Following a domestic argument earlier this year, Jonathan Majors was found guilty of beating his former lover, Grace Jabbari. The Marvel star received an acquittal on two counts of misdemeanor assault and abuse on Monday, but a Manhattan jury found him guilty on additional charges. Majors was found not guilty by the six-member jury on one charge of third-degree deliberate assault and one count of second-degree severe harassment. When the verdict was announced, Majors, who was present in the courtroom with his attorneys and present lover Meagan Good and was dressed in a dark grey suit, remained silent.
On February 6, Judge Michael Gaffey scheduled the sentencing. Majors could receive a probationary sentence in addition to an additional year in bars. Majors injured Jabbari in the rear seat of his vehicle, leading to his arrest in New York City in March. The 30-year-old choreographer Jabbari said that she saw a text chat from another woman and took Major’s phone when they crossed paths on the set of Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Jabbari claimed to have felt “a hard blow” over her head when Majors tried to take her phone by force, causing bruises, swelling, and excruciating pain.
Marvel Studios broke off its relationship with Majors, who portrayed Disney’s main antagonist Kang the Conqueror, immediately following the guilty conviction. The actor was anticipated to feature in future Marvel comics adaptations, involving “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” which is set to release in 2025. Majors’ defence lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, released an assertion saying that their client “has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
“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,” Chaudhry stated. “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.”
The jury asked to hear a description of misconduct in the second degree, which is when someone is guilty of having the “intent to harass, annoy or alarm” another person; “he or she strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects such other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same.” The two-week-long trial came to an end in a more junior Manhattan courtroom. The jury requested to see CCTV footage and the testimony of a lady who went to a pub with Jabbari following the attack before reaching a decision.
Prosecutor Kelli Galloway informed the jury over the trial that Majors had been unjust and deceptive towards Jabbari for their two-year relationship. In texts and audio recordings made public by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Majors appears to have threatened to kill himself after an altercation and tried to talk Jabbari out of visiting the hospital for treatment of his head injury. Majors told Jabbari in an audio tape provided for the jury that he is “a great man” who is “doing great things, not just for me, but for my culture and the world,” and that she should act like Michelle Obama and Coretta Scott King. During her closing remarks, Galloway told the jury, “What this really boils down to is four simple words: control, domination, manipulation, and abuse. “[Those are the] tactics used by those who commit domestic violence against partners, against Grace.”