What to know
- Jonathan Majors, a rising Hollywood star, saw his assault case before a jury Thursday; he did not testify on his own behalf.
- The court case has centered on allegations brought forward by Grace Jabbari, a 30-year-old British dancer, who said the “Creed III” actor hit her on the side of the head, twisted her arm and broke her finger during a dispute.
- In closing arguments that ended before lunch Thursday, a lawyer for Majors portrayed Jabbari as a compulsive liar who made up a story of an abusive relationship as revenge after catching her boyfriend of two years texting another woman.
NEW YORK — A jury began deliberating Thursday whether Jonathan Majors is guilty of assault following a trial in New York that featured conflicting narratives about whether the rising Hollywood star was the aggressor or the victim during a chaotic fight with his then-wife. girlfriend who started out in the back seat of a car.
The criminal case has centered on allegations brought forward by Grace Jabbari, a 30-year-old British dancer, who said the “Creed III” actor punched her on the side of the head, twisted her arm behind her back and He squeezed the finger until it broke during a dispute last spring.
In closing arguments that ended before lunch Thursday, Majors’ attorney portrayed Jabbari as a compulsive liar who made up a story of an abusive relationship as revenge after catching her boyfriend of two years texting another woman.
The 34-year-old actor wiped his eyes with a tissue as his lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, implored the jury to “put an end to this nightmare for Jonathan Majors.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors said the actor “hit” his partner in the head, leaving her dazed in the back seat of a car. They said the assault was the latest escalation in Majors’ repeated attempts to “exercise control” over his girlfriend through physical and emotional violence, citing a previous case in which he allegedly urged her not to seek medical attention for a head injury because could “lead to an investigation.”
Deliberations would resume on Friday afternoon.
The verdict may have implications far beyond the Manhattan courts. Before his arrest in March, Majors’ character, “Kang the Conquerer,” was being set up as the Marvel universe’s next big supervillain. His prestigious drama, “Magazine Dreams,” was postponed from its scheduled premiere earlier this month.
The fight in the back of the car was not captured on video. But in their closing arguments, each side provided security footage showing scenes before and after the dispute that they said underscored their point.
In a video played repeatedly by prosecutors for jurors, Majors can be seen “mistreating” Jabbari outside the vehicle, lifting her off the ground and placing her in the back seat “as if she were a doll,” according to the deputy prosecutor. of Manhattan district, Kelli Galaway..
Minutes later, footage showed Majors running through the dark streets of Lower Manhattan in an effort to evade Jabbari, who said he wanted details about the “romantic” text message he had seen on her phone. The video, according to the defense, served as evidence that “Jonathan was trying to escape from Grace and Grace kept attacking him.”
After Majors fled the scene, Jabbari followed a group of strangers she had met on the street to a dance club, where she could be seen in grainy security footage ordering shots and using her injured hand to hold a glass of champagne and sign a check.
Those images, the defense argued, showed that she was unharmed after the incident. But prosecutors responded that Jabbari had not discovered the extent of her injuries until the next morning, at which point she sent photographs of her bruised hands and a cut to a friend of hers.
“This is not a revenge plot to ruin the defendant’s life or career,” Galaway said. “What matters is what happened in the car that night.”
2023-12-15 04:38:09
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