Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good are seen arriving at court on December 4, 2023, in New York City. | Source: MEGA / Getty
UPDATED: 9:30 a.m. ET, March 21
From CassiusLife:
After narrowly escaping jail following his domestic assault allegations, Jonathan Majors may have to head back to court.
The former Marvel actor is now being sued by his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, who claimed he allegedly assaulted her and committed battery and defamation against her several times during their relationship, which lasted from 2021 to 2023.
In the lawsuit, attained by the Guardian, Jabbari describes how Majors’ alleged aggressive treatment graduated from “verbal assaults and frightening anger” in 2021 to eventually physically attacking her in 2022.
His alleged attacks include pushing her into a shower door and wall, putting her in a headlock and covering her mouth so no one could hear her, and saying “he wanted to kill her, and that he was going to kill her” before eventually slamming her head against the marble floor.
Instead of reporting the abuse to the police, Jabbari informed a member of Majors’ team in hopes of aiding his behavior, but it only made things worse.
“Soon after, Grace disclosed the physical abuse to a member of Jonathan’s management team in an effort to get him help. Majors was furious when he learned that Grace had outed him as an abuser,” reads the lawsuit.
The court documents also reveal that beyond physical abuse, he aimed to destroy her standing in public after his arrest and amid his initial trial by calling her a liar and attempting to get people to believe he never abused her, painting her as “a crazy liar who should be treated as such.”
According to CNN, she’s seeking more than $75,000 in the suit, but Majors’ lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, was prepared for Jabbari to fire back.
She says the lawsuit was “no surprise. Mr. Majors is preparing counterclaims against Ms. Jabbari.”
Jonathan Majors Found Guilty Of Assaulting Ex-Girlfriend In Bombshell Verdict
A jury on Dec. 18, 2023, found movie star Jonathan Majors guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend following two weeks of testimony at his domestic violence trial in New York City.
Majors, 34, was found guilty of assault and harassment but acquitted of separate assault and aggravated harassment charges, the Associated Press reported.
“Majors, who was asked to stand and face the jurors as the verdict was read, showed no immediate reaction, looking slightly downward,” the AP reported.
Deadline reported that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a statement following the verdict:
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. 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.
The jury had been deliberating since closing arguments ended on Thursday afternoon.
Majors is scheduled to be sentenced in February. He faces up to a year in jail.
It’s unclear how the verdict will affect Majors’ Hollywood career, which was thriving before being abruptly put on hold since the assault and his subsequent arrest in March.
UPDATED: 8 a.m. ET, Dec. 15
The jury empaneled for Jonathan Majors’ misdemeanor domestic violence trial for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, in March is expected to begin deliberating the case on Friday after prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the defense each rested their arguments one day earlier.
The defense’s closing arguments were particularly emotional as the movie star, his lawyer and his girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, were all reportedly fighting back tears.
Citing text messages from Majors to Jabbari that suggested he had been abusive previously in the relationship, Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galloway told the jury that Majors was guilty of “control, domination, manipulation and abuse … tactics used by those who commit domestic violence against partners, against Grace,” Variety reported.
More from Variety:
“When [Majors] acted like that previously, he said to not tell anyone or else it’d ruin their relationship,” Galloway said. “[Jabbari] withdrew from family and friends because it felt like she was lying to them. She didn’t take care of herself, was reliant on [Majors]. He would blame her for making him upset.”
Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ lawyer, employed a different tactic with the jury and said it was up to them to clear an “innocent” man’s name.
Jonathan Majors wiped away tears as his defense lawyer finished closing statements in his misdemeanor assault trial Thursday morning.
“Why are you here?” Priya Chaudhry told the jury. “You are here—” she stopped, her voice choked with tears. “You are here to end this nightmare for Jonathan Majors.”
A tears rolled down Majors’ cheek as he wiped his face with the back of his coat sleeve.
“Jonathan Majors is innocent,” Chaudhry concluded.
In her reserved seat in the first row, Meagan Good, Majors’ current girlfriend who has attended every day of his trial, wiped her eyes with a tissue. Majors’ mother, who has daily sat beside her, put her arm around Good’s shoulder.
Majors faces up to a year in prison if he’s found guilty.
UPDATED: 3:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 13
The judge presiding over Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend in March has made available to the media several key pieces of evidence that have been presented by both the prosecution and the defense.
As a result, TMZ published both the audio of Majors suggesting Grace Jabbari be more like Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama, audio from Majors calling 911 and video footage from the fateful night of the alleged assault in New York City.
While the video doesn’t have audio, it shows Majors running away from Jabbari, who can be seen chasing him until the movie star outruns her.
In a separate audio clip, Jabbari can be heard sobbing as Majors speaks to her sternly about his expectations of her as his girlfriend.
The contents of Majors’ 911 call were also released with the actor telling the operator that he believed Jabbari had tried to die by suicide.
Jonathan tells the dispatcher Grace said she might harm herself after they broke up, and he spent the night in a hotel. JM claims Grace had locked him out of his penthouse apartment in Manhattan.
In the audio, Jonathan says the building’s doorman had to help him get inside, where he found Grace passed out in his closet. He says she’s naked from the waist down, appears to be unconscious and has a cut behind her ear.
Jonathan stays on the line until first responders arrive … and he seems concerned about Grace. The dispatcher asks him if she had fallen, but he’s unsure.
Listen to the clip below:
UPDATED: 8 a.m. ET, Dec. 12
After a week of damning testimony against Jonathan Majors during his domestic violence trial for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend back in March, the movie star on Monday seemingly had the moment in court he and his defense attorneys have been waiting for.
The Uber driver of the car in which Majors is alleged to have attacked and thrown Grace Jabbari back into in March took the stand and said the movie star was not being violent — or “doing anything.”
Speaking through a translator, Naveed Sarwar testified in Manhattan Criminal Court that it was actually Jabbari who “was doing everything” while Majors, he said, “was not doing anything,” PEOPLE reported.
Perhaps even more damning was Sarwar telling Assistant District Attorney Michael Perez that he thought Jabbari was the violent one and that he “had the feeling the girl had hit the boy.”
Sarwar recalled Majors asking him to pull over so he could exit the vehicle.
“He was saying, ‘Leave me alone, I have to go,’” Sarwar said Majors told Jabbari.
Sarwar did corroborate claims that Majors “was trying to push her into the car” when Jabbari tried to follow him.
Also on Monday, a doctor testified that while Jabbari’s broken finger, which she said she sustained from Majors’ violence toward her was “consistent with the narrative” that she was a victim, Dr. William Chian also admitted that the injury was “inconsistent” with Jabbari’s claims her finger was twisted.
Testimony on Monday came days after Majors seemed to admit physically attacking Jabbari — just not on the night in question.
Keep reading to find other important updates from Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial.
UPDATED Dec. 8
Ex-girlfriend testifies Majors ‘attacked me’
Jonathan Majors‘ ex-girlfriend’s testimony continued on Wednesday in the actor’s domestic violence trial stemming from allegations that he assaulted her in March.
Similar to the day before, Grace Jabbari — under questioning from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office — described Majors in violent terms. But Jabbari, 30, also said under oath that she never intended to have Majors, 34, be arrested.
It was Majors, she testified, who called 911 and invited the police to respond after he found her sleeping in his apartment following their breakup the night before over suspicions of cheating, the New York Daily News reported.
“I think just things he had told me in the past of not trusting police — and what they would do to him, as a Black man, and I didn’t want to put him in that situation,” Jabbari told the court.
“He knows what he’s done,” Jabbari said later. “He’s cheated on me. He’s attacked me.”
Later, while under cross-examination by Majors’ defense attorney, Jabbari broke down in tears and sped out of the courtroom when she was asked about her high school boyfriend who died by suicide. The judge objected to the line of questioning before Jabbari’s testimony continued without her having to answer the question, according to PEOPLE.
UPDATED: 11 a.m. ET, Dec. 6
‘Michelle Obama,’ ‘Coretta Scott King’ audio played in court
Jonathan Majors’ ex-girlfriend testified Tuesday in the actor’s domestic violence trial and accused him of violent and intimidating behavior during their two-year relationship, according to reports.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office also played audio of Majors urging Grace Jabbari to be more like Michelle Obama and Coretta Scott King.
In a September 2022 recording that was played during his assault trial in Manhattan state court, Mr. Majors lectured Ms. Jabbari that she should care for him as Michelle Obama and Coretta Scott King — the wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — cared for their husbands.
“I’m a great man. A great man. I am doing great things,” Mr. Majors said, adding: “The woman that supports me, the one I support, needs to be a great woman and make sacrifices.”
On Tuesday, Ms. Jabbari described more than half a dozen episodes that began in December 2021, months into her relationship with Mr. Majors, an actor who had been expected to anchor Marvel movies. But her testimony ultimately focused on the incident for which Mr. Majors was charged: a confrontation in a hired S.U.V. in the early hours of March 25 that was set off when Ms. Jabbari saw a text to Mr. Majors from another woman.
UPDATED: 9:30 a.m. ET, Dec. 5
Opening statements
A prosecutor from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial promised in opening statements Monday to provide damning audio footage that will show the movie star was a controlling and physically imposing boyfriend who assaulted his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, before his arrest in March as part of a larger pattern of abuse.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Perez claimed that Majors “demanded total compliance” from Jabbari and even at one point during their relationship said she needed to be more like Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama, the Associated Press reported. Jabbari is white.
Majors’ attorney described Jabbari as a jealous ex eager to exact revenge after the actor broke up with her in an effort to “ruin Jonathan Majors and take away everything he has spent his whole life working for.”
It was unclear what evidence the prosecution has to back up its case, but Jabbari is expected to testify in the trial, which could last up to two weeks. It is unclear whether Majors will testify.
Original story:
Opening statements were finally set for Monday, Dec. 4, in the domestic violence trial in which movie star Jonathan Majors is accused of assaulting his former girlfriend in a case that has rocked Hollywood and placed an emphasis on the topic of race.
Majors’ defense attorney will finally get a chance to plead her case in a court of law against prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office following months of strategic appeals to the court of public opinion since the actor’s high-profile arrest for allegedly striking Grace Jabbari back in March.
MORE: The Marvelous Rise Of Jonathan Majors
Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ attorney, has maintained her client’s innocence and alleged police bias, claiming that the officers present failed to investigate the alleged assault properly and coached Jabbari to accuse the actor of assault. Chaudhry has also claimed to have provided video footage and witness testimonies supporting Majors’ innocence. In addition, Chaudhry said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office tends to “weaponize accusations where a Black man is accused by a white woman.”
Jabbari is white.
Jury selection in the trial began last week and was completed on Friday.
If convicted, Majors faces up to a year in jail.
Check back for frequent updates as the trial moves forward.
In the meantime, Majors has been an upstanding citizen including, once, notably as a good Samaritan after being shown on video purportedly breaking up a high school fight in footage that went viral and invited suspicion of being staged to produce positive press coverage for the actor.
Majors has also found love with actress Meagan Good, who has faithfully been by the actor’s side during his court dates leading up to the trial.
With that as the backdrop for the trial, here’s everything else you need to know as opening statements are set to begin:
Jonathan Majors, and his girlfriend, Meagan Good, flanked by his lawyer Priya Chaudhry (R), arrive at Manhattan Criminal Court for his pre-trial hearing on August 3, 2023, in New York City. | Source: Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty
What is Majors accused of doing?
On March 25, the NYPD arrested Majors outside of his Chelsea apartment.
He and Jabbari allegedly got into a dispute as they were inside a cab riding to Manhattan from Brooklyn. Chaudhry claims Jabbari “was attempting to steal” Majors’ phone when the incident occurred. Chaudhry filed legal documents in Manhattan stating that the cab driver witnessed Jabbari assault the actor around 1 a.m., hours before he was arrested.
After the incident, Jabbari allegedly told police that she had suffered a broken finger and a laceration behind her ear, but Chaudhry said there is video footage to prove that the woman’s statement was “a complete lie.” Security footage obtained by TMZ showed the woman in a nightclub shortly after the incident with Majors using her right hand normally — the same hand that she claimed Majors injured before they parted ways earlier in the night.
The opinion of a forensic medical expert has also been touted by Chaudhry as another way to help put an end to claims of domestic assault against Majors, who will be able to file a civil suit against Jabbari if he is found innocent.
In late March, Chaudhry released a screenshot of a text message to Majors in which Jabbari appeared to take the blame for the incident. She allegedly assured the actor that she did not tell the police she was attacked.
“Please let me know you’re okay when you get this,” she allegedly wrote in the texts. “They assured me that you won’t be charged.”
Jabbari allegedly continued: “They said they had to arrest you as protocol when they saw the injuries on me and they knew we had a fight. I’m so angry that they did. And I’m sorry you’re in this position.”
On April 19, Variety reported that more women have come forward with allegations of abuse against Majors. They are cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
In late October, Jabbari was arrested and charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and criminal mischief before Bragg’s office said it “declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit.”
Even before the surprise arrest of Majors, people in the movie industry were reportedly calling the actor an abuser. Those unfounded accusations were trumpeted even louder shortly after Majors’ arrest in a series of tweets that have since been deleted.
Since the arrest, Majors has been dropped by his reps at Lede and his management company, Entertainment 360. The fate of his future in Hollywood is unclear.
Priya Chaudhry, lawyer for Jonathan Majors, leaves Manhattan Criminal court on May 9, 2023, in New York City. | Source: Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty
Chaudhry’s past high-profile cases
Chaudhry is described on her website as an award-winning attorney who is “[n]ationally recognized as a premier criminal trial lawyer.” It also says she has worked “over 40 jury trials in over 20 years of practice in some of the nation’s most complicated and high-profile criminal cases.”
Most recently, just last month Chaudhry secured the full acquittal of another high-profile Black male client accused of a violent crime in New York City. Chaudhry touted the not-guilty verdict for Adam Foss, a former Boston prosecutor and prominent criminal justice-reform advocate charged in 2017 with allegedly raping and assaulting a 25-year-old woman. In doing so, Chaudhry claimed Bragg “ignored” evidence that should have precluded any criminal charges against Foss – claims similar to those she’s made about the district attorney’s office’s case against Majors.
In a pair of separate statements emailed to NewsOne, Chaudhry has also questioned the ethics of Braggs’ office and cited an “eagerness” to bring hasty criminal charges — particularly when a Black man is accused of a violent crime by a white woman.
“Furthermore, there is a concerning trend within the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office to weaponize accusations where a Black man is accused by a white woman, casting aside the need for robust evidence in favor of narrative-driven prosecutions,” Chaudhry said. “This represents a misapplication of justice, fueled by societal biases that have no place in a system pledged to fairness and equality.”
Chaudhry went on to accuse Braggs’ office of having “strayed from its mission to impartially uphold the law. Instead, it has drifted toward a path of character assassination and publicity-driven prosecution.”
Other high-profile cases in which Chaudhry was the defense attorney produced mixed results.
SEE ALSO:
‘Snowbunnied?’ Dr. Umar Johnson Has Questions About Jonathan Majors’ Arrest
The post Jonathan Majors May Have To Go Back To Court After Ex-Girlfriend Sues Former Marvel Actor appeared first on NewsOne.
Jonathan Majors May Have To Go Back To Court After Ex-Girlfriend Sues Former Marvel Actor was originally published on newsone.com
