On the morning of March 25, 2023, actor Jonathan Majors was arrested on assault and harassment charges after his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, accused him of assaulting her in a taxi. The rising Marvel star — who has maintained his innocence and claimed he was the victim instead — quickly faced blowback. One week after Majors’s arrest, the U.S. Army paused an ad campaign that featured him. He and the fashion house Valentino “mutually agreed†that he wouldn’t be attending the Met Gala. And the Texas Rangers dropped him from the team’s 2023 ad campaign.
In the months following his arrest, scrutiny of Majors grew. In June, Rolling Stone reported that Majors allegedly had a history of abusive behavior over the past ten years. The bombshell investigation, which involved more than 40 interviews with people who knew the actor, said the alleged behavior extends back to his time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama, where, some associates claimed, he had been involved in physical altercations. They claimed it also unfolded on movie and TV sets. In June, Majors filed a cross-complaint against Jabbari, alleging that he had been assaulted. The New York Police Department determined there was enough evidence to make a case against Jabbari and authorized her arrest. She surrendered to the NYPD’s 10th Precinct on October 25 after receiving a summons despite prosecutors having told the NYPD they wouldn’t pursue a case against her, and indeed, the Manhattan DA did not.
Jury selection in the case took place on Thursday, November 30, marking the trial’s official start. On December 18, a jury found Majors guilty of two counts: reckless assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor, and harassment in the second degree, a violation. Here’s a rundown of the three-week trial, including opening statements, testimony from Jabbari, and the jail sentence Majors is facing.
What are the allegations against Majors?
On March 25, 2023, Jabbari and Majors took a car to Brooklyn from their shared Manhattan home. While the couple was in the car, prosecutors said, Jabbari saw a message on Majors’s phone that effectively read, “Wish I was kissing you right now.†Jabbari grabbed the phone from Majors to see who had sent it. Majors began grabbing her right side and “prying Ms. Jabbari’s right middle finger off the phone, causing bruising, swelling, and substantial pain,†prosecutors charged. He then grabbed Jabbari’s arm and right hand and started to twist her forearm, causing her extreme pain, prosecutors said. “The defendant then struck Ms. Jabbari’s right ear, causing a laceration to the back of her ear and substantial pain,†prosecutors added in court filings. After allegedly hitting Jabbari, Majors took his phone and got out of the cab. Jabbari tried to leave the car, but Majors “grabbed her, picked her up, and threw her back inside,†prosecutors said. According to a court filing, Jabbari endured “substantial pain, including a fractured finger, bruising about her body, a laceration behind her right ear, and a bump on her head.†Police arrested Majors later that evening, and at his arraignment the next day, he was charged with misdemeanor-assault and harassment counts.
What kind of evidence is there against Majors?
In a court filing, prosecutors revealed they had interviewed 11 witnesses, sourced surveillance video from nine locations, had photos of Jabbari’s alleged injuries, and acquired medical records from the U.S. and the U.K. In a particularly interesting twist, prosecutors said their evidence included “a police report prepared by the London Metropolitan Police.†Prosecutors also said in a filing that they were trying to seek records “from London related to an incident that occurred in September 2022.†There weren’t any additional details on the police report or incident; however, Variety noted that Majors was in London during this time while filming season two of Loki for Disney+.
What’s the deal with Majors’s complaint against Jabbari?
Majors filed a cross-complaint with police against Jabbari claiming she had attacked him, and police informed prosecutors on June 21 that he had done so. Prosecutors said they had followed the normal procedures in delayed domestic-violence cross-complaints: They told police to carry out a complete investigation before activating what’s called an I-Card, which is essentially the green light for an arrest. Prosecutors insisted they hadn’t told anyone in the NYPD to issue or cancel an I-Card and said in a court filing that police didn’t tell them an I-Card had been activated until a few months later. On September 8 and 12, prosecutors told the NYPD they would not pursue any charges against Jabbari brought by police related to Majors’s delayed allegations.
Despite this, police decided to continue with action against Jabbari. She surrendered on October 25 and was issued a desk-appearance ticket to appear in court related to the May incident, per CNN. The case didn’t go anywhere because prosecutors had already said they wouldn’t pursue a case against her. “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has officially declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit. The matter is now closed and sealed,†the DA’s press office said in an October 26 statement. Following these developments, Jabbari’s attorney, Ross Kramer, told the AP the NYPD’s decision was “unfortunate and re-traumatizing.â€
What has Majors said about the case?
Majors’s attorney, Priya Chaudhry, did not respond to Vulture’s recent request for comment. Her March 25 statement, however, pretty much sums up what he has maintained all along: “Jonathan Majors is completely innocent and is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows. We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently.†However, Chaudhry made subsequent comments indicating that the case might get nasty. She called the proceedings a “witch hunt†that was “saturated with explicit and implicit bias†against her client and intimated that it was about race. She claimed prosecutors “have willfully withheld evidence†that would prove Majors’s “white accuser is lying.â€
What happened with jury selection?
Majors’s domestic-violence trial started Thursday with jury selection in Manhattan court. Majors entered the courtroom just before 10 a.m. wearing a slate-gray double-breasted suit accessorized with a fedora as he breezed down the aisle with his rumored girlfriend, the actress Meagan Good, at his side. The selection process started at about 11. The prospective panelists ranged in age and ethnicities, hailing from different neighborhoods in Manhattan. Their jobs were diverse: Among the possible jurors was a television actor. (We won’t give more details on the actor now, in the event he’s chosen, but he’s not a star per se. He’s had some small parts on big shows.)
When the judge had everyone involved in the case introduce themselves to potential jurors, Majors added quite a personal touch. The actor stood toward the 39 possible panelists, did a sort of half-bow with crossed arms, touched his heart, and then sat. As the judge conducted preliminary questioning of potential jurors to see whether they were familiar with the case and whether they could be impartial, several said “no.†These candidates, all women, said they saw video of Majors accuser Grace Jabbari dancing at a club after the alleged assault. The judge asked whether they could put what they saw aside and just consider the evidence. They all said “no.â€
Majors was very serious about note-taking during the jury-selection process. He had a large piece of card stock, which appeared to be an open and flattened file folder, and was taking notes on each candidate. His two attorneys had the same folder setup, with one using Post-it notes as squares for a grid. A panel of six jurors and two alternates was selected Thursday afternoon, per New York Post reporter Ben Kochman. Opening statements are expected to take place on Monday, December 4.
What was up with the judge kicking reporters out of court?
Jury selection did not start first thing in the morning, hence the one-hour gap between Majors’s entrance and selection. Judge Michael Gaffey started the day by closing his courtroom to the press and public to issue a decision on “the admissibility of some evidence at trial.â€Â This closed-door decision stems from a closed-door proceeding yesterday, which was also related to papers that are under seal, about which almost nothing is known.
Indeed, effectively all that’s known is that there is a dispute about whether some evidence could be admitted at trial. Gaffey’s opaque comments Wednesday explaining why keeping things secret provided scant details. “Though the court has not ruled yet on the admissibility of this evidence, it is likely to be prejudicial and inflammatory,†Gaffey said.
“The court has considered the extensive press coverage of this case and believes that the press would report on this evidence whether or not it’s admitted at trial,†he also said. “The court concludes that sealing the hearing and documents related to the single pretrial issue is the only way to prevent tainting the jury pool …†When Gaffey reopened the courtroom following the sketchily sealed proceeding, all he revealed was that they resolved the evidentiary issue and said court would “no longer be closed.â€Â The secrecy is troubling for many reasons, because the judge effectively said he doesn’t want journalists seeing this information because there wasn’t a way to guarantee what the press would say about it. This goes against the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press, as people in power aren’t the arbiters of what can and can’t be published based upon what they do or don’t want to see in reports.
What’s happened with opening statements so far?
On December 4, the trial began in earnest with opening statements. Prosecutor Michael Perez alleged that Majors assaulted Jabbari in an effort to cover up his cheating. More, Perez accused Majors of engaging in a “cruel and manipulative pattern of psychological and physical abuse†during their relationship of about two years and used “physical violence against her to manipulate her, control her, and physically hurt her.†Meanwhile, Majors’s lead attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said that he was the real victim and hinted that racial bias impacted the case. She mentioned Jabbari’s “blonde†hair and “fair†skin, for example, and described him as “a Black man who found his girlfriend unconscious in his closet, in America, called the police for help.â€
What did Grace Jabbari say on the witness stand?
Jabbari started testifying against Majors on the morning of December 5. She described meeting majors in September 2021 on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp in the U.K. He quickly wooed her with poetry and early professions of love and left her affectionate notes. But as time wore on, Majors began acting angrily toward Jabbari whenever he felt disappointed or slighted, she testified. He also repeatedly threatened suicide, she claimed, keeping her involved in the relationship despite his outbursts.
What did the driver from the night of the alleged attack say on the witness stand?
Naveed Sarwar, who drove the Escalade in which Jabbari accuses Majors of assaulting her, testified on Monday, December 11. In brief testimony, Sarwar said he picked up Majors and a woman in Chelsea around 5 p.m. on March 24, 2023. He drove them to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a show and waited until they came out after some time. Then he drove them to a restaurant. After a few hours, it was time to drive them back home to Manhattan. They did not seem intoxicated when they left the restaurant, Sarwar said. He testified through an Urdu translator: “I was taking them to Manhattan, and when we reached Canal and Bowery Street, the girl said that ‘I want to see something on your phone.’†Of her demeanor, Sarwar said, “She wanted to see a message, some message.â€Â Majors said “‘there is nothing,’ but the girl was insisting.†Sarwar said he was looking straight ahead, but that “the girl†became “very angry.â€
“I was feeling that something is going on in the back seat,†he said, and described it as “he was trying to get rid of her.†Sarwar testified that Majors “was not doing anything†but was “trying to throw her into the car.†After they got out, Sarwar said, he called his booker, who told him to wait. Eventually, Majors and Jabbari got back into the car.
When asked if he saw Jabbari hit Majors, he said: “I had a feeling the girl had hit the boy†because of sounds he heard. On cross-examination, Majors’s lawyer Seth Zuckerman had just a few questions. Among them: “Did you ever find any blood in your vehicle after that night?†He didn’t.
What is the deal with the just-released evidence?
Throughout the course of the trial, jurors have seen and heard evidence of Majors’s alleged abusive behavior toward Jabbari over the course of the relationship, and on December 13, the public was finally able to see this evidence outside of court. The judge, who had prohibited its release, decided during week two of the trial that lawyers on the case could provide it to the media; this decision came following reporters’ and media organizations’ request for access.
Among the evidence released was video of Majors appearing to push Jabbari into their livery car early on March 25, 2023; photos of a gash behind her ear; and a September 2022 recording in which he tells his then-girlfriend to act more like Coretta Scott King. This bizarre instruction came on the heels of Jabbari’s return home with a friend, after they had been drinking at a nearby pub. Majors, whom Jabbari said was angry, told her that she “needs to live up to the standards of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s wife, and Michelle Obama.†On this recording, shared below, Majors also remarked, “I am a great man — a great man†doing great things.
The prosecution rested on December 13, and the defense began its case. Its first witness was NYPD detective Ronnie Mejia. The detective said that he interviewed Majors in June 2022 for his cross-complaint against Jabbari. Mejia’s testimony was brief and a bit confusing. He initially said that Majors walked into the 10th precinct to file a report, but then said that his defense attorney came to the station. Mejia said that he conducted an interview with Majors via FaceTime, with his attorney in the room. Jabbari did wind up being arrested in relation to Majors’s cross-complaint, but the case against her was dropped. Indeed, prosecutors had told the police prior to Jabbari’s arrest that they would not pursue a case against her, making it odd that she was collared anyway. Majors’s team has previously contended that the DA told Mejia not to arrest Jabbari (which prosecutors have denied) to suggest that there’s some dark motive behind their case. It’s unclear what Mejia accomplished for the defense, if anything. On cross-examination, he said that it wasn’t typical for a defense lawyer to accompany a domestic-violence accuser — nor was it typical for an accuser to be interviewed by FaceTime.
What was the verdict in the case?
On December 18, 2023, a six-member jury found Majors guilty of two counts: reckless assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor, and harassment in the second degree, a violation. He was found not guilty of two counts: intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree. The first three counts related to Majors’s actions inside the car, while the fourth pertains to when their altercation spilled onto the street. He is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2024. Majors faces up to 364 days in jail.
This story has been updated with additional information from the ongoing trial.