The Marvel actor faced charges of misdemeanour assault and aggravated harassment and a violation of harassment.
A New York jury found Marvel actor Jonathan Majors guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment.
According to THR, the verdict was reached on Monday by a six-person jury after roughly four hours of deliberation spread across three days. Jonathan Majors, wearing a grey suit and black dress shirt and tie, sat with his attorneys, with family members and his girlfriend, Meagan Good, behind him as the verdict was read. He was found not guilty of intentional assault in the third degree and not guilty of aggravated harassment in second degree. Sentencing is set for Feb. 6.
Majors faced four charges of assault, aggravated harassment and harassment after he called 911 on March 25, when he said he found his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari, unconscious in their apartment. Police arrested Majors after finding apparent injuries on Jabbari, including a laceration behind her ear and a bruised and fractured finger. Majors pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jabbari, who took the witness stand for the first four days of the trial, said Majors had caused the injuries during an altercation in the car several hours before. She testified that the alleged incident occurred in a private car when she saw a text on Majors’ phone that read: “Oh how I wish to be kissing you.” Jabbari has said she tried to snatch the phone from Majors, who then pried her finger from the phone, grabbed her arm and right hand, twisted her forearm and struck her head to get the phone away from her.
The first three charges are misdemeanour offences and related to alleged incidents in the car. The fourth charge of harassment, which is a violation (the most minor offence among the charges), relates to an allegation that Majors threw Jabbari back into the car as she tried to exit. The defence alleged that he placed her back in the car to stop her from running into traffic. That action is captured on surveillance video, while 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, rather than civil, meaning the burden of proof is higher for the jury who had to find proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on each charge.
The arrest has already had implications on what had been the biggest year in Majors’ career, which included starring roles in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Creed III and Loki season two. In the wake of his arrest both his publicity firm, the Lede Company, and managers at Management 360 dropped him and the Disney-owned Searchlight Features removed Magazine Dreams from its release calendar.
During the trial, prosecutors approached this as a case of domestic violence, while the defence repeatedly called Jabbari’s credibility into question and positioned it as an ex’s revenge. Majors appeared in person every day of the two-week trial, with Good, and family members in attendance. He did not testify during the trial and showed little emotion, except for tearing up during closing arguments from his attorney, Priya Chaudhry, as she said, “His fear of what happens when a Black man in America calls 911 came true.”
As part of his defence, Chaudhry claimed Jabbari was the aggressor in the car, pointing to the fact that Majors’ coat was ripped and the fact that Jabbari is seen on surveillance video running after Majors down the street after the initial alleged altercation in the car. Jabbari said that she ran after him to find out who sent the text.
Chaudhry further argued Jabbari was uninjured after leaving the car and had gone “revenge partying” at a club, where she bought champagne on Majors’ credit card, while still being able to use her right hand, which she said had been injured. Jabbari testified that she had sought help from three strangers on the street, after the first altercation in the car, and they then invited her to a club, which she accepted to seek comfort after the alleged incident.
Chaudhry implied that Jabbari had injured herself later, after drinking throughout the evening, and then returning to their shared apartment and taking sleeping pills. Majors, who had stayed at a hotel after leaving the car, returned to the apartment in the morning and called 911 after reporting that he found Jabbari unconscious.
In addition to the video surveillance footage, which also included footage of Jabbari at the club, evidence shown to the jury by prosecutors included photos Jabbari took of her bruised hand and laceration behind her ear while back at the apartment and body-camera footage from officers when they arrived.
Prosecutors also introduced a series of texts into evidence, which could prove damaging to Majors’ reputation, as they brought about several alleged incidents that happened during between Majors and Jabbari’s relationship. They alleged a pattern of abuse, which they said explained why Jabbari had not immediately told police officers that Majors had caused the injuries.
In one of the texts, sent between Majors and Jabbari in September 2022, Majors appeared to dissuade Jabbari from seeking medical attention for an injury (how she sustained the injury was not discussed). “They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you protect us, it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something,” Majors wrote.
These texts were initially deemed inadmissible but then were able to be shown by prosecutors to jury members following a line of cross-examination questions from Majors’ defence team that Judge Michael Gaffey said: “lacked specificity.”
Prosecutors also played a recording Jabbari said she made of Majors during an earlier argument in September 2022, in which the actor admonished Jabbari for drinking and then returning to their home with her friend, and said she needs to live up to the standards of Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama” and “I am a great man.”
Members of the jury were instructed to view this as background information, rather than evidence of propensity to commit a crime.
