BY: Walker
Published 1 year ago
Jonathan Majors’ ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari is expected to finish testifying today, marking her fourth day on the stand.
via: People
In text messages between Jonathan Majors and accuser Grace Jabbari, the Marvel actor appears to admit to physical violence against his now-ex — six months before Majors was arrested in March and charged with assault in a separate domestic violence case.
“I fear you have no perspective of what could happen if you go to the hospital,” Majors, 34, texted Jabbari, 30, in September 2022. “They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you actually protect us, it could lead to investigation even if you do lie, and they suspect something.”
In the text messages — displayed to the jury and read into the record by Jabbari on her fourth and final day on the stand on Friday — Jabbari had assured Majors that she would not blame him for causing an injury to her head.
“I will tell the doctor I bumped my head,” Jabbari cried as she read aloud the message in court.
Then unable to continue through her tears, Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galaway took over: “I will tell the doctor I bumped my head if I go. I’m going to give it one more day, but I can’t sleep and I need some stronger pain killers. That’s all: why would I tell them what really happened when it’s clear I want to be with you.”
The text messages, which were previously mentioned by prosecutors in a 115-page pretrial filing in October, are considered Molineux evidence, which the New York State Unified Court System defines as: “conduct that is inextricably interwoven with the charged acts” and which may “provide necessary background information or explanation” to the charged acts.
In that filing, prosecutors mentioned “medical records from London related to an incident that occurred in September 2022.”
That earlier incident of alleged abuse had previously been ruled inadmissible, but, in a series of cross-examination questions, which presiding Judge Michael Gaffey had said lacked specificity, the defense opened the door to prosecutors being able to share with the jury text messages regarding that prior incident, the judge told lawyers Friday morning.
On cross-examination earlier this week, Priya Chaudhry, one of Majors’s defense lawyers, had drilled Jabbari about why the morning after the alleged March 2023 incident, the woman had told emergency personnel that she did not remember how she had become injured.
Gaffey said Friday morning that Chaudhry had asked the questions in an effort to impune Jabbari’s credibility “even though they knew there might be another reason she was not forthcoming.”
In those September 2022 text messages, Majors had responded to Jabbari, threatening suicide if his then-girlfriend went to the hospital for her injured head.
“Last night I considered killing myself versus coming home,” Majors wrote to Jabbari, adding: “I need love too. Or maybe I’m such a monster and horrible man, I don’t deserve it. And I should just kill myself. In this way, my existence is miserable, I want to die.”
Jabbari — who in court was turned in the direction of the projected text messages — had responded: “I will not go to the doctor if you don’t feel safe with me doing so, or don’t trust me to. I promise you I would never mention you but understand your fear.”
Telling her that she could not reject his love and admonishing her for not hugging him after the fight, Majors noted by text: “I will probably kill myself, it’s not really contemplating anymore.” He added: “I’m a monster, a horrible man, not capable of love. I’m killing myself soon.”
“Jonathan, you can’t say this I’m going to have to tell someone,” Jabbari responded by text, noting her perceived error in not hugging him.
As the text messages were read aloud to the jury, Majors — seated at the defense table in a black suit and white collared shirt — kept his head down, hands in his lap, his binder of notes shut.
When the prosecutor finished reading the messages, the actor looked briefly at the jury.
The details of that September 2022 incident were not further detailed for the jury, as that earlier incident is still otherwise precluded from coming into trial.
However, in the 115-page filing reviewed by PEOPLE, prosecutors listed a series of texts by Jabbari in September 2022 — only some of which were shared with the jury Friday — and which included, per prosecutors: photographs of a hand, shoulder and buttock, along with texts about “punching,” “discussing pain,” and, as shared with the jury Friday, on September 22, 2022 a “text with JM,” using Majors’s initials “re medical treatment.”
In court Friday, Galaway then moved on in her re-direct questioning of Jabbari to the March 2023 incident, asking Jabbari why she had initially told emergency personnel that she did not know how she had become injured.
“I was just scared of the consequences of it,” Jabbari answered. “I still wanted to protect him.”
“Ms. Jabbari,” Galaway asked her. “Do you know who caused your injuries on March 25, 2023?”
“I do,” Jabbari said, adding: “The defendant, Jonathan Majors.”
Majors is facing charges of assault in the third degree with intent to cause physical injury, assault in the third degree recklessly causing physical injury, aggravated harassment in the second degree and harassment in the second degree, in connection with an alleged fight between him and Jabbari that spilled onto the streets of Chinatown in March.
