UPDATE, 1:58 p.m.: Jonathan Majors will not testify in his own defense at his domestic violence trial.
After just a few hours today, the defense rested its case in Judge Michael Gaffey's courtroom in Manhattan. Since the outcome was unknown until the end, the Creed III actor was ultimately not called as a witness. There were rumors that Majors would give his opinion on what happened between him and then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari on March 25, but in the end his team played it safe.
The Majors' WME agent Elan Ruspoli was the defense's final witness and detailed the conversations and correspondence he had with his client on and around the night in question.
Majors was arrested by the NYPD that March weekend and pleaded not guilty in the matter. If the jury of three men and three women convict him, the Loki star could face up to a year in prison on the four misdemeanor charges.
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday morning and the case could go before the jury before the end of the day.
BEFORE, 9:13 AM: Whether or not Jonathan Majors will testify in his defense in the Loki actor's domestic violence trial took on greater significance today as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office rested their case this morning.
Almost immediately after the prosecution concluded immediately after court opened on Wednesday, the defense team led by Priya Chaudhry asked for the case to be dismissed. Such a Hail Mary is a standard tactic in such processes. While Majors himself sat just a few feet away in the courtroom at 100 Center Street, Judge Michael Gaffey denied the request, as is common practice in such trials.
The judge justified his quick decision by saying prosecutors had presented “competent evidence” consistent with the charges.
Although apparent past incidents have come to light in court, Majors has maintained he is innocent since he was arrested earlier this year on assault charges stemming from the alleged March 25 incident with then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. If the actor is found guilty by a jury of three men and three women, he could face up to a year in prison for these offenses.
On June 22, Majors filed a countersuit against the British citizen, whom he had been dating since 2021, investigating his claim that Jabbari was the attacker that spring night. At the end of October, Jabbari presented himself at a New York police station and was arrested. District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office reiterated what had previously been said, stating that they would not prosecute her and that “the matter is now closed and sealed.”
On Wednesday morning, the NYPD's Ronnie Mejia, who recommended an investigation into Jabbari's alleged actions, was the defense's first witness. Mejia noted that it was the Majors' lawyers, not the actors themselves, who showed up at the station in June.
Majors himself arrived at court before 9 a.m. ET today with family members and his girlfriend Meagan Good and kissed his mother in the hallway before entering a side door off the courtroom. In the courtroom he wore a dark gray suit and a dark blue patterned tie. It was unclear until today whether developments in the trial made Majors' testimony more likely.
Before today, jurors in Majors' domestic violence trial in New York City spent more than a week hearing evidence about the argument that broke out between the Dreams magazine star and choreographer Jabbari during a car ride home on March 25 .
They captured surveillance video, text messages, secretly recorded audio and an eyewitness account of the driver that night. They watched tearful testimony from Jabbari, who said Majors had an explosive temper and there had been incidents before. They heard from Jabbari that Majors hit her in the car when she saw a text message from another woman and tried to grab his phone. The jury has seen photos of the various injuries Jabbari allegedly suffered, including a broken finger and a laceration to his head. You've heard from doctors, trauma experts and others.
But the jury didn't hear directly from Majors himself, and the question of whether he would take the stand in his own defense has dominated the case from the start. Chaudhry raised this possibility during jury selection, asking the 39 potential jurors whether anyone would disbelieve him as a witness just because he was an actor.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the state's attorney's office are using Major's own words against him to convince the jury that he was a physical and emotional abuser during the couple's two years together and on March 25.
In a dramatic shift for the court, some of the material that Judge Michael Gaffey had previously sealed on the grounds of being “likely prejudicial and inflammatory” now made its way to the jury, with the judge ruling that the defense had opened the door to unsealing it Cross-examination of Jabbari. A court deposition this morning released photos of Jabbari and her injuries taken in March by NYPD officers present, as well as several text messages from Majors threatening suicide to his then-girlfriend. These texts apparently came about after a disagreement between the couple in their contentious relationship and were previously mentioned in the case.
Like today, Majors spent the trial between his lawyers, sometimes taking notes, while various members of his family and Good watched from public seats in a courtroom packed with spectators. On the table in front of him are a ceramic cup and a Bible with gold leaf pages that he brings to court every day.
Last week, jurors heard Majors criticized Jabbari for her inadequacies as a partner in audio recordings Jabbari made without his knowledge in London in 2022. “I'm a great man… who does great things,” Majors said in the recording. “The woman who supports me… has to be a great woman and make sacrifices.”
Majors sat stone-faced in court on December 8 as potentially damning texts between him and Jabbari about an incident in London – six months before his arrest in New York – were read out. “I will tell the doctor I hit my head when I leave,” Jabbari wrote of plans to get painkillers from a hospital. Majors wrote back that going to the hospital “would result in an investigation even if you lie and they suspect something.”
When opening statements were presented on December 4, the trial was expected to last about two weeks. Court sources expect the schedule to remain in place.