After repeated delays and clashes between lawyers over conduct of the case, Jonathan Majors goes on trial this morning in New York City on misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment.
If found guilty, the Creed III and Loki star faces up to a year in prison — and untold consequences for what remains of his career.
Majors likely will be in the Manhattan courtroom as jury selection begins today. A New York judge is expected to hear a motion from a handful of news organizations to unseal documents in the case that sources tell Deadline contain information on potential past incidents involving the actor.
Prosecutors will argue that Majors grew violent with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, during a car-service ride from their apartment in Chelsea that came to an abrupt stop in Chinatown on the night of March 25.
NYPD officers who responded after Majors himself called 911 found Jabbari with bruising, swelling, lacerations and a broken finger and arrested the actor, authorities said. He was released after a hearing and ordered to avoid contact with Jabbari. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Majors later filed a cross-complaint with police saying that an out-of-control Jabbari initiated the violence and bloodied him as he tried to restrain her. He said she believed another woman was texting him while they were in the car.
Citing text messages between the couple and security-camera footage related to the incident, Majors’ lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, has described him as the victim of escalating domestic violence by a controlling and abusive partner. Chaudhry has called her client the target of a “witch hunt” fueled by ingrained racial bias among police against Black defendants facing white accusers and a Manhattan District Attorney’s Office determined to press ahead even as the accuser’s story unravels.
Prosecutors declined to charge Jabbari after she turned herself in to police in October to answer Majors’ complaint. Despite trial delays that stretched through summer and into fall, the DA’s office has said they “look forward to presenting the full facts and evidence at trial.”
Jabbari, who worked with Majors as a movement coach during filming, is expected to travel from her home in London to testify for the prosecution about what happened between them that night eight months ago.
What’s undisputed is the professional toll the arrest took on Majors. While he does appear in the second season of Disney+’s Loki, he was dropped by management company Entertainment 360 and publicist The Lede Company in April. Previously announced roles for the Emmy-nominated star of Max’s Lovecraft Country dried up and ad campaigns for the U.S. Army and the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers were pulled.
In October, Disney removed Magazine Dreams, with Majors in a starring performance that already was generating Oscar buzz, from its release schedule.
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Majors’ legal team sought to have the case dismissed and claimed in court filings that prosecutors weren’t turning over required case evidence. The DA responded in October, disputing claims of prosecutorial misconduct and adding information — but no details — about an incident in London in September 2022, where Majors was filming Loki, which led to a police report.
It is unclear whether the DA will be able to introduce that or other past allegations under a New York legal standard that, in rare instances, allows evidence from prior, unprosecuted cases into a new criminal trial.
A DA spokesperson had no comment, and a request for comment by Majors’ lawyers went unanswered.
Dominic Patten contributed to this report
