As Jonathan Majors’s domestic assault trial finished its first week in a Manhattan courthouse, text messages between the actor and his accuser, ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, were unsealed; they had previously been referenced in a pretrial filing from the prosecution. Majors has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment originating from an alleged domestic dispute in March.
Six months before Majors was arrested on March 25 and Jabbari was treated at a hospital for what authorities said were “minor injuries to her head and neck,” there was apparently another altercation between the couple. According to People, the alleged incident itself is precluded from coming into the trial—but text messages exchanged between the two parties afterward are admissible as Molineux evidence, which can help prosecutors establish that a defendant’s behavior is “inextricably interwoven with the charged acts.” In the pretrial filing, prosecutors also noted “medical records from London related to an incident that occurred in September 2022.”
The text correspondence presented before jurors on Friday appeared to show Majors telling Jabbari, “I fear you have no perspective of what could happen if you go to the hospital. They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you actually protect us, it could lead to investigation even if you do lie, and they suspect something.”
Jabbari, who on the second day of the trial testified to Majors’s “violent temper,” read these texts before the court, per People. She reportedly cried while reading one: “I will tell the doctor I bumped my head.” Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galaway then took over the recitation: “I will tell the doctor I bumped my head if I go. I’m going to give it one more day, but I can’t sleep and I need some stronger pain killers. That’s all: why would I tell them what really happened when it’s clear I want to be with you.”
During a cross-examination of Jabbari earlier this week, Majors’s criminal defense lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, opened the door to this evidence being presented, according to People. At one point, she reportedly asked Jabbari why she had told emergency staff that she did not remember how she’d been injured following the March 2023 incident. Judge Michael Gaffey, who had previously ruled the earlier incident inadmissible, said Friday that the attorney had asked this in an effort to question Jabbari’s reliability, “even though they knew there might be another reason she was not forthcoming.”
In the September 2022 exchange, Majors appeared to threaten suicide if Jabbari sought medical treatment for her injured head. “Last night I considered killing myself versus coming home,” Majors wrote to Jabbari, adding: “I need love too. Or maybe I’m such a monster and horrible man, I don’t deserve it. And I should just kill myself. In this way, my existence is miserable, I want to die.” Jabbari apparently replied, “I will not go to the doctor if you don’t feel safe with me doing so, or don’t trust me to. I promise you I would never mention you but understand your fear.”
As reported by People, Majors then scolded Jabbari for not hugging him after the alleged argument. “I will probably kill myself, it’s not really contemplating anymore,” he reportedly wrote. “I’m a monster, a horrible man, not capable of love. I’m killing myself soon.” Jabbari replied, “Jonathan, you can’t say this I’m going to have to tell someone.”
After the reading of the texts, Galway asked Jabbari directly why she had told emergency personnel in March that she was not aware of how she’d become injured. “I was just scared of the consequences of it,” Jabbari responded. “I still wanted to protect him.”
Chaudhry has maintained her client’s innocence, saying during opening statements, “In revenge, [Jabbari] made these false allegations to ruin Mr. Majors and take away everything he spent his life working for.” If convicted on his misdemeanor charges, Majors faces up to a year in jail, according to The Hollywood Reporter.