Amber Heard Perjury Investigation In Australia - Will She Get Charged & Extradited?

hi everyone welcome back to my channel thank you so much for stopping by i've got a bit of news for you if you haven't heard already on the 21st of october 2020 the australian broke the news that amber heard is officially under investigation for perjury in relation to the dog smuggling incident in australia which happened back in 2015. the relevant department that is conducting the investigation is the department of agriculture and a spokesperson for the department stated that the department is investigating if any criminal offenses under commonwealth legislation have been committed relating to the testimony provided to the high court in london and as the matter is the subject of a current investigation the department is unable to provide any further comment at this time this was officially confirmed by the senate rural and regional affairs and transport legislation committee if you want to watch that video it's very short i've shared it on my twitter which is always linked down below in the description box if you've been following johnny's libel case in the uk and if you've been watching the videos that i was making on that topic back in july then you will remember that kevin murphy who was johnny's former estate manager and kate james amber heard's ex-personal assistant both testified and provided evidence that amber asked them to lie to the authorities when she was being investigated for violating the quarantine act and to say that she didn't know she thought that johnny's staff were handling it or taking care of it and that it was a mistake she did plead guilty but she was essentially slapped with a thousand dollar fine and the judge believed that she was a good person who merely made an honest mistake after kevin murphy and kay james testified at the libel case in the high court in london it was revealed that amber lied during court proceedings in australia when she said that she had no idea and that johnny's staff told her that pistol and boo were taken care of as far as immigration was concerned and if you lie in matters that are related to judicial proceedings you are guilty of perjury the department of agriculture and the legislation committee both confirmed that amber is being investigated under commonwealth legislation not state legislation and this is an important distinction to make because the maximum sentence that can be imposed for perjury under commonwealth law is actually different under state law but we'll get to that very soon once i go through the elements of perjury and what must be required in order for amber to be successfully charged and convicted the relevant section to refer to here is section 35 of the crimes act perjury is called giving false testimony under this act and the elements are as follows a person commits an offense if the person gives false testimony touching a matter and the person does so in a judicial proceeding and the matter is material in the judicial proceeding and finally the proceeding is a federal judicial proceeding so the first element that must be satisfied is false testimony attached to kevin murphy's statement in relation to the uk trial is a list of evidence against amber that very clearly demonstrates that she was the master puppeteer if not the sole puppeteer behind falsifying documents and essentially ensuring that her dogs get into australia without the appropriate steps and paperwork in order to ensure compliance with australia's very strict quarantine laws my assumption is the reason she did this is because she did not want pistol and boo to spend 10 days in quarantine before they could have been released back to amber now this evidence in addition to kevin murphy's actual testimony and kate james testimony is what prompted this investigation to start to me it is clear that this evidence satisfies the first element of giving false testimony the second element is also incredibly easy and straightforward to satisfy because amber's testimony was given in relation to the charges that were brought against her for violating the biosecurity act during judicial proceedings that were held in april 2016. she came all the way to australia and went to the southport magistrates court and that is where she provided this testimony and so this false testimony was provided in the course of judicial proceedings the third element is once again easily satisfied as she testified on a matter which is material to the judicial proceeding which means that it is a core issue or a vital issue in relation to the charges that she is being prosecuted for this is a very common and very important element of perjury if you lie about something that is immaterial to the proceedings for example what you were wearing that day unless what you were wearing was actually an issue let's assume it's not for the purposes of this example then you're not going to be charged with perjury you're not going to be guilty of perjury because you lied about something that doesn't really matter it doesn't have anything to do with the issue that is being prosecuted and finally the last element a federal judicial proceeding she violated what was then known as the quarantine act again as i said now known as the biosecurity act and that is commonwealth or federal legislation and so she committed an offense under federal laws and so she was prosecuted under federal laws thereby making the proceeding a federal judicial proceeding the penalty for perjury under the crimes act is imprisonment for five years this is very different from the queensland penalty which is imprisonment for up to 14 years the articles that have been reporting on this topic keep stating that the maximum sentence for perjury in queensland is 14 years which is correct but amber is being investigated under commonwealth legislation federal legislation not state legislation which the queensland criminal code is which is why i made that distinction earlier on in the video so had she violated state laws in queensland rather than commonwealth or federal laws then she would be prosecuted for perjury under the queensland criminal code and she would be liable to up to 14 years imprisonment but since the maximum prison sentence here is five years then that is the maximum sentence that she can face at least that's what the legislation tells me now in terms of sentencing if the law states a maximum sentence that doesn't always mean that that is the sentence that will be imposed courts have repeatedly stated that when sentencing a person for perjury in australia the principle of general deterrence is of the utmost importance therefore courts have determined that a term of imprisonment should be imposed for perjury unless there are exceptional circumstances circumstances that may be considered include the following the level of remorse the impact of the false statement on a finding of guilt or innocence whether the offender has knowingly placed an innocent person in a position where they were at risk of being found guilty or being deprived of their liberty whether the offender is considered to have a special relationship with the administration of justice for example they work in law enforcement and whether a plea of guilty has been entered at an early opportunity now these factors are to be taken strictly in relation to the perjury charges not the initial charges that were laid against her in 2016 where she went to court and pleaded guilty the fact that she may have displayed remorse for the prior proceedings and the fact that she pleaded guilty has nothing to do with this new proceeding that may be initiated against her because the entire basis of this proceeding is that she lied in the first one and i want to bring to your attention two specific points here the first one being the impact of the false statement on a finding of guilt or innocence her false testimony was so vital it went straight to the core of the issue and i believe that she managed to escape relatively unscathed so she had no conviction recorded and like i said she was essentially slapped with a thousand dollar fine purely because she lied had she not lied had she not said that she had no idea about anything and all of the staff were taking care of everything then she would probably have faced more severe consequences for the violation and the second important factor is whether the offender has knowingly placed an innocent person in a position where they were at risk of being found guilty and or being deprived of their liberty this is more so in relation to kevin murphy himself she's essentially put him in such a tight spot she forced him to lie to the australian authorities so she forced him to commit perjury on her behalf that is extremely serious misconduct it's one thing to lie for yourself and to cover your own behind but to put an otherwise innocent person someone who clearly had less power in the situation so there was an imbalance of power in that situation amber was the wife of kevin's employer johnny depp so she knew that she had the upper hand and she had the power potentially it's very reasonable to argue that in kevin's mind she wielded enough power to affect his career that may not be true maybe johnny would not have been swayed by whatever amber told him about kevin but in kevin's mind she may have had the power and so she used that position she used that power whether real or not to manipulate him into committing a crime another important factor here is extradition obviously amber is a u.s citizen and the offense took place in australia since this news broke i've been asked the question can amber be extradited to australia in order to be prosecuted for this crime in theory on paper the answer is yes the u.s and australia have an extradition treaty that they are both parties to known as the extradition united states of america regulations made under the extradition act in australia so without getting too technical and getting into this treaty into a lot of detail and dissecting it it's enough to know the following firstly that a treaty exists and as long as the conditions stipulated by this treaty are followed and met then accused persons can be extradited from the u.s to australia and vice versa for prosecution and eventually maybe even incarceration article 2 lists the various offenses that warrant extradition and perjury is listed as one of them however it's important to note article 5 which essentially states that neither the states or australia are bound to deliver up their own nationals under this treaty so they can't be forced to deliver amber to australia but each of these countries have the power to deliver their people up if in their discretion they believe that it's appropriate to do so article six is also important to note it essentially states that extradition shall only be granted if there is enough evidence found in relation to the charges that have been made against the accused the final and most important question that i want to answer is whether this will go anywhere i want to make it very clear that an investigation does not equal to prosecution she is currently being investigated to ascertain whether there is enough evidence to pursue charges this is a crucial period the investigation period and it's the period during which a lot of cases fall through and do not progress and it's not always down to a lack of evidence in other cases criminal cases specifically when the police are in charge of investigating sometimes it comes down to laziness sheer laziness and a refusal to do their job properly now i'm not going to say that the department of agriculture is going to display that same behavior but it's very important to keep in mind that while this is a good step and a step in the right direction it could still stop right there and charges will never be pursued i can't say whether charges will be pursued there are so many things that go on behind the scenes that i am not privy to i have absolutely no experience in the area if there's anything i've learned in my short career it's that the law is one thing on paper and it's entirely a different story in practice and unfortunately you learned that as a young lawyer on the job when you're in law school you're never told that at least i wasn't as far as i was concerned if you break the law then you face the consequences of course as long as there is evidence to support the charges and to give the accused a fair go because it is important in the administration of justice that the accused is given a fair go as well but that's just not how things work in real life it's so much more than evidence it goes beyond it as i'm sure a lot of you out there already know i mean look at jeffrey epstein's case look how long it took him to finally face the music politics come into play you know corruption diplomacy all these things that i am entirely unsavvy at and i'm not inherently a fan of i'm not a fan of behind the scenes politics and you know under the table deals and agreements because someone is high and mighty and someone is important or someone has enough money i think the most that could happen potentially and even that's a long shot is maybe australia will find that there are enough reasons to slap her with charges but then the u.s won't extradite her and so maybe she'll just avoid australia for the rest of her life as for whether she can freely travel to other commonwealth countries if there is an adverse finding made against her in australia no clue that's beyond the scope of my knowledge unfortunately that's it for this video i hope it answers your questions as always do let me know what you think in the comments below i will be linking nick wallace's website once again which houses all of the evidence that was relied upon and used in the uk trial so if you want to have a look at kevin murphy's evidence and kate james's evidence to see the strength of the evidence against amber in this perjury charge then please do visit that link and have a read of these documents in your own time thank you so much for watching stay safe and i'll catch you in a future video bye

Channel: Lost Beyond Pluto

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Keywords: johnny depp, amber heard, amber heard perjury, amber heard perjury australia, amber heard perjury charges, amber heard perjury investigation, amber heard dog smuggling australia, amber heard dogs australia, amber heard australia, pistol and boo, johnny depp dogs, amber heard apology video, johnny depp amber heard case, johnny depp amber heard trial, johnny depp amber heard australia

Id: WI_ils_YKg4

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020