Amber Heard has become the perfect example that you can use to spot when a person is
lying.
And this one minute clip is all the jury of the Johnny Depp defamation trial needs to
have serious doubts about her testimony.
Welcome back, my body language buddies!
my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body Language Guy, and it would be great if you
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I'm gonna break it down, and we're gonna start with this section!
- Johnny comes in to... penthouse 4.
and uhm... grabs me, I don't know why, I don't know... what he was doing, uhm
Notice the wording: "Johnny comes into Penthouse 4."
That's pretty general, not specific.
After a pause, she describes another action. "he grabs me".
But there are many ways to grab or hold a person.
We don't have any details whatsoever.
Immediately after that, we have two counts of...
And those "I don't know" are something that I recommend that you pay attention in the
following clips.
The most critical skill that you should develop is to try to picture the events in your mind.
The less details the person gives, the more vague the image you will be able to picture.
And it doesn't help if someone recalls those events, like this:
- I remember getting kind of free from Johnny, and he left.
He walked out of the room.
"I remember getting KIND OF FREE".
Well... you're either free, or you're not.
That is like being dead.
You cannot be "kind of dead".
Unless, well, you're in a George Romero movie.
Body language signals can also help spot inconsistencies, like... can you explain why when she says
"kind of free", she closes her fist?
They are not called "illustrator gestures" for nothing.
Our hands, and body and head will always SUPPORT or even MIMIC what we are recalling.
Closing one's fist is the last gesture that anyone would use when saying "getting free".
Because it's literally, the opposite meaning.
It's like someone said, "Well, I remember the car coming from my right..." and they
gesture to their left.
In those cases, you might be asking, "what should I pay attention to"?
And the fact is that body language is directly connected to the emotion itself, so it has
more weight than words.
Most of the time, when someone is not telling the truth, their brains would be focused on
using the right words.
They will not be able to "lie" with their bodies at the same time.
So, if I was running this investigation, if I was the one in charge of an interrogation
where the suspect closes their first, like holding something, when they say "breaking
free", that would be a huge red flag.
Now, let's add what she said immediately after.
"And he left, he walked out of the room".
According to her testimony, Johnny was grabbing her, she got "kind of free", then...
Johnny walks out of the room.
Sounds like... weird behavior, right?
So let's do a very interesting exercise.
Let's switch the characters on that first part, and let's see if anything changes.
"I...
I remember JOHNNY getting kind of free from... from... from ME, and... and he left, he...
walked out of the room"
How does this sound to you?
And don't you think the closed fist makes more sense that way?
I'm gonna say it.
I think that, what actually happened is that Amber was holding Johnny and he's the one
that got 'kind of free'.
That's why in the previous clip she put so much emphasis in the words "I don't know what
he was doing".
Because he was not grabbing her, but the other way around.
And by the way, she touching her nose at the end, and covering her mouth, doesn't have
a meaning in itself...
but doesn't help her credibility either.
I mentioned the importance of picturing events in your mind for a very good reason.
Recreating someone's recollections is critical because that helps you spot inconsistencies
in what is called situational logic.
The events described by the person should at least make sense when you think about them.
Just a warning: the strange detail in the next clip is quite hard to spot.
One tip is to pay attention to her use of present and past tense.
- At one moment I, uhm...
I'm aware that my sister's... somewhere nearby, and...
I thought about that, I remember thinking about that...
Well, we have another non specific word, "somewhere", but let's say that she really didn't know
where her sister was.
That's perfectly possible.
But she says the words, "I thought about that, I remember thinking about that".
What is the problem with these two sentences?
well, when someone is speaking from memory, it's like they are talking on behalf of their
past self.
In this case, it's Amber giving a testimony today of something that happened a few years
ago.
She's talking on behalf of her past self.
This is a concept that we need to fully understand before going forward.
Her present self is talking on behalf of the Amber from some years back.
And that's precisely why she starts talking in present tense about a past event.
"At some point, I'm aware that my sister's somewhere nearby".
She's talking like she is re-living the action, and that's what we usually do when we are
trying to recall things from memory.
But then she says, and notice how the tense changes, "I thought about that".
She just snapped out of the past experience and now she's talking like present Amber,
talking about Past events in past tense.
And right after that, she says "I remember thinking about that".
That last sentence can only make sense for "present Amber".
Now, our brain will always take shortcuts, and when retelling any story, it will automatically
select the best way to do it.
Maybe, speak about the whole experience in present tense, like you're reliving it, just
like she started, OR you recall the story in the past tense.
That's OK either way.
But your brain will naturally keep talking in the same tense, just for cognitive economy.
These inconsistencies in tense, jumping from past to present, usually happen when your
brain is trying to evaluate itself, what you just said.
To make sure it is making sense.
And that in itself is suspicious.
Because, if you're talking from memory, you just need to recall the events as they happened,
whichever tense you choose.
Now, this next part is important, and it's much easier to spot the issue.
Amber's own attorney is gonna ask her a question, and all you have to do is verify, that she
actually answers the question she's asked.
Here it goes:
- When you say free from Johnny, what if any connection...
did you have to physical...
connection, before then?
- You know, trying to stand up for myself, Johnny would...
at that stage of our relationship, he would just throw me.
Hit me in the face, all I could do is try to... try to fight back, or try to... not
get more hurt.
Now, you might have noticed two things.
First, that Amber initially was talking about Johnny grabbing her.
But then, her attorney asks the question about what does she mean about being free from him?
Amber changes the focus from the specific event to a general topic.
That is not answering the question, that is evading it and just blurting out a rehearsed
line.
Not to mention that microexpression of contempt that Amber shows right at the end of that
statement.
And she was talking straight to the faces of the jury at that moment.
It's like she despises them for buying into her story.
Now, let's see how she continues:
- Uhm, I don't really recall... specifics, I remember at one point he had his uncasted
hand on my hair, and I was looking at the carpet, I don't know... I don't know what
happened immediately after that, but I remember her left.
He was out of the room for a while.
So, again, Johnny was "holding her", and the next thing you know, he was walking out of
the room?
Well, there are no shortage of absurdities about Amber's recollection of events.
And I understand that victims of abuse can have memory gaps.
Memory gaps can be real mechanisms of the mind to protect itself.
But then, one has to make the question: why does she insist in talking like she's giving
solid details about these events?
That's something the jury should take into consideration, besides all the red flags that
we've seen so far.
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.