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Jonathan Majors’ accuser Grace Jabbari testifies in assault trial
NEW YORK — Jonathan Majors was back in court Tuesday, facing the woman accusing him of assault.
Grace Jabbari, 30, was on the stand, detailing how they met on the set of the movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” She told jurors the relationship intensified quickly before it became abusive.
As CBS New York’s Jessica Moore reports, Jabbari sobbed as she told the jury Majors, 34, threw glass candles at her head when she asked if he was OK, didn’t speak to her for days because she went to a music festival, and berated her for mentioning an ex-boyfriend. Testimony stopped at one point because she was overcome with emotions.
The jury heard a recording of Majors yelling at Jabbari, calling himself a great man and telling her he needed a woman like Michelle Obama.
Prosecutor’s say Jabbari’s testimony paints a picture of systemic abuse by Majors that culminated with the events of March 25, 2023, in Chelsea.
Majors faces two charges of assault in the third degree, as well as harassment and aggravated harassment.
What happened during the alleged domestic assault?
Majors was accused of hitting Jabbari during in the back of a chauffeured SUV back in March and then shoving her back into the car after they had gotten out. Jabbari claimed she tried to grab Majors’ phone after she saw a text message from another woman that said, “Wish I was kissing you right now.”
Prosecutors say as he tried to retrieve his phone from her, Majors then slapped Jabbari, fractured her finger, twisted her right arm behind her back and struck her right ear, causing her to bleed. After they got out of the vehicle, he allegedly pushed her back inside, causing her to fall backward.
Jabbari was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to her head and neck, police said. She was granted a temporary order of protection.
Majors and his attorney have claimed Jabbari was the one who attacked him, saying she was having an “emotional crisis” and Majors was a victim defending himself. His lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, said she has video evidence showing, “irrefutable evidence that the woman is lying, including video proof showing nothing happened, especially not where she claimed.”
Choudhry said Majors was the only person who emerged bloody from the car after Jabbari scratched him. The defense also argued Jabbari spent the next few hours partying with strangers, showing no signs of physical injury.
Why was Jabbari arrested and released?
Majors was arrested on March 25 on suspicion of strangulation, assault and harassment. Police responded to a 911 call for a domestic dispute around 11:14 a.m. at an apartment in Chelsea.
Officers said they determined Majors and Jabbari were involved in a domestic dispute, and they arrested Majors at the scene. He claimed Jabbari had attacked him.
Majors was released on his own recognizance the same day, before he was arraigned the following day.
Six months later, police arrested Jabbari on charges of misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief.
Majors’ attorney had provided video evidence that she claimed showed Jabbari was responsible for the assault. Police opened an investigation into Jabbari based on a cross-complaint filed by Majors.
Hours later, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office dropped the charges, saying the office “has officially declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit.”
Prosecutors pointed to “concerning” discrepancies in the evidence handed over by Majors’ attorney, including a witness who said a statement provided by him was false. The witness was quoted saying he watched Majors “gently” place Jabbari into the car after she slapped him. He said he never wrote that statement, according to the district attorney’s office.
“The matter is now closed and sealed,” said Doug Cohen, a press secretary for the prosecutor’s office.
What can we expect during trial?
The trial began Wednesday, Nov. 29 with Judge Michael Gaffey presiding over the case.
Prosecutors Kelli Galloway and Michael Perez said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office plans to present 14 witnesses and they would need six days to present their case.
Before opening statements Monday, both sides agreed to consolidate the charges Majors is facing, so the jury can more easily understand and make a decision.
The judge also granted a request to show the jury police body camera video of Jabbari but without audio. The video was taken after the alleged altercation as she was speaking with officers.
Majors’ attorney will cross-examine Jabbari on Wednesday morning. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
If convicted, Majors could spend up to one year in prison.
It was hard to miss the massive American flag towering over the Butler Farm Show ground on July 13 as it waved over the rally site where former President Donald Trump was set to speak, just days before a crucial running mate selection and the Republican National Convention.
On July 13, the two of us, who had been tag-teaming coverage of Trump’s third run for president for over a year, went to what we thought would be a typical Trump rally in an open field in a Pittsburgh suburb, a crucial electoral area in a crucial battleground state. It ended with a gunman trying to take Trump’s life, and the death of a fireman, Corey Comparatore.
We stood front and center in the press area at 6 p.m. and Trump took the stage (an hour late, as can be the case) and knew right away that something wasn’t right when what sounded like firecrackers went off to our left. That’s where shooter Thomas Crooks had climbed up onto an unprotected building just outside of the security perimeter and fired multiple shots.
A hydraulic lift that held up a massive stack of speakers was struck, sending smoke shooting out and the speakers slowly fell towards the ground, and as we took cover (ground twice), all we could think was to pull out our phones and get to work. Olivia recorded the sounds of panicked journalists and attendees alike huddled along the press riser and bicycle racks separating us, the shrieks of scared children, and, realized only upon listening many times since, the sound of those around Corey Comperatore yelling for assistance.
Jake spoke with emergency room Dr. James Sweetland, who ran to help Comperatore, and said that he heard the gunshots and went to assist, finding Comperatore “jammed between the benches” before attempting to save his life.
We both stood in shock as the crowd turned on us in the moments after Trump’s motorcade sped out of Butler, with one man yelling “This is your fault!”
What was to be a typical Trump rally wasn’t so typical anymore.
Eighty-four days later Trump returned, and so did the two of us, taking the same route from downtown Pittsburgh, parking in the same location, and enduring a similar heat with no shade in the press pen alongside fellow reporters who, just like us and the former president, chose to return and confront our trauma.
The stage was set up in the same location, with that same American flag looming over Trump and the crowd behind him on that day.
But for everything that was the same that day, there were striking differences. The building where the gunman had climbed up, crawled across, and ultimately fired fatal shots, was completely obstructed from the view of the crowd by tractor trailers. Several teams of snipers were stationed throughout the rally site. It was perhaps the largest crowd we have seen thus far at a Trump rally.
And we are not the same people. Witnessing the events of July 13 took away our feeling of safety while doing our jobs, and the effects of that continue to impact us. There was a moment of shock at one point, when the speaker on stage paused as the crowd shouted “medic” for a woman who fainted. We were frozen in fear hearing the same words that were shouted in the seconds after Trump’s assassination attempt, as people were shouting for a medic to take care of Comperatore.
But like July 13, we had to go to work. Like those in the crowd of tens of thousands that chose to return, there was a sense of unfinished business on this fairground. We had continued on to Milwaukeee and the Republican National Convention to cover Trump’s first public appearance since Butler, but we knew that we had to come back here, no matter how painful it was to land back in Pittsburgh, head north on Route 79 and pull off at the Butler Farm Show, and finish the job: for the two of us, for CBS News, for the country.
Unlike other speakers on the stage Saturday who championed Trump’s words of “fight, fight, fight,” Sweetland went out of his way to mention he is a former Democrat and pleaded with the crowd to reach out and find five Democrats with whom they could find commonality.
“Democrats are like teenagers,” Sweetland said. “You think they aren’t listening, but they are.”
Eight-four days later, the entire race has changed, and so have we.
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