Verdict of the Jonathan Majors trial: the actor sentenced to follow a year of domestic violence program

American actor Jonathan Majors was sentenced Monday by a New York court to follow a one-year education program against domestic violence, after being found guilty of assaulting a former girlfriend, a case which cost his role in the Marvel films.

Following his guilty verdict, decided by a jury of six people on December 18, the Marvel franchise indicated that it would no longer work with the actor who had played a villain role, Kang, in the film Ant -Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and saw two other films looming (Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Avengers: Secret Wars).

The sentence, handed down Monday by the judge who presided over the trial, allows the actor to escape a prison sentence - he faced a maximum of one year - but he will have to follow "52 weeks of a program to combat domestic violence ", "continue his therapy and not be arrested again", the Manhattan prosecutor's office told AFP. “The judge indicated that if the defendant does not comply with the law, he risks up to 364 days of imprisonment for a minor offense,” added this source.

The 34-year-old actor, who starred in Creed III, was found guilty of third-degree assault, the least serious level for this type of charge, and harassment. He was acquitted of two other charges.

The actor was arrested on March 25, 2023 after an argument in a car with his former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, who had testified during the trial in Manhattan court. According to her testimony, the actor attacked her, grabbing her arm violently and hitting her head. Jonathan Majors' lawyers had pleaded his total innocence and appealed.

For Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, the trial on the contrary demonstrated that Jonathan Majors had “become accustomed” to exerting “psychological and emotional pressure” on his girlfriend.

Revealed in particular with his role in The last black man in San Francisco (2019), the actor also played in Da 5 Bloods by Spike Lee (2020) then in the series Lovecraft Country on HBO before Creed III and his entry into the Marvel universe.