Highlights
- “Jonathan Majors found guilty of reckless assault and harassment of former girlfriend, sentencing on Feb 6.”
- Majors’ successful acting career in Marvel films may be affected by the guilty verdict.
- The trial revealed conflicting testimonies about the altercation in the car between Majors and his ex-girlfriend.
Jonathan Majors has been found guilty of reckless assault and harassment of his former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The verdict was reached on Monday by a New York jury consisting of six people, and they deliberated for just over four hours, which was spread across three days. The actor who portrays Kang in the Marvel universe is set to be sentenced on February 6.
Majors’ arrest after the alleged abuse coincided with the biggest year of his career, having been set up as the new big bad in Phase 5 of the Marvel cinematic universe. He featured in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the Loki television series, as well as starring alongside Michael B. Jordan in the boxing sequel, Creed 3. He was being lined up for further appearances as Kang in future Marvel movies, but this guilty verdict today has put an end to that. Marvel had decided to wait until a verdict arrived in the case before making a decision on dropping Majors. However, Variety has now reported that Marvel have dropped Jonathan Majors following the guilty verdict for harassment and assault. After he was arrested, his publicity firm, the Lede Company, and managers at Management 360 dropped him.
RELATED: Jonathan Majors’ Kang Future Possibly Revealed By Avengers 5 Update
What has Jonathan Majors been charged with?
Jonathan Majors’s legal troubles continued when he was found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree, and he was also found guilty of harassment on Monday. The first three charges are misdemeanor offenses, and they relate to alleged incidents during an altercation in a car with his former girlfriend. The fourth charge of harassment, which is a violation, is considered to be the most minor offense among the charges, and it relates to an allegation that Majors pushed his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, back into the car as she tried to get out.
The defense claimed that he put her back into the car to stop her from running into oncoming traffic. This was all captured on a surveillance video, but significantly, the altercation inside the car was not captured on camera.
The charges against Majors were brought by the state of New York, rather than by Jabbari herself. The case was a criminal trial, so the jury had to find proof of his guilt beyond any reasonable doubt on each of the charges.
What happened in Jonathan Majors’s trial?
Majors’ accuser, Grace Jabbari, took the witness stand in the first four days of the trial, and accused Majors of causing her physical injuries during the altercation in a car. She claims that she read a message on his phone from another woman saying ”Wish I were kissing you right now.” Jabbari said she attempted to snatch the phone from Majors, but he prized her finger off the phone, grabbed her arm and hand, and twisted her forearm and hit her in the head to get the phone away from her prying eyes.
The prosecutors in the case viewed it as a case of domestic violence, but Majors’ defense team fought back with claims that Jabbari was after revenge on her ex-partner and questioned her credibility. The trial lasted for two weeks, and Majors appeared every single day with the support of his family members and his current girlfriend, Meagan Good. He didn’t testify in his defense and tried to keep his emotions in check throughout the proceedings. However, during closing arguments he did become somewhat emotional, which coincided with his attorney, Priya Chaudhry also becoming teary.
Chaudhry claimed Jabbari was the one being violent in the car, and made a point of noting that Majors’ coat was ripped, and a surveillance video clearly shows Jabbari running down the street in pursuit of Majors after the incident.
Other claims by Choudhry were that Jabbari had actually sustained the injuries after the incident when she went ”revenge partying.” Majors stayed at a hotel that night until things calmed down, and he returned to their shared apartment the next morning, and claims he found Jabbari unconscious and called 911, believing she had overdosed on sleeping pills. Choudhry put into words how Majors had felt after his 911 emergency call ended up with him getting arrested:
His fear of what happens when a Black man in America calls 911 came true.
Prosecutors showed the jury photos Jabbari took of her bruised hand and a laceration behind her ear, as well as body cam footage from officers when they arrived at the apartment. A series of texts were also introduced into evidence which didn’t paint Majors in a particularly good light, as the prosecution claimed they showed a pattern of abuse throughout their relationship.
Prosecutor Kelli Galloway alleges that Majors was a manipulative and controlling partner throughout their two-year relationship, and this came to a head on March 25 after the altercation in the car. Variety learned that Galloway stated in her closing arguments:
What this really boils down to is four simple words: control, domination, manipulation and abuse,” Galloway told the jury in her closing statement. “[Those are the] tactics used by those who commit domestic violence against partners, against Grace.
Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry fought back after the verdict in a statement to NBC news:
It is clear that the jury did not believe Grace Jabbari’s story of what happened in the SUV because they found that Mr. Majors did not intentionally cause any injuries to her. We are grateful for that. We are disappointed, however, that despite not believing Ms. Jabbari, the jury nevertheless found that Mr. Majors was somehow reckless while she was attacking him. Mr. Majors is grateful to God, his family, his friends, and his fans for their love and support during these harrowing eight months. Mr. Majors still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.
Leave a Reply