Jonathan Majors’ trial on domestic violence charges will now begin on September 6.
With the trial originally set to start today, the new date for the proceedings was announced by Judge Michael Gaffey Thursday at a very short hearing in lower Manhattan.
“The people are not ready for trial today,” Assistant D.A Kelli Galaway told the judge, noting the need for more discovery. Taking that in, Judge Gaffey told the prosecutor that the clock is ticking.
“Time will continue to run against the people.” The remark, it should be noted, was delivered more like a reminder than any sort of threat.
Along with his defense lawyers, the
Creed III star was present in the courtroom on the fourth floor of 100 Centre Street this morning.
Harlem actress Meagan Good accompanied Majors to court today for the literally two-minute hearing, as she did earlier this summer.
Jonathan Majors enters a Manhattan criminal courtroom today to begin trial stemming from domestic violence charges against the actor
pic.twitter.com/4DX6Om8Nw6
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE)
August 3, 2023
Up against misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment, Majors is looking at up to a year behind bars if found guilty. Led by Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ defense team has insisted from the moment their client was arrested
on March 25 that he is not guilty of any assault claims
Subsequently accusing the NYPD and the overall justice system of “racial bias” and calling the whole matter “a witch hunt,” Majors’ attorneys have repeatedly attempted to turn the spotlight on the 30-year-old ex-girlfriend of the
Loki actor as the actual perpetrator in the situation. Following the last hearing in the case back on June 20 in front of Judge Rachel Pauley, Chaudhry put out a statement claiming in part that “last week, we delivered additional compelling evidence to the District Attorney, clearly proving [the alleged victim’s] assault on Jonathan Majors and not the other way around.”
Despite the release of video footage of the women in question on the night on the incident, in which Majors was the one to call 911, that evidence has not emerged yet. In fact, a still sealed decision by Judge Pauley back at
the June hearing saw Chaudhry withdraw documents disputing the accuser’s allegations.
In a statement put out just after today’s hearing ended, Majors’ lawyer claimed the police were prepared to arrest his accuser when she “sets foot back in New York.”
‘For an excruciating four months, Jonathan Majors, the real victim in this shameful ordeal, has had his life, career, and reputation torn apart,” Chaudhry said Thursday. “Yet he remains unwavering in his determination to be absolved from this harrowing ordeal.”
No charges have been laid against the women in the months since the incident in Majors’ Chelsea apartment. NYPD sources tell Deadline there are “no plans” to do so, regardless of what Majors’ team may have said in the past or today. A full temporary order of protection was granted
on April 27 for the woman by Judge Pauley, and remains in effect.
Today Judge Gaffey made a point of reminding Majors that he must still abide by an order of protection forbidding him from any contact with his accuser. Holding a a bible, a notebook and a green coffee mug, Majors leaned into a microphone at the lectern and said, “Yes, sir.”
In Thursday’s hearing, Chaudhry and the ADA Galaway, both told the judge they would not be filing any motions today. There was some lawyerly crosstalk among them and the judge that included references to chain of compliance — shorthanded as “COC” by Judge Gaffey — and redaction, suggesting that some technical issues are still being negotiated among the parties ahead of trial.
Unlike previous hearings with Majors under Judge Pauley, Judge Gaffey today did not allow photography or videotaping in the courtroom. In an unusual step, the judge barred anyone except Majors and his entourage from leaving the courtroom, a lockdown that lasted several minutes after the actor had exited.
While featured in his Kang role in the recent promo for the October 2 debut of the second season of
Marvel’s
Loki on Disney+, Majors’ profile has certainly dimmed since his arrest.
The actor was unsentimentally dropped both management company, Entertainment 360, and publicist, The Lede Company
in April. Various ad campaigns featuring the
WME-repped Majors, such as one for the Texas Rangers MLB team were shuttered. As a series of roles also disappeared for Majors in the aftermath of the charges this spring, the potential for an Oscar campaign for his acclaimed
Magazine Dreams performance now appears on the back-burner too.
Beating several bidders, Disney’s
Searchlight Pictures acquired that movie after its thunderous premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, The studio has set a December 8, 2023 release date for the Elijah Bynum directed film.