Jonathan Majors has been convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend after a two-week trial that the actor hoped would salvage his damaged reputation and restore his status as an emerging Hollywood star.
Majors, seen as one of the future faces of Disney's Marvel superhero franchise until the allegations stalled his rise, had been charged with two counts of assault and two counts of harassment, all misdemeanours.
The jury of six convicted him on one count of assault and one count of harassment and acquitted him of the other charges. The verdict followed a two-week trial in state court in Manhattan.
Majors, who was asked to stand and face the jurors as the verdict was read, showed no reaction, looking slightly downward.
His sentencing was set for 6 February.
Prosecutors said Majors assaulted his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in a hired car in Manhattan in March, leaving her with a broken finger and swollen arm and ear.
Ms Jabbari said over four days of testimony that Majors attacked her after she grabbed his phone upon seeing a text from another woman. She also described his "violent temper" and other incidents where he "exploded" in anger.
"She had shaped herself around the defendant, to cater to his personality, to avoid him being angry with her," prosecutor Kelli Galaway said during closing arguments on Thursday.
Majors arrived in the court each morning carrying a bible, hugging his family members and his current girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, before taking his seat.
Majors’ lawyer claimed it was Ms Jabbari who victimised Majors by attacking him in the car and then falsely accusing him of assault after he broke up with her.
"You are here to end this nightmare for Jonathan Majors," lawyer Priya Chaudhry said through tears during her closing argument.
Majors filed his own complaint against Ms Jabbari, prompting her arrest on assault charges in October. But the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office later closed the case because it "lacks prosecutorial merit."
He starred in the 2019 film The Last Black Man in San Francisco before landing top billing in Creed III and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Majors was dropped by his management company, public relations firm and several advertisers after his arrest, and Disney removed his upcoming film Magazine Dreams from its release schedule.
Source: Reuters
