Jonathan Majors’ Domestic Violence Trial Delayed Again
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UPDATED with more details: Almost six months after Jonathan Majors was arrested in New York City on domestic violence charges, the start of the Creed III actor’s trial has been pushed yet again.
A short hearing Wednesday determined that another hearing will be held September 15 in theory to set a new trial date.
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After numerous delays, today was supposed to be the actual start of the actor’s trial on misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident in and around Majors’ Chelsea apartment March 25. Although he was the one who called 911 in the spring, the actor is looking at up to a year behind bars if found guilty on claims being prosecuted by Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg’s office.
To that end, Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galaway told Judge Rachel S. Pauley this morning that the prosecution were ready for trial. However, defense lawyers stated in court that there were “deficiencies” in discovery that still needed to be addressed.
Unlike the last hearing on the matter August 3, when Harlem actress Meagan Good was present with Majors in person at the 100 Centre Street courtroom, the 33-year-old actor appeared virtually today before Pauley in the Lower Manhattan hearing. The actor said little beyond short responses to the judge on his understanding of matters. Majors’ lawyers Priya Chaudhry and Seth Zuckerman were in the courtroom for the defense, as was Galaway for the people.
Over a video conference link, Majors looked on impassively and answered questions from Pauley with a string of “Yes, ma’am”s in a hearing that lasted under five minutes. He wore a coral-colored shirt buttoned at the collar and listened as the judge questioned both the prosecutor and his attorneys inside the fourth-floor courtroom.
“The people are … ready for trial,” and prepared to produce any witnesses, experts and trial exhibits, Galaway said. Defense lawyer Zuckerman told the judge, “We have written to the prosecutor regarding deficiencies” in a so-called certificate of compliance filed by DA’s office that says prosecutors have turned over all the required case evidence to the defense.
Zuckerman said that correspondence on the issue between the defense and prosecutors is continuing.
Last month, it was Galaway who told another judge that “the people are not ready for trial today.” Seeing the matter punted yet again, Galaway in early August stressed the need for more time for more discovery in the matter.
“And of course, once a firm trial date is set, he will need to appear in person,” Judge Pauley said today to Majors’ lawyers, before turning to the actor on-screen to let him know that he can also appear on the 15th via video teleconference. “Between now and the next court date no contact whatsoever with the complainant in this case, and stay in touch with your attorneys,” Pauley said, adding, “Good luck.”
Led by NYC-based lawyer Chaudhry, Majors’ defense team has adamantly insisted from the jump the actor is “completely innocent” and a victim of a “witch hunt” due to “the racial bias that permeates the criminal justice system.”
The defense team has made repeated efforts to turn the spotlight on to the character and motivations of the 30-year-old woman who was in the apartment with Majors on March 25. On the scene that night, NYPD officers reported that Majors’ now ex-girlfriend suffered “minor injuries to her head and neck” from the incident. Notwithstanding a litany of proclamations and predictions by Chaudhry’s office in the months since — not to mention leaked video footage of the woman out clubbing that weekend — the ex-girlfriend in question has not been arrested.
While prominently featured in a return to his villainous Kang role in the just released trailer for the second season of Marvel’s Loki on Disney+, premiering October 6, the WME-repped Majors’ once rocketing career has dramatically dulled in the months since his arrest and initial arraignment. Dropped suddenly in April by managers 360 Entertainment and PR team the Lede Company (as Deadline exclusively reported), Majors has seen ad campaigns and film roles fall away in quick succession.
Additionally, even as one arm of the Disney empire maintains Majors is on board for Loki and the next phase of Avengers movies, the loud talk of an Oscar nomination for his Magazine Dreams performance has gone silent as the town awaits the outcome of the case. Snapped up by Disney’s Searchlight Pictures not long after the intense Elijah Bynum-scripted and -directed bodybuilding drama debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Magazine Dreams has a December 3 release date.
Chaudhry and Zuckerman declined comment afterwards Wednesday, and a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office reiterated Galaway’s in-court statements.
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