A jury has been selected in the assault trial of Jonathan Majors.
It will be comprised of six jurors, three men and three women, as well as two alternates. Opening statements are expected to take place on Monday. The trial is estimated to last two weeks before the jury begins deliberations.
Majors returned on Thursday to New York City Criminal Court for his assault trial, which began Wednesday after numerous delays. Dressed in a dark grey, double-breasted suit and fedora, Majors walked in holding hands with his girlfriend Meagan Good.
The actor, who has appeared in Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the sports drama “Creed III,” was arrested on March 25 in Manhattan after an alleged domestic dispute with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. Majors has pleaded not guilty to the four charges of assault and aggravated harassment that have been leveled against him; a fifth charge of strangulation has been dropped. He faces up to a year in jail if he’s convicted.
Jury selection began late on Wednesday and resumed on Thursday around 11:08 a.m. It concluded, after a lunch break, on Thursday around 4:30 p.m. “I can see how happy everyone is to be here,” Judge Michael Gaffey cracked to the room of 39 potential jurors.
Several potential jurors expressed familiarity with the case itself or with Majors. One told the judge she had seen videos of Jabbari dancing at the club after the alleged assault took place. A handful of others said they came across videos and articles on social media about the case. Some of them told the judge they wouldn’t be able to be fair and impartial based on headlines and news coverage they’ve seen or read, while others promised they could remain objective. One potential juror said she was not familiar with the case but couldn’t be impartial because she has been a victim of domestic violence.
Defense attorney Priya Chaudhry asked the pool whether they were more likely to believe women accusers and if Majors’ celebrity status would impact their view of him, especially if he chooses to not testify.
Prior to jury selection on Thursday, attorneys and Judge Gaffey resolved a “limited evidentiary issue” that was restricted to the press and public. “The courtroom will no longer be closed for the remainder of this proceeding,” the judge said following the private hearing.
Defense attorneys Chaudhry and Seth Zuckerman had motioned that a single pre-trial issue remain under seal and barred from public view. They argued the disclosure of sensitive information will “deprive” their client of the right to a fair trial. The judge moved to seal the hearing as well as the documents on this issue because it’s “the only way to prevent tainting the jury pool.”
At the time of Majors’ arrest in March, Jabbari told officers that she was assaulted and she taken to the hospital with “minor injuries to her head and neck” after an alleged altercation in a taxi. Majors’ defense attorneys have alleged it was Jabbari who assaulted Majors, and “not the other way around.”
Jabbari in April was granted a temporary order of protection, which remains in place and means the two parties cannot have any direct or third-party contact.
Months later, Jabbari was arrested on Oct. 26 and charged with assault and criminal mischief in connection to the March incident. But the Manhattan District Attorney’s office “declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit.”
