Dr. Dawn Hughes offered her testimony for the Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard defamation
trial.
And most people couldn't help but notice some odd patterns of behavior, that you're about
to find out.
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It's common with expert testimony that it should be established the extent and scope
of their expertise.
And with Dr. Hughes, Amber's attorneys made sure to make it really clear.
Which makes all the more strange when she had emotional displays and reactions such
as these:
- ...forensic practice.
I testified perhaps once or twice a year, the best...
most of the work is done behind the scenes evaluating individuals and issuing reports.
- but you'll agree with me that a big part of that practice is providing a...
It's important to notice that this was through her cross examination, which means that it
was Johnny's attorneys the ones making the questions at this point.
So, my question is, if she has so much professional experience, and she's also offered testimonies
in many other occassions, why does she show her teeth and a chin jut in covert anger,
and also displays arrogance raising her chin and contempt with a half smile?
One of the strongest points of Johnny's lawyers against her, is that there was a hint of being
biased towards gender:
- I testified in a same sex intimate violence where the man was th evictim of another man.
I routinely treat and assess same sex couples where the female can be the perpetrator of
another female.
Now, I can understand that when she was talking about victims of domestic abuse, she used
feminine pronouns because she could be talking about Amber.
But then, she uses masculine pronouns when talking about abusers.
When Johnny's attorneys applied pressure, she only admits to men being abusive to other
men in same sex relationships.
She never acknowledges that a woman can be abusive towards a man.
That's a clear, and very dangerous, bias.
That must be the reason why her posture was a clear stance of defensiveness, with shoulders
tense and hunching a bit to appear smaller.
So, you might think that she had an easier time with Amber's henchmen, but... no.
In fact, one of the funniest moments of her testimony was this one:
- Uhm, if you need to consult your notes, let us now (...) the concern is that you don't
read from them, that you consult them as you need them.
- Correct, I just don't want this to be a memory test
Amber's attorney was trying to tell her to not read directly from her notes, but to answer
from memory.
After all, that's what a testimony is.
You're talking from your own recollections.
Reading straight from notes harms her credibility, because even if she was the one who wrote
them, it looks impersonal and even possible that she's reading whatever another person
wrote for her.
And that answer, the memory game, is a hint to being predisposed with an angry attitude.
Even Johnny and his attorneys reacted in disbelief to her response about not reading her notes
all the time, as you can see in the following clip:
- Correct, I just don't want this to be a memory test... of having conducted many documents,
many pages and notes and psychological testings...
- You can reference your notes, just don't read from them
- Ok, no problem - Ok
Yeah, anyone could say that this is baffling, to say the least.
Because if that's the way she answers to Amber's attorneys, imagine how could she react to
the cross examination later.
Nobody is asking her to have the extraordinary memory of Isaac Baruch, who could recall so
many events and details from years ago.
But I think Johnny's body language says it all, like expressing, this is a joke.
This cannot be happening.
I mean, daf*q did I just heard?
(pun intended)
Now, I have a theory about why Dr. Hughes was so upset about giving testimony.
I think she vastly underestimated the scope and possible fallout of what was going inside
the courtroom.
But that would make even less sense, because, as everyone heard when her professional experience
was being outlined, she has more than enough experience in cases like this.
This is how you realize that sometimes you can find inconsistencies of behavior without
looking at body language.
The person makes a statement, and minutes or hours later, their attitude, or even their
words contradict what they said.
And it doesn't help at all that she admitted that she made whatever diagnosis without ever
meeting Johnny.
She never talked to him.
She only knows Amber's "version of the truth", so for all purposes, THAT in itself, is a
huge hole in credibility.
So yes, maybe she was realizing at the last minute that she had done a big disservice
to her own career.
Comparisons are never fair, and every professional is different.
But as Dr. Hughes had these hostile displays and attitude, Dr. Shannon Curry was almost
the exact opposite.
And the next clip is a very good example:
- Rocky Pennington, correct?
- I can't remember exactly what I said, but I did reference Ms. Pennington's deposition
that Ms. Heard struck Ms. Pennigton in the face
- In fact, Ms. Pennington testified that she hit...
You might have noticed that even being cross examined, she stares inTENtly at Amber's attorney.
She doesn't break that eye contact, her chin is at neutral height, and even pushes her
head forward.
She acts really confident, while Dr. Hughes was, as we saw before, defensive, reacting
emotionally even to Amber's attorneys.
This is how body language makes the difference in perception.
Which one looks more professional to you? which one looks more credible?
I mean, it has to be really hard to wake up one day and say, you know what?
bring it on, I'm gonna testify on behalf of Amber Heard!
But then, you look at the previous days of the trial and notice that the footage is full
of mask slips like this one:
- 188, please?
- Your honor, I'm going to object on hearsay - Your honor, let's... 188a,
Do you find it normal that someone is displaying profound sadness, and upon making a pause,
then the emotion literally fades in a couple seconds?
You know where do emotions work like that?
when acting.
And even so, it can be hard for an actress to switch back immediately to a neutral face.
But, again, it's Amber.
But going back to the perception dilemma, this is something that we cannot escape.
And that's one of the reasons it's so important for attorneys to prepare their witnesses.
I guess that it would be hard for a forensics psychologist with such a vast professional
experience like Dr. Hughes, to accept body language and delivery assessment before sitting
in there.
Again, she already has experience with this kind of proceedings and offering expert testimony,
but the problem is that it's safe to realize that she never had to deal with such a public
trial like this one.
So, in every other case, maybe her attitude, how she reacts to being cross examined and
even the way she uses her notes...
did not have repercussions.
I think this was a bad call by Amber's attorneys that never made sure to assess not only Dr.
Hughe's professional background, but how she was going to be perceived by the jury AND
the public.
Yeah, this process can be exhausting, and at some point, Judge Azcarate's face told
the whole story so far.
If that isn't a wine o'clock face, I don't know what it is.
If you get one thing from this video, is that being a great professional is never enough.
You must be mindful of your body language, your presence and your delivery.
Because you want to make sure that everyone's perception about your professionalism, and
even credibility, is exactly like you want it to be.
You can help me spot more clips to analyze, following and tagging me on my Instagram account.
And if you want to refine your observation skills, all you have to do is download my
100+ body language tips, right in the description of this video.
My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.