NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Jonathan Majors was ordered to complete a year-long counseling program, but he was spared jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that has Derailed the career of the promising star of that time.
The 34-year-old star of “Creed III” and other films faced up to a year in prison after a Manhattan jury convicted him of rape in December.
In court on Monday, Judge Michael Gaffey sentenced Majors to conditional release, noting that both sides in the case agreed that the charges did not require a prison sentence, because the actor was a first-time offender and his Had no prior criminal record.
She said Majors will have to complete a 52-week individual batterer intervention program in Los Angeles, where the actor lives. He also must continue the mental health therapy his attorney says he is attending. Majors faces up to a year in prison if found in breach of the conditions, which also include an order to have no contact with his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
Major, dressed in all black and accompanied by his girlfriend, actor Meagan Good, declined to address the court and left the court without speaking to reporters.
His lawyer Priya Chaudhary said that the actor did not want to make any public statements that Jabbari could use against him in the civil suit she has filed against the actor.
Majors, he said, is “committed to growing as a person” and will complete any court-directed program “with an open heart,” even though he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal. .
“He has lost his entire career,” Chaudhary said in court. “This has been the most challenging year of his life.”
But Jabbari fought back tears as she addressed the court, saying Major had refused to admit his crime and remained a danger to those around him.
“He is not sorry. He has not accepted responsibility,” she said. “He will do it again and he will hurt other women. He believes he is above the law.”
Jabbari said that Major had led her to believe that the two were in a loving relationship, but in reality, he isolated her from the rest of the world and also isolated her from family and friends.
“I was very dependent on him emotionally,” she said. “I became a different person around her – small, scared and weak.”
Assistant District Attorney Kelly Galloway argued for a violence counseling sentence for Major, saying that, instead of admitting his actions, Major is openly criticizing the court proceedings, launching a “high-powered PR campaign”. Including a nationally televised interview.
Following the December guilty verdict, Majors was immediately snapped up by Marvel Studios, which cast him as Kang the Conqueror, envisioning a role as the main villain in the entertainment empire’s films and television shows for years to come. Was done.
The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Jabbari accused him of attacking her in the back seat of an uncontrolled car, saying he struck her in the head with his open hand, behind her back. His hand was twisted and his middle finger was crushed until it was fractured.
Majors claimed the 31-year-old British dancer was the attacker who flew into a jealous rage after reading another woman’s text messages on his phone. He said he was just trying to get his phone back and get out of Jabbari safely.
Majors hoped that his two-week criminal trial would vindicate him. In a television interview shortly after his sentencing he said he deserved a second chance.
But the California native and Yale University graduate still faces Jabbari’s civil lawsuit, which she filed in Manhattan federal court last month. In the lawsuit, Jabbari accused Major of assault, battery, defamation and causing emotional distress, and claimed she suffered increasing incidents of physical and verbal abuse during their relationship. The two met in 2021 on the set of Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” in which Majors played Kang.
Major’s lawyers have declined to comment on the claims, saying only that they are preparing to file a counterclaim against Jabbari.
The actor had his breakthrough role in 2019’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” He also starred in the HBO horror series “Lovecraft Country,” which earned him an Emmy nomination, and as the opponent of fictional boxing champion Adonis Creed in the blockbuster “Creed III.”
As far as Marvel is concerned, it remains a big question whether the studio will recast the role of Kang or take it in a new direction.
Majors’ departure was just one of a series of high-profile setbacks for the famed superhero factory, which has grossed an unprecedented $30 billion worldwide from 33 films.
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