BATTERER MAJORS GETS HELP, NOT JAIL
Actor who assaulted girlfriend sentenced to intervention program
Jonathan Majors was ordered to participate in a yearlong batterer intervention program in his Manhattan domestic violence case on Monday, dodging a jail sentence for assaulting his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in an incident that derailed his promising acting career.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michael Gaffey ordered the “Creed III” actor to participate in a 52-week, in-person program in Los Angeles. He faced up to a year in jail, which the judge said he still could serve if he didn’t attend the therapy sessions.
The disgraced actor, who was fired from all upcoming Disney and Marvel projects following his December conviction, looked down at the defense table with a subdued expression as he learned his sentence. Majors, who wore all black to the proceeding, had no comment leaving court.
Gaffey handed down the sentence in a packed courtroom after hearing a tearful victim impact statement by Jabbari, who said the actor isolated her from her loved ones and made her feel “small, scared, and vulnerable.”
“Even after a jury found him guilty, he will not stop,” the British choreographer said, describing Major’s continued denials in media interviews. “He is not sorry. He has not accepted responsibility, and he will do this again. He will hurt other women. This is a man who thinks he is above the law.”
A jury on Dec. 18 found Majors, 34, guilty of misdemeanor reckless assault and harassment stemming from the incident that occurred in the back of a private car traveling through lower Manhattan. His lawyers sought to portray Jabbari as the abusive one in the relationship.
When she took the stand, Jabbari said her then-boyfriend aggressively reacted when she grabbed his phone after seeing a flirtatious text from another woman.
Jurors saw photos of Jabbari’s broken finger and a bloody cut behind her ear and dramatic surveillance footage of the altercation in the back seat spilling into traffic near the intersection of Canal and Centre Sts.
Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry said the case had destroyed her client’s career and that he was already in counseling and therapy.
She asked Gaffey in vain to let him remain with his therapist instead of attending the specified program.
“This has been the most challenging year of his life,” Chaudhry said.
Chaudhry said her client, who plans to appeal the verdict, would not address the court in case it affected a pending civil action. Jabbari filed suit against the actor in March, alleging he subjected her to “pervasive domestic abuse” throughout their 19-month relationship.
Ross Kramer, a legal representative for Jabbari at Sanctuary for Families, the primary service provider for New Yorkers affected by domestic violence, said she was still dealing with the ramifications of Majors’ actions.
“This is the norm: the impact of domestic violence often lasts far beyond the end of the relationship,” Kramer said. “She overcame every obstacle put in her path to give honest, emotional, public testimony, in a court very far from her home. Grace demonstrated that justice can be served in cases like this.”
A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment.