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MANHATTAN (CN) — The trial of “Creed III” actor Jonathan Majors on domestic violence charges kicked off Wednesday afternoon with a pool of prospective jurors convened in New York state court for jury selection.
The Marvel star is accused of injuring his ex-girlfriend during a domestic spat in New York City last spring.
Majors attended preliminary proceedings in the fifth-floor courtroom in New York City criminal court, clutching his signature ceramic mug and a gold-edged bible together in one hand as he entered, accompanied by his girlfriend, “Roll Bounce” actress Meagan Good.
The breakout star of the 2019 drama “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” faces up to a year in jail if convicted on the misdemeanor counts of assault and aggravated harassment.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
New York City Police Department officers arrested Majors in March after responding to a 911 call for an alleged domestic dispute at an apartment in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
According to the indictment, Majors pulled his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari’s finger, twisted her arm behind her back, lacerated her ear and pushed her into a taxi, causing her to fall backward during the assault.
Jabbari, a British citizen who lives in London, was treated at a hospital for minor head and neck injuries, police said.
Majors, 34, was dropped by his management company and public relations firm in the wake of the arrest.
He was scheduled to star in multiple films in Marvel’s blockbuster “Avengers” franchise after making his Marvel Comics Universe debut earlier this year as the villain Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Marvel Studios has not officially announced how the franchise will handle Majors’ standing in the Marvel Comics Universe.
The trial got underway a month after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Gaffey denied Majors’ request to dismiss the case.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s case is expected to take six days and include up to fourteen witnesses.
Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry, a famed criminal defense lawyer, has said she provided prosecutors with exculpatory video evidence showing the Marvel star was the in fact the victim of the domestic altercation with Jabbari, not the other way around.
Chaudhry asked the judge on Wednesday to bar prosecutors from referring to Jabbari as “the victim” during jury selection proceedings.
Chaudry’s previous high-profile clients include “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah and “Crash” director/screenwriter Paul Haggis.
The “Real Housewives” star is currently serving out a prison sentence of six and a half years after she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a telemarketing scheme that preyed upon the elderly.
Haggis, meanwhile, was ordered to pay $7.5 million in compensatory damages to the woman who accused him of raping her.
Jury selection proceedings in Majors’ trial will resume Thursday morning.
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