Defendant's Team · Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Nadelhaft
Aidan Murphy
Defense attorney who examined digital forensics witnesses about photograph metadata.
About
Aidan Murphy represented Amber Heard in the Fairfax County defamation trial. He cross-examined Johnny Depp’s forensic expert Bryan Neumeister about his qualifications and the limits of his photograph opinions. Murphy pressed whether a “Photos 3.0” metadata notation established that an image had been visually edited. Neumeister disputed the framing, distinguished metadata from EXIF data, and said the backup extractions could not verify individual photographs.
Murphy later examined Heard’s forensic expert Julian Ackert, who testified that he found original versions on Heard’s devices for all but one photograph Neumeister had flagged. On cross-examination, Ackert acknowledged that he could not authenticate every photograph Heard produced and had not performed the software analysis needed to resolve a question about visually different photographs with matching metadata. On redirect, Murphy asked about the photographs Neumeister had challenged. Ackert said he had no reason to question their forensic authenticity and affirmed that his opinions met a reasonable degree of forensic certainty.
Trial Record (8)
2022 Defamation Trial Apr 11, 2022 – Jun 1, 2022 8 proceedings
Day 0
Day 1
Day 22
Day 23
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Evidence From Their Proceedings (8)
Photographs Excluded
Neumeister Demonstrative PX1303 — File Size Discrepancy
A demonstrative exhibit, designated PX1303, showing three versions of the same injury photograph with mismatched file sizes that would not hash or digitally fingerprint…
Catalog entry → Photographs Excluded
Ackert Demonstrative — Evidence Provenance Chart (Def. 1675)
A summary chart, designated Defendant's Exhibit 1675, listing IDS evidence numbers, source types distinguishing physical devices from iTunes or iCloud backups, and device details…
Catalog entry → Photographs Excluded
Ackert Demonstrative — Neumeister Items Mapping Chart (Def. 1671)
A chart, designated Defendant's Exhibit 1671, mapping each item in Neumeister's report to the corresponding original photograph found on Heard's devices, with columns for date…
Catalog entry → Photographs Unclear
Neumeister-Flagged Photos — Ackert Redirect Rebuttal
Photographs previously flagged by Bryan Neumeister for EXIF metadata concerns, revisited during Ackert's redirect examination. Ackert reaffirmed that he found no forensic…
Catalog entry → Documents Unclear
Neumeister's April 6, 2022 deposition transcript, pages 76, 128, and 233–234.
Catalog entry → Documents Unclear
Neumeister's expert disclosure, page 8, stating injury photo metadata does not indicate the photos went through a photo editing application.
Catalog entry → Photographs Unclear
Photo at Neumeister Cross — Defendant's 170A
A photograph, designated Defendant's Exhibit 170A, discussed during Neumeister's direct examination and then introduced during cross-examination for his opinion on it. Murphy used…
Catalog entry → Photographs Unclear
Photo at Neumeister Cross — Defendant's 517 (No Opinion)
A photograph, designated Defendant's Exhibit 517, shown to Neumeister during cross-examination. Neumeister conceded he was not offering any opinion about it.
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