Jonathan Majors’ accuser testifies in assault trial, describes altercation in car

Grace Jabbari took the witness stand Tuesday and told her side of the events that led to the arrest and subsequent charges against her ex-partner Jonathan Majors.

Majors faces four counts of misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment and stalking after police responded to a 911 call and Jabbari reported being assaulted by Majors, and police noted she had suffered minor injuries. The Marvel actor pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defense attorney, Priya Chaudhry, claimed that Majors called 911 out of concern for Jabbari’s well-being.

Prosecutors have alleged that the March 25 incident began after midnight when Majors and Jabbari were in a private car home and she noticed a text message on Majors’ phone that said, “I wish I was kissing you right now.”

Jabbari confirmed this version of events and said she was surprised by the possibility of infidelity given the seriousness of their two-year relationship, which she said was headed toward marriage. She said she grabbed the phone to see the message from Majors, who then took her finger off the phone, grabbed her arm and right hand, twisted her forearm and then punched her right ear to take the phone away. She says Majors ordered the car to stop and when she tried to get out of the car, she testified that Majors picked her up and threw her into it.

Prosecutors showed video of this moment, as well as later surveillance video of Majors running down the street, with Jabbari chasing him, which she claimed was to get answers about who he was texting. She was frequently asked if she felt pain. While she said that she had felt physical pain, she added that she was in a heightened emotional state and, as a dancer, she is able to withstand a high level of pain. Majors watched from the table with her attorneys as she pointed out her relative positions in the car in the photographs of her 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 getting out of the car for the first time, Jabbari said she ran into three strangers on the street and asked for help getting a car home (since her purse and phone were still in the car). Majors walked past her and the two got back into the car to talk, at the end of which she said she grabbed him by her shirt to keep him from leaving her.

Majors left to stay at a hotel and then agreed to go with the strangers, who had been watching the events inside the car, to his friend’s birthday party at a club, he said. The defense has pointed to her time at the club dancing as a sign that she was not injured, but Jabbari said it was to seek comfort from her new friends.

“The worst thing I could have thought of would have been to go back to the empty apartment we shared,” Jabbari said.

Jabbari did not finish her testimony on Tuesday and was due to continue on Wednesday, after which 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, scratching and scratching Majors and then ripping his coat. Defense lawyer Chaudhry has also alleged that the allegations are the result of Jabbari making “false accusations to ruin Jonathan Majors” after the two broke up.

In her earlier testimony on Tuesday, Jabbari, a dancer and movement director, detailed her encounter with Majors on the set of Ant Man in August 2021 and a period in which they felt “very loved and cared for” when they began dating. She then detailed several alleged incidents in which Majors became angry with her and yelled at her or withheld his affection for incidents that included spending time away from him and not answering his phone, which she said he told her she shouldn’t share with her friends. friends and family. In her opening statements, Chaudhry said this previous story “has nothing to do with what happened in the car and very little to do with Jonathan Majors.”

Jabbari cried several times during his testimony and said he was “quite physically afraid of him” after an alleged incident in London in September 2022, in which he said Majors pulled his headphones out of his ears, smashed them on the floor and then he threw them away. He threw his things around the room while he tried to pack.

After recounting each alleged incident, Judge Michael Gaffey told jurors that the testimony was not being offered as evidence that the defendant had a propensity or predisposition to commit a crime, but rather was being offered as possible background information.

As anticipated in opening statements Monday, prosecutors are trying to show that these events influenced the way Jabbari acted on March 25, including his initial reluctance to tell police about his injuries.