Doc Brown Trends As Amber Heard’s Expert Witness Gets Combative At Johnny Depp Trial

After some lively questioning from Depp’s legal team, Twitter couldn’t help but compare psychiatrist Dr. David Spiegel to iconic “Back to the Future” character Doc Brown.

Dr. Spiegel was called upon by Heard’s team to provide testimony on substance abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV); As with all expert witnesses, their qualifications are carefully scrutinized by the summons team to qualify them as expert witnesses, which is usually just a formality.

But when Depp’s legal team objected to Spiegel being considered an IPV expert, it began what would become a very combative cross-examination.

Wayne Dennison attempted to pick apart his resume, claiming that Dr. Spiegel had never written or presented specifically on IPV, and the witness was visibly irritated.

“IPV does not appear on your CV at all?” Dennison asked.

“If you say it’s not on my CV, I’ll believe you,” Spiegel replied.

The two then discussed the American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater Rule, named after US Senator and former presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, which says that psychiatrists should not give professional opinions on public figures they haven’t examined in person. .which, as Dennison pointed out. Spiegel hadn’t. Spiegel said that he had requested to interview Depp twice, but had been denied.

Dennison then asked what Spiegel used as a basis for analyzing Johnny Depp’s cognitive speed: “Didn’t you say in the statement that what you did was compare Mr. Depp’s performance in many Pirates movies to your statement here?”

“I apologize for what I said,” replied the irritated Spiegel. “Then I spoke wrong.”

“Because you can’t compare Pirates to sworn testimony, right?” Dennison challenged, before asking why he had ignored some of Depp’s other performances.

“Willy Wonka don’t you care?” which caused laughter in the gallery. “Did you see that movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Did you watch it when you were comparing its processing speed?”

Spiegel, speechless for a few painful seconds, turned to the judge: “Do I have to answer that question, Your Honor?”

“You have questions to answer, yes sir,” the judge told him, and it wouldn’t be the only time she had to keep him on track.

“No, you’ll be glad to know I didn’t see Willy Wonka,” the clearly frustrated doctor finally replied. “I didn’t see 21 Jump Street when it happened. No, I didn’t see it.”

Dennison, who seemed to enjoy getting into the doctor’s skin, took another sharp turn.

“During your deposition, what were the circumstances under which you decided to call Mr. Depp an ‘idiot’?”

Struggling to remember the context, Dr. Spiegel said he was referring to Depp taking an overnight flight from Europe the day before he gave a video statement.

“I didn’t call Mr. Depp an idiot, I certainly called that planning an idiot,” Spiegel insisted.

“So the words ‘So I mean he’s an idiot’ are misspelled?” Dennison asked, quoting Spiegel’s earlier statement. “Is ‘idiot’ a professional opinion? Is it your practice to describe people as idiots?”

“You gave me 9 hours of deposition; if I said the word idiot, he was an idiot in planning,” Spiegel insisted. “It didn’t make him an idiot, I don’t know Mr. Depp’s IQ, I don’t know his general functioning.”

Jumping on that last admission, Dennison then questioned what he was basing his assumption that Depp was suffering from impaired function. In response, Spiegel pointed to Depp’s agent’s testimony that he was late to movie sets and that he had read that Depp uses an earphone to listen to lines on movie sets.

Spiegel was then forced to admit that he didn’t know if that was true, nor did he know how prevalent headphones were used in acting.

The wacky cross-examination closed with the weirdest question-and-answer session of the entire session, which even caused Johnny Depp to put his face to the face.

“Do you know if Marlon Brando used an earpiece?” Dennison asked.

“He is not dead?” Spiegel responded. “So the answer is no, he doesn’t wear one now.”

With that, the judge mercifully moved the trial to lunchtime.

The trial continues.