The “Creed III” star Jonathan Majors, who is expected to lead future Marvel films, failed his attempt to avert a protracted domestic violence trial in which he is charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in the back of a chauffeured vehicle in New York.
Even though the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has stated that it will not prosecute Jabbari, hours after that brief hearing, she was taken into custody by police on charges related to the same March event.
On Wednesday morning, October 25 Majors appeared via live stream in Manhattan Criminal Court wearing a light-colored shirt and a tie. Judge Michael Gaffey denied a motion to dismiss the case due to inconsistent evidence and what Majors’ attorneys referred to as the “lack of a speedy trial.”
Rather, Majors’s team and the prosecution entered the judge’s chambers and left after about ten minutes, with the intention of beginning the trial on November 29. Following the hearing, his attorneys did not answer inquiries made outside the courtroom.
The parties requested additional time, thus the trial, which was initially scheduled for August 3, was postponed three times. Majors might spend up to a year in jail if found guilty.
The actor is innocent, according to his legal team, and Jabbari physically attacked him during the backseat argument. That theory has been rejected by the prosecution, who have stated that they do not intend to pursue Jabbari. Still, the New York Police Department said that she was taken into custody on Wednesday night on accusations of assault and criminal mischief. Months after the incident, Jabbari’s detention by police was still under investigation, and there was no clear way to get her tried.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has officially declined to prosecute Grace Jabbari’s case due to a lack of prosecutorial merit. The matter is now closed and sealed,” the office’s communications secretary, Doug Cohen, said in a statement Thursday morning.
At the time of his arrest, Majors was at the height of his career. He had just wrapped up a successful run in the blockbuster movie “Creed III,” been cast as Marvel’s newest villain, and had co-presented at the Academy Awards two weeks prior to the alleged assault.
A dispute started early on Saturday, March 25, while he and Jabbari were returning to his Manhattan home after a car service. Prosecutors filed a motion this month alleging that Jabbari took hold of her boyfriend’s phone when she noticed a text message from someone else that said, “Wish I was kissing you right now.”
Prosecutors claim that while Jabbari attempted to see who sent the text, Majors wrenched her finger off the phone violently enough to break it, twisted her arm, and punched her in the ear, cutting her. After getting his phone, Majors exited the vehicle. Prosecutors claimed that when Jabbari attempted to follow suit, “the defendant grabbed her, picked her up, and threw her back inside.”
Jabbari “sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to a hospital in stable condition,” according to a statement released later by New York police. Majors was taken into custody a few hours after the event. His initial charges were attempted assault, misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, and harassment. However, the strangulation accusation was eventually withdrawn. A temporary protective order against Majors was issued to Jabbari.
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Priya Chaudhry, Majors’s lawyer, has asserted from the beginning that Majors was Jabbari’s victim. According to an Insider story, Majors said to police that Jabbari was “drunk and hysterical” throughout the car ride, slapping and scratching him so forcefully that blood was drawn, in a domestic incident report that he submitted to the police in June.
The actor admitted preventing Jabbari from exiting the vehicle, but stated in his report, “I was worried she would be hurt by traffic. So I physically picked her up and put her in the car.”
According to a court document, prosecutors told Jabbari last month as the district attorney’s office was building its case against Majors that, should she be taken into custody by the police, they would not press charges of domestic abuse against her. In the Majors case, defense attorneys allegedly falsified and leaked court documents, and they even tried to get the police to make a “wanted flier” with Jabbari’s picture, according to the prosecution.
Despite this, Jabbari was taken into custody late on Wednesday, freed, and given a desk appearance ticket for November 8. Police have not provided an explanation for their arrest of her, which occurred months after the incident, on the day her alleged attacker was scheduled to appear in court, and in spite of the prosecutors’ repeated claims that they will not press charges against her.
Jabbari’s attorney, Ross Kramer, stated that he and his colleagues were “disappointed that Ms. Jabbari had to face an arrest that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office already determined was unwarranted.”
He said, “The DA’s Office carefully reviewed all the facts of the case and concluded that Ms. Jabbari was the victim and not the perpetrator. Before we walked into the police precinct, the DA’s Office made clear that they would not be charging Ms. Jabbari with any offense. It is unfortunate and re-traumatizing when a survivor of intimate partner violence is forced to endure an arrest, but Ms. Jabbari is an extremely strong and resilient person who is determined to move forward.”
Majors’ career is clouded because he has stayed mostly out of the spotlight following his incarceration.
Shortly after his arrest, he was dismissed as a client by both his public relations and management companies, according to Deadline. Multiple anonymous sources said in a June Rolling Stone article that Majors has a history of aggressive behavior in both his personal and professional lives. The magazine “embarked on a mission to dig up dirt on Jonathan Majors to falsely paint him as a violent and abusive Black man,” according to an attorney for Majors, who angrily denied the report.
The actor will play the villain Kang in at least three upcoming Marvel films. Majors continued to appear in promotional materials earlier this month, including a trailer for Season 2 of the Disney Plus series “Loki,” despite rumors that Marvel will drop him.
This story has been updated.
