Amber Heard Pleads Not Guilty To Puppy-Smuggling

It’s not often that we find ourselves asking the question, "who let the dogs in?" Even less often do we have an answer: Amber Heard let the dogs in. And she will have her day in court to determine whether or not she did so legally. After Heard and her husband, Johnny Depp, brought pups Boo and Pistol into Australia via private jet, the dogs were deported and the couple found themselves in legal hot water down under. Though Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce didn’t have Depp’s phone number, he did ensure that Depp’s adorable Yorkshire terriers “buggered off back to the United States” under threat of death. Heard was formally charged with illegally importing animals and falsifying documents after attempting to circumvent the mandatory 10 day permit-and-quarantine period by bringing the dogs in via private jet. She has plead not guilty to the charges that she broke biosecurity laws. The laws are intended to prevent the spread of rabies or other animal-borne diseases. Heard faces a maximum of ten years in prison if found guilty. "Whilst I am unable to comment on the specific matters before the Court I would like to say that I respect the importance of Australia's laws," Heard told NBC News in a statement released by her lawyer. "My decision to defend these charges, as will become apparent in the appropriate forum of the Court, is not intended in any way to diminish the importance of Australia's laws." Her defense sounds intriguing, though we’re not sure what Heard intends to do in court. Maybe she'll say that the dogs ate the paperwork. Or maybe she'll pull a Dog Day Afternoon and start chanting "Attica! Attica!" Or maybe she'll bring McGruff the Crime Dog to the stand as a character witness (good luck with that). Whatever happens, it will be a dramatic reversal for someone involved with Pirates of the Caribbean to be bailing a dog out for a change.