Jonathan Majors at court on Dec. 4, 2023.Photo:Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo
Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo
Six Manhattan jurors have begun deliberating inJonathan Majors’misdemeanorassault trial.
TheCreed IIIactor, 34, is facingchargesof assault in the third degree with intent to cause physical injury, assault in the third degree recklessly causing physical injury, aggravated harassment in the second degree, and harassment in the second degree in connection with analleged fightbetween him and hisex-girlfriendGrace Jabbariin New York City back in March.
The actor walked hand-in-hand with his mother toward the fifth floor courtroom Thursday morning then kissed her hand as they parted ways and hugged his family as they walked inside.
Majors, who has maintained his innocence from the beginning,faces up to one year behind barsif convicted of the charges. However, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office tells PEOPLE there is “a wide range of possibilities” that could occur in sentencing that go beyond jail time.
Head down, Majors stared into his lap as Judge Michael Gaffey instructed the jury on the pertinent law in the case. The judge released jurors for deliberations starting at 3:40 p.m. Thursday.
The two-week trial included 15 witnesses, video surveillance footage, 911 audio and alleged text messages between the couple in which Majorsappears to admit to a previous physical attackandthreaten suicide if she went to the hopsitalfor her alleged injuries.
Jonathan Majors and Grace Jabbari on Sept. 12, 2022.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Over four days of testimony last week, Jabbari, 30, told the jury that Majors, her boyfriend of more than a year and a half, had often slipped into easy “rage and aggression,” during their relationship, and that on March 25 they had gotten intoa physical altercation, which led to his arrest.
Describingthat night, Jabbari said after an evening out the couple was inside a hired car and heading back to the penthouse they shared when she claims she saw a text message from another woman on his phone.
Jabbari said she took the phone from his hands and that, in response, Majors allegedly twisted her right arm. As she curled her body “just trying to protect myself,” she claimed she felt “a really hard blow against my head" that “took me aback.”
Majors banged repeatedly on the door, with Jabbari unconscious inside, Majors’s agent testified to the jury Wednesday afternoon. Then, Majors called 911.
Jabbari went to the hospital and was treated for a hairline fracture to a bone in her middle finger and a cut to her ear. Majors was arrested in his living room.
The only person beyond the couple to witness the alleged fight wasMajors’ private driver, who had taken them into Brooklyn for a play and then dinner before starting the return trip home.
Grace Jabbari on Dec. 5, 2023.Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo
Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo
“He was not doing anything,” Naveed Sarwar, speaking through an Urdu interpreter, testified of the actor, referencing a set of interactions between the couple in the car that night. Then of Jabbari, he said: “She was doing everything."
“This is not a he said–she said case,” Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galaway told the jury Thursday afternoon in closing statements. “This is a she said-plus.”
As part of her closing statements, Galaway flashed on a screen alleged text messages between Majors and Jabbari from September 2022 — months before the charged incident — in which Majorsappears to admit to physically attacking Jabbariandthreatening to kill himselfif she went to the hospital for an injury to her head.
“Context,” Galaway said as the jury turned toward the messages.
Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good at court on Dec. 5, 2023.Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo
Chaudhry said police who responded to Majors’ 911 call “bought [Jabbari’s] white lies, they bought her big lies. Who else bought her lies?” She gestured to the assistant district attorneys sitting in front of her. “These prosecutors bought Grace’s white lies, her big lies and all her pretty little lies.”
Heading into those closing statements, Majors kissed the cheeks of his mother and all the other supportive female family members seated in the front row. Then, skipping overcurrent girlfriend,Meagan Good, in her reserved seat in the front row, he made his way to other supporters seated behind her.
“Ah!” Good, 42, laughed. She was still laughing as Majors circled back, grinning at his joke before planting a kiss on her lips.
The couple, however, was somber soon after. As Chaudhry concluded her closing statements, instructing the jury: “You are here to end this nightmare for Jonathan Majors,” a tear rolled down Majors’ cheek. He wiped his face with the back of his coat sleeve.
“Jonathan Majors is innocent,” Chaudhry said. Good, who hasattended every day of trial, wiped her eyes with a tissue. Majors’ mother, who has daily sat beside theHarlemactress, put her arm around Good’s shoulder.
After the jury was sent to deliberate, Majors and Good left with his lawyers to await the eventual verdict outside the courtroom.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
