacking psychology, right? Yeah. I mean, man, and there, there is that preparedness, right? That you have to go in with a strategy. You know, you don’t just wake up and roll out of bed and think, like, Okay, I’m gonna go do this today. And that, that is one thing that’s so interesting to me about in the courtroom, because like in life, we all have different roles to play, right? But we’re not all necessarily playing them all at the same time, with all eyes on each other the same way you are in a courtroom, right? So I think, what is there, you’ve talked a little bit about body language. What about eye contact? I mean, is that something you’ve seen, too,
Judge Boehner 19:05
when people will not look you in your fight in the eyes when you’re talking to you? You’ve got to wonder, why are they Why won’t they look me in my face? And why don’t they look at me? You know, is it because they’re they’re ashamed of what they’re doing and tell me or they’re not telling me the full truth? Or they’re not telling me any truth? They knew the truth. And that’s why I always told my clients, but good trial attorneys will tell their clients when you testify. Look at the jury. Yeah, don’t talk to me. Look over the jury box, you’re addressing them. And I did the same. When I would argue to the jury as a trial lawyer. I wouldn’t just, I would I would talk to every single one of the toil I would look when I was I wouldn’t just focus on one person. I would talk to each one I would have a conversation with each one of the 12 people
Julia Long 19:49
sitting here kind of thinking about to about the outcomes, right. So what do you think the best possible outcome looks like for both parties?
Judge Boehner 20:00
If they find out she was she that she basically maliciously labeled him or defamed him, then she they’ll get the jury if they are able to put $1 value on it, which I assume right now would be how much he was going to make on the Disney on the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean. I would assume he’s got a figure that he’s going to his lawyers are going to have put in front of the jury as to how much he lost because he’s good that he was fired. That I don’t know what that amount was. I’m sure it’s a sizable amount. But he’s got the first hurdle of convincing the jury that in fact, she’s liable, that she that he’s got it the first the first issue of whether or not he was maliciously defamed. If he gets past that, I suspect he’ll get at least what he got what he can show he lost from the cancellation of his role on my last movie.
Julia Long 20:51
Yeah, that’s fair. And that’s me, as is not something I connected the dots with at first at first, I just thought, Okay, on his part, this is revenge. But I guess it’s really twofold. We’re friends for the article. And, okay, I’m now losing this money. So I want it back.
Judge Boehner 21:07
I would give them a got to be able to give the jury if something that they get their arms around them, and you can’t just say, yeah, it was defined. Well, what does that translate into dollars? Obviously, if he can show how much he lost by not by the movie role being canceled, that’s some mail. But as far as anything else, he’s going to show well up, you know, I was supposed to get a role in another movie, they passed me over for that he’s going to have to basically pinpoint, here’s a specific damage that I suffered, and what it here’s what it was worth.
Julia Long 21:37
And what about Amber? I mean, what does it look like for her? And if she had her best outcome?
Judge Boehner 21:41
The she doesn’t have to pay anything to him. So really, money except for a lawyer? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was one other thing. I don’t know how well she helped how well off she is financially. But let’s assume he gets a multi million dollar verdict, right? Okay. Getting a verdict is fine, or a judgment is fine, then you got to collect it. And, you know, if some if she’s not able to pay the award, you marched down to the bankruptcy court file bankruptcy.
Julia Long 22:12
That’s what I was going to ask you. So in terms of revenue resolution, like should we expect for this to stretch on a long time? Or is this one of those?
Judge Boehner 22:22
Yeah. And if she does, if there’s no liability, if the jury for tons of money and liability on her part, then that’s Oh, it’s over? She does no one thinks up to her attorneys fees. But if she gets a if there’s a judgment, then I you can expect there’s probably going to be an appeal, it’s going to run up probably this interrupt the chain, the appellate court. And then, which means that the lawyer is going to get paid more, both sides gonna have to pay more and legal expenses. But let’s assume that he gets a verdict. And it goes all the way and it stands up on the last appellate court and says, Well, it’s affirmed, then he’s got to try and collect from her. And the simple thing for her is to get a bankruptcy attorney gotta have a clear bankruptcy. Right? She’s discharged. He gets nothing. Yeah.
Julia Long 23:08
And she goes about her life. Yeah, I think the other thing, I’m remembering when this kind of all came up a video that she released without him knowing, and that was kind of her first bit of evidence that he had been abusive. And I think about the term of citizen journalism, right. And it’s what people say was Twitter, like, back two years ago, we were dependent on the media for, you know, articles and photos and videos. And now things like this can happen where she can just hold up her iPhone, take a video of him, you know, unknowingly and submit that as fact. Does that have any point in this you know, with defamation, like, Hey, she took this and I wasn’t even aware of
Judge Boehner 23:52
- Some folks. I mean, could be some folks who say, Well, I don’t like that. I mean, she’s basically photographing him without his his knowledge. I mean, it’s kind of sneaky. There are a lot of there are some folks who say I don’t like that.
Julia Long 24:03
Yeah, yeah. But in terms of the actual verdict it’s really just a feeling on the jury gets if they liked you know, it felt sneaky like there’s no because it didn’t show him you know, physically hurting her right. I mean, even that bit of evidence is kind of inconclusive, right? Yeah. So I think okay, so is there is there any other thing in terms of that that uh, you know, are the ethical standards that the jury should be aware of, you know, that they’re kind of taking into account here were his actions ethical or hers ethical
Judge Boehner 24:36
well know that what they’re going to have to look the only the only role that that would play is whether or not they are going to how they’re going to view her testimony and to some extent her credibility you know, they might they can take all that into consideration inside of where they’re gonna leave anything she says on witness stamp. But if they if they find that that Hey, she militia just need to find him, then they’re gonna have to sidebar what’s it worth? And they’re gonna have to basically figure out dollar dollars and cents, how much does she owe him? It’s that simple. And that’s what every case comes down to a civil case comes down to ultimately is dollars and cents. Yeah.
Julia Long 25:19
Really rather than like the ethical or the relationship part of it, right. I mean, that’s what I’ve been thinking is, you know, I’m a wife, and I’m thinking, Oh, my goodness, if she was really treated this way, if the details that are coming out in these recent days during her deposition are true, that’s horrible. But it really is kind of coming down.
Judge Boehner 25:39
Well, I don’t know how I have watched her testimony. So I’m not sure of how she comes across. Whether she’s coming across is real, or whether she’s coming across as fake. You know, I watch some of his testimony. He was testifying and in his mumbling and her testify very intently. And, and they’re forming even though they don’t, you’re not but the jurors aren’t supposed to make up their minds, until the judge tells him go out and solve the case. Every juror is getting some vibes there during the call during the trial. And I remember even judges do too. I remember in criminal cases, when I was trying something, some criminal case. And the defendant testified. And I got the feeling that the defendant was lying. I made a mental note. And I thought, okay, yeah. And if I were convicted, I guarantee you, I sentenced them harder than I would have if they had not lied, or if they had stayed off the witness stand and not gotten up burned a lot under oath.
Julia Long 26:46
Yeah. Yeah. And that you said you hadn’t seen her. Her testimony? I think the one thing that’s happening with it is that the witnesses seem to be at least confirming addiction on his end, which, you know, is kind of doing her testimony justice in a way. And maybe this is just ignorance on my part, but some of the things they’re talking about that he’s using are illegal. Is that not a part of this? That they would say to him like, Hey, you’re using illegal drugs? Yeah,
Judge Boehner 27:14
I guess I think the average person civilian is gonna say, Well, I imagine it goes on all the time on Hollywood. I mean, I imagine Sean Penn and some of these others probably are doing the same thing. They just haven’t been caught.
Julia Long 27:27
This case just looks drastically different because they’re celebrities. Yeah. And I think that’s kind of tough for the average American to your point earlier about if we went out on the streets of Gastonia, because not that any person has ill will towards Johnny or amber. But it’s kind of tough when you see that different standards exist, right. I mean, that feels, ideas, this word again, but it feels unfair.
Judge Boehner 27:49
Well, and I, you know, I saw what I did, you know, just regular civil cases, sometimes she would you get a jury and you know, plaintiffs talking about how bad they’ve got it. And you know how, you know this that the other end, maybe they’re upper middle class or upper class folks and plants and upper class folks probably driving them a very expensive car or something. And, and I’ll give you an example. I tried a case a condemnation case in Mecklenburg County. And it was a matter of a search, several homeowners in southeast Charlotte had sued the city of Charlotte, because the city had located a new fire station near their homes. And they said that the the, when the fire signal went off, the trucks roared out, that it interfered with their use and enjoyment and the peace and grant quality of their homes. So they were suing, they sued the city. And the lawyers did a very good job presenting those cases. We did a jury view, which if I had been the plaintiffs, lawyers, a lawyer, I don’t know, in hindsight that I would have done it. Because we go out, the jurors go out to see these houses. They’re in a gated developed, right? They’re huge. They’re huge. And I’m biking to myself, and we’re out there. If I was living in a house built in the 1950s, and I’d be thinking, what are these people complaining about?
Julia Long 29:26
Right? Yeah,
Judge Boehner 29:28
I could put up a little noise. I’ll swap when you take miles and
Julia Long 29:32
it does feel a little bit out of touch. Yeah. Do you have any parting words for the audience? People who might be aware of this case, what would you say to them?
Judge Boehner 29:43
This is not a normal run of the mill case. I don’t think you can take it as a as a prototype, or a good example of what goes on every day in a courthouse across North Carolina. When cases are being tried. And this is an unusual Case sniffling because these folks are celebrities. Yeah. And and, you know, you’re gonna get good old working people who have lawsuits that they go to trial that don’t bear any resemblance. I think to some extent, you have to also be a little bit wary of what you watch on television anyway, I used to tell jurors when we were trying cases, don’t allow anything you’ve seen in the movies or on television influence your decisions in this case, because they bear very little resemblance to what actually goes on in most cases, North Carolina choreo.
Julia Long 30:37
And isn’t it the jurors in a certain case are asked to refrain from watching any media coverage or reading news articles and things like that? Yeah.
Judge Boehner 30:45
Yep. And I’m sure the judge, the judge has told them every day, don’t watch the news accounts. Don’t read the news counts. Don’t let anybody talk to you. Don’t talk to anybody and that, you know, friends, neighbors, whatever. But the case just put it aside. The other thing it says about this case has been tried in Virginia. Yeah. Why? You got Virginians on the jury? Probably cross section of the community. What if we’re being tried in California, and Los Angeles County, or down in, in Malibu? Malibu are one of the upper income areas of California, different group of people on the jury?
Julia Long 31:22
And that’s why they chose it.
Judge Boehner 31:24
I don’t know. But I always thought it was odd that was filed in Virginia, of all places. You know, y’all fight over that file in New York State, or maybe they’d file it in California, but it’s filed in Virginia of all places. And you’re not going to have you’re going to have a different breed of person on the jury in Virginia, then you probably would in some areas of California.
Julia Long 31:45
And maybe that was intentional. I was just sitting here thinking was on the part of the jury, you have a challenge here that you don’t have a challenge with and standard cases, which is typically, I would guess, when you’re assigned to a jury, you don’t know the people that are, you know, they’re not celebrities here, maybe I’m sure you probably couldn’t have a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan on this jury. Right? Because there’s people sometimes have a hard time separating actors from their characters. And so I think there’s a, the topic of bias here is a little bit more challenging than in standard cases.
Judge Boehner 32:20
And you’d have same situation with Alec Baldwin’s case. If it ever goes to wherever went to a criminal case. You know, you’d have some folks who’s not probably like Alec Baldwin is an actor, and somebody think he’s a slob.
Julia Long 32:32
Yeah, yeah. Right. It’s been great to talk with you today. Judge Boehner, I really appreciate your time. I’ll also want to thank our audience for joining us. If you enjoyed Conversatio please subscribe and tell your friends Conversatio is available through Spotify and Apple and Google podcasts. Until next time, I’m Julia Long. God bless
About the Host
Julia Long
Marketing Project Manager
In the role of Marketing Project Manager at Belmont Abbey College, Julia’s main focuses are brand development and external communications. This includes oversight of Public Relations, Advertising, and Social Media for the college.
With a Bachelor’s in Journalism and a Master’s in Communication, Julia’s passion for brand and communications led her to positions in corporate and higher education. She lives in Gastonia, North Carolina with her husband Justin, daughter McKenna, and two cats, Einstein and Galileo.