Jonathan Majors trial: what will happen at Loki star’s domestic abuse pretrial hearing in Manhattan this week?

Jonathan Majors will attend court this week where a motion to dismiss assault and harassment charges will be heard by the judge.

The star of Creed and MCU projects Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Loki has been dropped by his management and PR team, and US Army ads featuring him have been postponed in the wake of the charges against him.

Majors was arrested in March and charged with assault and harassment against his partner at the time and has attended several court hearings relating to the charges ahead of a trial.

The actor’s future in the MCU looks uncertain and will likely depend on the outcome of the trial - if the case does indeed go to trial - in the coming weeks and months.

When is Jonathan Majors’ assault trial?

Majors was arrested on 25 March 2023 on misdemeanour charges of assault, attempted assault, and aggravated harassment against his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari - all of which he denies, claiming that Jabbari attacked him. Following his arrest other alleged victims came forward.

His trial was initially set to begin in August but has been delayed several times - first when prosecutors asked for more time for discovery, and again when Majors’ legal team found issues with the certificate of compliance. 

On 15 September Majors appeared virtually at court where Judge Michael Gaffey scheduled the next hearing in his case for Wednesday 25 October.

The time of Majors’ hearing has not been confirmed, but as it will take place in New York which is five hours behind the UK, we can assume that it will occur some time between 2pm and 10pm BST on 25 October.

Where will Jonathan Majors’ trial be held?

Majors’ trial is expected to be held at Manhattan Criminal Court, New York, where his earlier hearings took place. 

Majors attended the court with his new girlfriend Meagan Good on 3 August this year and has since appeared in the courtroom virtually for later pretrial hearings.

What will happen at Jonathan Majors’ domestic abuse trial?

The hearing set for 25 October is a pretrial hearing in which Judge Gaffey is expected to consider a motion filed by Majors’ team on 12 September asking for the case to be dismissed.

Majors’ defence attorney Priya Chaudhry filed the motion to dismiss the case, in which she claimed that prosecutors willfully withheld evidence and that Jabbari was lying and it was in fact Jabbari who assaulted Majors.

The New York Times also reported that New York police found probable cause to arrest Jabbari after Majors filed a complaint against her, but have not done so.

If the motion to dismiss is accepted, Majors’ trial will come to an abrupt end and he will be free to leave the court. However, it is possible that only part of the case will be dismissed and Majors will still have to stand trial for some of the charges against him at a future date.

Additionally, if the motion to dismiss is not accepted, Majors will have to stand trial for the charges currently levelled against him - these are misdemeanour assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and harassment. 

If Judge Gaffey  does not accept the motion to dismiss another trial date will be set where Majors will answer to the charges. If convicted, Majors could face up to one year in prison.