Jonathan Majors, known for playing a supervillain in a Marvel franchise, will take on a more uncomfortable role Monday when a New York City jury begins hearing evidence in his domestic assault case.
The 34-year-old actor will appear in a lower Manhattan court as a defendant in a criminal trial where his ex-girlfriend will confront him on charges that he assaulted her during a taxi ride in Chinatown earlier this year.
Grace Jabbari, a British dancer and movement coach, will testify that her ex attacked her when she snatched his cell phone after reading a text message (presumably from another woman) that said “I wish I was kissing you right now,” prosecutors say from Manhattan.
The six jurors and two alternates who will decide the case will hear two very different accounts during opening statements Monday morning about what happened around midnight on March 25 inside a car on Canal Street, just a few blocks from the courthouse. where the two-week trial was held. The trial will take place.
Majors’ mother, Terri Anderson-Mays, at his side before opening statements in the domestic assault case. Steven Hirsch Jonathan Majors arrives with his new girlfriend Meagan Good. Steven Hirsch
As told by prosecutors, Majors, then a rapidly rising Hollywood star, responded when Jabbari grabbed her phone by pulling her finger, twisting her arm behind her back, punching her ear and then picking her up and throwing her back into the taxi after that she tried to follow him.
He was also initially accused of choking Jabbari, but prosecutors later dropped the strangulation charge due to lack of evidence.
Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good enter the courtroom of Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, December 5, 2023. Steven Hirsch
But Majors, who has pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts of assault and three misdemeanor counts of harassment, maintained that Jabbari was the aggressor.
In June, three months after his arrest, Majors walked into the NYPD’s 10th Precinct and provided a detective with evidence that a “drunk and hysterical” Jabbari had grabbed and scratched his face that night, drawing blood. , his lawyers said in court documents. .
Majors’ attorneys have also released video that they say casts doubt on the severity of Jabbari’s injuries, including footage of Jabbari being spun by her allegedly broken finger and drinking champagne at Loosie’s nightclub on the Bowery hours after the altercation. .
Jabbari is expected to take the stand sometime this week in Manhattan Criminal Court and whether jurors believe she could decide Majors’ fate.
“This case is really about a person’s credibility,” Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ attorney, said during a pretrial hearing last week.
Jabbari’s (right) testimony could make or break the case. fake images
Jabbari was eventually arrested as well for her role in the altercation after a District 10 detective found there was probable cause that she assaulted Majors, but the district attorney’s office immediately dismissed the case for what it called a “misdemeanor.” of procedural merit.”
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Criminal Court Judge Michael Gaffey has ruled that Majors’ lawyers will be allowed to question Jabbari about his arrest, despite prosecutors’ objections.
But the judge called the circumstances of Jabbari’s arrest “highly unusual” and suggested Majors may have received special treatment because of his celebrity status.
“There are people who pass through this court every day who are indigent and are accused of a crime. I don’t think I’ve ever seen, three months later, an indigent person requesting the arrest of a complainant, and then the complainant was actually arrested,” Gaffey said during last week’s hearings.
“Did this only come about because of the high-profile nature of this case?” Gaffey added. “And if he were an ordinary, homeless New Yorker, would this have happened?”
Meanwhile, Majors’ attorneys have accused prosecutors of having tunnel vision regarding their client and targeting him because of his race.
“Instead of dismissing false charges against an innocent black man, the People have intentionally withheld evidence of his innocence” and “buried evidence that proves his white accuser is lying,” the attorneys claimed in court papers.
Majors this year played the villain Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel film “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” and co-starred alongside Michael B. Jordan in “Creed III.”
Majors’ attorneys have cited grainy video of Jabbari drinking and dancing at a nightclub the night of the episode as evidence that his injuries were not serious. Court documents
Critics also praised his performance as an obsessive wannabe bodybuilder in the dark character study “Magazine Dreams,” which debuted to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
But the film’s release date was delayed indefinitely after news of Majors’ arrest broke.
The actor appeared in court dressed in double-breasted suits, carrying a gold leaf Bible and with his new girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, at his side.
It was still unclear Monday morning whether Majors will testify in his own defense.
You will be given the option to do so after prosecutors finish presenting their case.
Actor Jonathan Majors arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court with his girlfriend Meagan Good on Monday, December 5, 2023. James Keivom
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Source: vtt.edu.vn