Jonathan Major’s criminal trial continued on Tuesday in a Lower Manhattan courtroom as Grace Jabbari testified.
Majors faces four charges of misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment and harassment after police responded to a 911 call and Jabbari reported being assaulted by Majors, with police noting that she had sustained minor injuries. The Marvel actor has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defense attorney, Priya Chaudhry has claimed Majors called 911 out of concern for Jabbari’s wellbeing.
Prosecutors have alleged that the March 25 incident began after midnight when Majors and Jabbari were in a private car home and she observed a text message on Majors’ phone stating, “Wish I was kissing you right now.”
Jabbari confirmed this version of events, saying she was shocked by the possibility of infidelity given the seriousness of their two-year relationship, which she said was heading toward marriage. She said she grabbed the phone to see the message from Majors, who then pried her finger from the phone, grabbed her arm and right hand, twisted her forearm and then struck her right ear to get the phone away from her. She says Majors ordered the car to stop and when she tried to leave the car, she testified that Majors picked her up and threw her back inside.
Prosecutors showed a video of this moment as well as subsequent surveillance videos of Majors running down the street, with Jabbari chasing him, which she said was to get answers about who he was texting. She was frequently asked whether she felt in pain. While she said she had felt physical pain, she added that she was in a heightened emotional state and, as a dancer, is able to withstand a high level of pain. Majors looked on from the table with his attorneys as she pointed to their relative positions in the car on photos and detailed her version of events.
The actor was again accompanied to court by his girlfriend, Meagan Good, as well as his mother, aunt, sister and other supporters.
After first exiting the car, Jabbari said she ran into three strangers on the street and asked for help getting a car home (given that her purse and phone were still in the car). Majors walked by her and the two entered the car again to talk, at the end of which time she said grabbed at his shirt to keep him from leaving.
Majors left to stay at a hotel and she later agreed to go with the strangers, who had been observing the events inside the car, to their friend’s birthday party at a club, she said. Her time in the club dancing has been pointed to as a sign of her lack of injury by the defense, but Jabbari said it was to seek comfort from her new friends.
“The worst thing in my head would’ve been going back to the empty apartment we shared,” Jabbari said.
Jabbari did not finish her testimony Tuesday and was set to continue Wednesday, after which time she is also expected to be cross-examined by the defense.
The defense has alleged that Jabbari was the aggressor in the car, including slapping, clawing and scratching Majors and later tearing his coat. Defense attorney Chaudhry has also alleged that claims are a result of Jabbari making “false allegations to ruin Jonathan Majors” after the two broke up.
In her earlier testimony Tuesday, Jabbari, a dancer and movement director, detailed meeting Majors on the set of Ant-Man in August 2021 and a period of feeling “very loved and cared for” as they began dating. She then detailed several alleged incidents of Majors growing angry with her and yelling at her or withholding affection over incidents including spending time away from him and not answering her phone, which she said he told her she should not share with her friends and family. In her opening statements, Chaudhry said this prior history has “nothing to do with what happened in the car and very little to do with Jonathan Majors.”
Jabbari teared up several times during her testimony and said she “feared him physically quite a bit” after an alleged incident in London in September 2022, in which she said Majors pulled her headphones out of her ears, smashed them on the ground and later threw her things around the room as she tried to pack.
After she recounted each alleged incident, Judge Michael Gaffey instructed jurors that the testimony was not being offered as proof that the defendant had a propensity or predisposition to commit a crime, but was offered as possible background information.
As previewed in the opening statements Monday, prosecutors are trying to make the case that these events influenced how Jabbari acted on March 25, including her initial reluctance to tell the police about her injuries.
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