Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment in his Manhattan domestic-violence case on Monday, according to the Manhattan DA’s office. He faces a maximum 364-day jail sentence, officials said.
The three-week trial stemmed from an altercation earlier this year on March 25, involving Majors and his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, when he assaulted her in a livery car.
Majors had faced three misdemeanor counts and one violation related to the allegations against him: two counts of third-degree assault (one reckless, one intentional), plus one count of second-degree aggravated harassment, and another of second-degree harassment. The first three counts were related to events inside the car while the fourth, the violation, refers to an incident outside the SUV.
The jury found Majors guilty of reckless third-degree assault and second-degree harassment, meaning he was convicted of the in-car assault and altercation outside the car.
“At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are committed to centering survivors in all of our work. The evidence presented throughout this trial illustrated a cycle of psychological and emotional abuse, and escalating patterns of coercion far too common across the many intimate partner violence cases we see each and every day,†Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement on Majors’ conviction. “Today, a jury determined that pattern of abuse and coercion culminated with Mr. Majors assaulting and harassing his girlfriend. We thank the jury for its service and the survivor for bravely telling her story despite having to relive her trauma on the stand.â€
Prosecutors claimed that Majors assaulted Jabbari after she found out he was allegedly cheating on her. As the couple traveled to their Chelsea apartment following an evening in Brooklyn, Jabbari saw a text on his phone that effectively stated, “Wish I was kissing you right now,†a seeming reference to a D’Angelo song. She took the phone from Majors to see who had sent it. Prosecutors claimed that Majors grabbed her right side, “prying Ms. Jabbari’s right middle finger off the phone, causing bruising, swelling, and substantial pain.†Then, prosecutors said, Majors twisted Jabbari’s arm and hit her right ear, resulting in a gash.
Prosecutors said that Majors then took his phone and got out of the hired SUV. Jabbari tried to get out, too, but Majors “grabbed her, picked her up, and threw her back inside,†prosecutors claimed. Majors was arrested shortly after returning to the then-couple’s apartment later that day. Several months after his arrest, Majors filed a cross-complaint against Jabbari. The New York Police Department arrested her in October; prosecutors had previously said they wouldn’t charge her, so they threw out the case immediately.
Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, maintained his innocence, and criticized Jabbari’s credibility, in a statement issued after the verdict.
“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,†she said.
“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 still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.â€
This story has been updated with additional information.