On Monday at 2:52 p.m., the six-person jury in Jonathan Majors’ assault and harassment trial filed into a Manhattan courtroom and found the actor guilty of some of the charges.
By 4:33 p.m., Disney had publicly distanced itself from its former Marvel villain, saying Majors would not be reprising his role as Kang the Conqueror and dropping the actor from its Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And the fallout from the conviction could continue to loom, with more potential legal trouble in the actor’s future.
Majors was convicted of third-degree misdemeanor recklessly causing bodily harm, as well as second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor. But those charges were based on an alleged fight between him and his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in New York on March 25.
Evidence presented — and excluded — from the trial, as well as reported allegations from dozens of people who knew the actor, suggest there could be additional allegations of abuse.
Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment in the Split verdict
In July, Rolling stone published a report that Majors allegedly physically and/or emotionally abused two of his former partners.
“No one is surprised that this is coming out,” one source said. “It always felt like it was only a matter of time because his behavior never changed. He’s kind of a bad guy, and now it’s just catching up to him.”
The media did not name the women, saying one ex-partner feared retribution if she spoke out. In a statement at the time, one of Majors’ attorneys said, in part, that the actor “vehemently denies it Rolling stonefalse claims that he physically, verbally or emotionally abused anyone, let alone any of his former romantic partners.”
Jonathan Majors leaves court on December 15, 2023.
John Nacion/Getty Images
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But victims’ rights attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who represented the victims of Olympic gymnast Larry Nassar’s sports medicine doctor, says Majors’ conviction could turn the tide.
“High-profile abuse convictions like Monday’s often serve as a catalyst for other survivors to come forward,” Tuegel says, adding that often after one person shares their experience with a jury and gets that experience confirmed in a conviction, others come forward. “with his own experiences of abuse by public figures, whether it’s Majors or someone in a similar position of visibility and power.”
Noting the “intense public scrutiny” of Jabbari leading up to and during the trial, Tuegel says, “When a survivor goes through this process and comes out the other side with a verdict in their favor, it’s encouraging to other survivors and it’s a real encouragement that accountability against abusers is possible. ”
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Heather Cucolo, a professor at New York Law School who specializes in sexually violent predator law, tells PEOPLE that while there are “only a handful of cases where evidence of prior wrongdoing can be introduced at a subsequent trial,” future cases would not be out of the question. areas of opportunity.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on any future charges that may be brought against the actor based on allegations by other women.
During four days of testimony at the start of the trial, Jabbari told the jury that Majors, her boyfriend of more than a year and a half, often flew into “rage and aggression” during their relationship, and that they got into a physical fight in March, which led to his arrest.
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Grace Jabbari December 5, 2023
Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo
Describing that night, Jabbari said that after a night out, the couple were in a rental car returning to the penthouse they shared, when she claimed to have seen a flirtatious text message from another woman on Majors’ phone. She said that she took the phone from his hands and that in response Majors allegedly twisted her right hand. As she bent her body “just trying to protect herself”, she said she felt a “really hard blow to the head” that “caught me”.
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Then, in a cross-examination that Presiding Judge Michael Gaffey said lacked specificity, one of Majors’ attorneys, Priya Chaudhry, drilled Jabbari on why the morning after the incident the woman told emergency personnel she didn’t remember how she got hurt.
Jonathan Majors appears to have admitted physically assaulting ex Grace Jabbari in text messages entered into evidence
Prosecutors successfully argued that Chaudhry opened the door to a series of alleged text messages between Majors and Jabbari dating back to September 2022 — months before the attack and thus previously ruled inadmissible.
In the messages, Majors calls himself a “monster and a horrible man” and appears to admit to physically assaulting Jabbari and threatening to kill himself if he goes to hospital for a head injury.
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Jonathan Majors in court on November 29, 2023.
Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo
The judge reminded the jury that the text messages should not be considered evidence of abuse in their case, which relates only to the allegations from that night on March 25.
“The text messages were bad for Majors,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said in a press release after the verdict. “It was difficult for the defense to try to argue that he never harmed Jabbari, when at the same time the text messages showed that he was clearly worried about being charged with domestic violence. It’s not easy.”
Additional details about that September incident were excluded from the trial, including the existence of medical records for Jabbari’s alleged head injury, which was outlined in prosecutors’ 115-page response to a defense motion filed a month before the trial.
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Outside the confines of the courtroom, such text messages – which were released on the same day that prosecutors closed their case and the defense opened its case – may have put the allegations into a pattern.
“The evidence presented during this trial illustrated the cycle of psychological and emotional abuse and escalating patterns of coercion that are all too common in many cases of intimate partner violence we see every day,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a prepared statement provided to PEOPLE.
He added that “the jury found that the pattern of abuse and coercion culminated when Mr. Majors assaulted and harassed his girlfriend.”
Listen to Jonathan Majors’ call about his ‘unconscious’ ex in 911 audio just before his arrest
And while any past cases of alleged abuse between Majors and Jabbari are unlikely to find their way into a courtroom, Monday’s conviction could affect the actor in any future cases that may come up in the court system, says law professor Cucolo.
If Majors is convicted in future cases, his criminal record could affect future sentencing, Cucolo tells PEOPLE.
“For most crimes, the law lists a range of possible punishments, and a prior offense could elevate a crime that is usually punishable as a misdemeanor to a felony,” says Cucolo. “Therefore, if Majors were to be convicted in the next case, his two misdemeanor convictions could result in stiffer criminal penalties and a longer prison term.”
Majors is scheduled to return to Manhattan Criminal Court for sentencing in the Jabbari case on February 6.
Jonathan Majors stopped by Marvel after being convicted of assault
With Disney dropping the hammer on Majors’ future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the actor dealing with additional fallout from abandoned film projects even before his conviction, Hollywood’s punishment seems to have been much swifter.
As Howard Breuer, CEO of Newsroom PR and former PEOPLE reporter, says: “After this conviction, he has a long road to showbiz redemption.”
Majors’ attorney, Chaudhry, said in a statement Monday that the actor “still believes in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
Additional reporting by Andrea Mandell.
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