Friday, 24 May 2024

N.Y.P.D. Has Evidence to Arrest Woman Who Said Jonathan Majors Hit Her

The New York Police Department has determined that a woman who accused the actor Jonathan Majors of assault attacked Mr. Majors herself and believe that there is enough evidence to support her arrest, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Majors, who starred in “Creed III” and was to appear in several Marvel movies, was arrested in March after the woman, Grace Jabbari, told the police that he had assaulted her during a taxi ride to his home in Manhattan. Ms. Jabbari, who had been in a relationship with Mr. Major for several years, said he slapped her face, put his hands on her neck and violently grabbed her hand, according to court records.

Two months later, prosecutors filed an updated account of the incident, in which Ms. Jabbari no longer accused Mr. Majors of having grabbed her neck, but said that he had pushed her into a vehicle. She maintained that he had slapped her in the face, and said that Mr. Majors had grabbed only her middle finger, not her full hand.

A lawyer for Mr. Majors, Priya Chaudhry, has said that the charges are false, and that in fact it was Ms. Jabbari who assaulted her client. She has also said that Ms. Jabbari, a dancer who had worked as a movement coach on one of Mr. Majors’s movies, stole personal belongings from his home.

In a letter to a judge in April, Ms. Chaudhry said that Ms. Jabbari’s tale was a “complete lie,” and told an alternative story, saying that after Ms. Jabbari physically confronted Mr. Majors, hitting and scratching him, she went out clubbing and later passed out in a closet at his home, waking up with injuries to her finger and ear. The New York Post obtained video of Ms. Jabbari out late that night. Insider reported this week that Mr. Majors had filed a police report against her.

Late last week, the police issued what is known as an I-card for Ms. Jabbari. The I-card, which appears in a department database, is different from an arrest warrant, which is typically signed by a judge, but alerts officers that there is probable cause to arrest Ms. Jabbari.

Brad Edwards, a lawyer for Ms. Jabbari, said there was no reason to arrest her and that he had “seen nothing reliable indicating that any agency has developed a different opinion.”

“In fact, we understand the criminal case against Mr. Majors is proceeding as expected,” he said. “Out of respect for the criminal process and the prosecuting attorneys who will make decisions based on the evidence, we do not intend to respond to rumors.”

A police spokesman said only that the investigation into the incident was continuing and that no additional arrests had been made.

In domestic disputes, the parties often accuse each other of assault, and in New York, law enforcement authorities are legally required to identify the primary aggressor. Still, the authorities sometimes seek consequences for both parties; in such situations, people who have filed complaints sometimes refuse to cooperate in order to avoid prosecution.

Mr. Majors’s case has attracted attention because of his growing celebrity. He is key to the future of Marvel Studios and its cinematic universe: In “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” released this year, he played a character called Kang the Conqueror who was expected to appear in various other Marvel projects. Marvel pictures, based on comic books, are in turn important to the movie strategy of its parent company, the behemoth Walt Disney Company, with a market capitalization above $160 billion.

Mr. Majors had been a central part of Marvel’s plans. Since his arrest, that future has been in doubt. The U.S. Army took two commercials that featured him out of rotation, with a spokeswoman explaining, “While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pause our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.”

In March, the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged Mr. Majors with misdemeanor assault among other related crimes. It is not clear how an arrest of Ms. Jabbari might affect the case against him, which is to go to trial on Aug. 3. Misdemeanor charges seldom result in trials, in part because defendants often settle, pleading to lesser charges rather than risking conviction by a jury.

Andrew Bourke, a spokesman for Ms. Chaudhry’s law firm, Chaudhrylaw, declined to comment. Doug Cohen, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment on the I-card but said that “our investigation and case into the assault charges against Mr. Majors remains ongoing.”

Prosecutors typically do not discuss cases publicly, so it is unclear what evidence the district attorney’s office might possess to counter Ms. Chaudhry’s account, or whether it will prosecute Ms. Jabbari if she is arrested.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office, state criminal courts in Manhattan and New York City’s jails. @jonesieman

Chelsia Rose Marcius covers breaking news and criminal justice for the Metro desk, with a focus on the New York City Police Department.

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