Even celebrities get subpoenas
Johnny Depp Subpoenaed for Murder Trial
One of the most recognizable faces in the world, and one of the most beloved actors in the world, Johnny Depp, was subpoenaed for a murder trial in 2014. This is not the type of thing that most people would associate with Depp, but it did happen. And in strange Hollywood fashion, he was even served with legal documents that called him as a witness to a murder case while at the premier of one of his films, Transcendence.
However, there were some oddities with this particular subpoena. One of the biggest being that Depp was not actually a witness to the crime. He did not even know the person who supposedly committed the crime. So, why was Depp involved at all? Well, it gets weirder.
Who Was the Murderer?
Nancy Lekon was a limousine driver in Los Angeles. It was she who was charged with murder. She had run over and killed a pedestrian in 2009 and she was going to stand trial in 2014 for that murder. Her plea, according to her attorney, was not guilty by reason of insanity. Still, this makes one wonder just why Johnny Depp would have been involved in all of this. The answer has to do with the insanity plea.
You see, Lekon claims that she was in a relationship with Johnny Depp. She says she was going to meet him on the night where she ran down the victim. However, there was no actual connection between this woman and Johnny Depp. They had never met. So why did the public defender want to subpoena Depp? It was actually because they had never met that the defendant’s attorney wanted Depp to show up. He believed that it could actually help to prove that his client was delusional and therefore not guilty due to insanity.
Fortunately for Depp, he was not required to testify at the murder trial. The lawyers for the prosecution as well as the defense agreed that he was not in a relationship with the woman accused of murder. This likely made Depp quite happy, as being subpoenaed for something you had absolutely nothing to do with seems as though it could be rather frustrating.
Being subpoenaed can happen to anyone, even celebrities, as you can see. Selena Gomez has been subpoenaed, Mary-Kate Olsen has been subpoenaed, and so have plenty of others. Whether someone is a celebrity or an average Joe off the street, they can be subpoenaed if the need arises.
What Happened to Nancy Lekon?
With this case, the focus was mainly on the fact that Depp was subpoenaed. People considered it “celebrity news” and sometimes forget that one person died and another was standing trial for murder. As soon as Depp was no longer involved in the case, people lost interest. On April 30, 2014, Lekon was sentenced to 12 years in state prison. She ended up pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter for hitting and killing a woman named Sonia Taunanuu.