By ONME Newswire
NEW YORK CITY--On Monday, December 18 in a New York City courtroom through a split verdict, a six-member jury found Californian actor, Jonathan Michael Majors, 34, guilty of one count of reckless assault in the third degree and a non-criminal charge of harassment as a violation after six hours over a span of three days deliberating, according to CBS News. He was acquitted on another charge of assault and one of aggravated harassment--Majors did not testify.
The trial, which began on December 4, stems from a March 25 domestic dispute involving Majors and his former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. Majors had pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of assault and aggravated harassment.
Accordng to NPR, prosecutors accused Majors of attacking Jabbari in the back of a car, and then picking her up and pushing her back into the car when she tried to follow him out of the vehicle at a downtown intersection.
The two had argued in the car after Jabbari saw a text Majors had received from another woman; prosecutors said Jabbari grabbed the actor's phone and Majors reacted by pulling her finger, twisting her arm behind her back, and hitting her in the head in an attempt to retrieve his phone. Majors eventually jumped out of the car at an intersection. When Jabbari tried to follow him, video evidence showed, Majors picked her up and shoved her back into the car. Majors then ran down the street, with Jabbari chasing after him.
Majors went to a hotel, while Jabbari – who testified that she didn't want to be alone after the attack – went out to a club. When Majors returned to his apartment some hours later, he allegedly found her unconscious, and called 911 to report that he thought she may have tried to commit suicide. The jury heard the 911 call.
According to CBS News, jurors saw photos of what doctors confirmed were Jabbari's broken finger and lacerated ear. Jabbari said Majors inflicted those injuries on her in an effort to retrieve his phone.
Majors' defense said Jabbari was the instigator and, "The only thing that broke in the back of the SUV was Grace's heart." The defense showed video of Jabbari partying at Loosie's Nightclub less than an hour later with strangers she met on the street, and played the 911 call Majors made when he couldn't get in touch with Jabbari the next
Majors rose to prominence for starring in "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" (2019), "Da 5 Bloods" (2020), and the HBO series "Lovecraft Country," for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Majors has since portrayed Nat Love in the western "The Harder They Fall" (2021), Jesse L. Brown in the war film "Devotion" (2022), and antagonist Dame Anderson in the sports film "Creed III" (2023).
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he portrayed Kang the Conqueror in the film "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: (2023), while also appearing as variants He Who Remains and Victor Timely in the Disney+ series "Loki" (2021–2023).
NPR confirmed Monday afternoon that Marvel and Disney, which had been priming audiences to expect a major upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film starring Majors, has dropped the actor.
Majors was born in Santa Barbara County, and spent his early years living with his mother, who is a pastor, his older sister, and younger brother on the Vandenberg military base, as his father was in the US Air Force.
Sentencing will be announced February 6, 2024 where Majors could face up to one year in prison.
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