Amid new allegations, Jonathan Majors’ attorney cites video taken just after alleged attack
Amid new allegations, the attorney for embattled actor Jonathan Majors — who was arrested March 25 and charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment — has filed evidence with a New York court that appears to show the accuser uninjured and out on the town after fighting and parting ways with the “Creed III” star the night of the alleged incident.
In her complaint, the alleged victim said the “Lovecraft Country” actor, 33, struck her “about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear.”
In a letter to the court dated Tuesday and accepted Wednesday, and reviewed by The Times, Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, challenged Asst. District Attorney Kelli Galaway’s request for a court date later than the May 8 appearance that is currently on the calendar and presented evidence she said had been given to the ADA for review. The evidence shows Majors’ accuser seemingly unharmed in the hours after the two parted company.
At the same time, a new Variety report said “multiple alleged abuse victims of Majors” had come forward since the actor’s arrest and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The D.A.’s office declined to comment on that report, the outlet said.
Jonathan Majors, one of Hollywood’s rising stars, was arrested Saturday on charges of assaulting and strangling a woman in a New York apartment.
Majors was arrested March 25 in New York City after police responded to a 911 call from a woman in an apartment building. The woman was transported to a local hospital with what police said were minor injuries to her head and neck. Majors was arraigned the following day and released on his own recognizance.
At the end of last month, after the arraignment, Majors’ team released a screenshot of text messages that were unverified but allegedly sent between the actor and the accuser in the hours after his arrest.
In them, the woman allegedly wrote, in part, “They assured me that you won’t be charged. They said they had to arrest you as protocol when they saw the injuries on me and they knew we had a fight. I’m so angry that they did. And I’m sorry you’re in this position. Will make sure nothing happens about this. I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone. I only just got out of hospital.”
Jonathan Majors, star of ‘Lovecraft Country’ and ‘Creed III,’ is facing assault and harassment charges after his arrest Saturday in New York City.
The woman also referred to an initial charge of strangulation — on which Majors was not arraigned — and said she had assured authorities that no strangulation had happened.
“I also said to tell the judge to know that the origin of the [911] call was to do with me collapsing and passing out and your worry as my partner due to our communication prior,” the message says, apparently referring to a fight earlier in the evening.
Majors reportedly was dropped by his management and publicity firms and cut from several film projects in the wake of his arrest.
Majors’ attorney disputed the Variety report Wednesday. “This story is baseless and without any foundation,” Chaudhry told The Times via email. “Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. Mr. Majors is currently considering his legal options.”
A rep for Jonathan Majors claims to have obtained two written statements from a woman recanting the assault allegations she leveled against the actor.
Contrary to the charges Majors faces, Chaudhry alleges in the court filing that after “attacking” her client and allegedly tearing his clothes between midnight and 1 a.m. on March 25, the accuser “went clubbing, got drunk, sent Mr. Majors angry text messages accusing him of infidelity, sent a suicide note to Mr. Majors, took a bunch of sleeping pills, and then, eleven hours later, was found alone in a locked bedroom, unconscious on the floor of a closet, with a cut behind her ear and a broken finger.”
“We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false,” Chaudhry said. “We are confident that he will be fully exonerated.”
Stills taken from security-camera footage and submitted to the court appear to show the accuser at the bar, DJ booth and hostess stand of Loosie’s Nightclub at the Moxy Lower East Side hotel between 1:55 a.m. and 3:06 a.m. on March 25.
The security stills appear to show the accuser at the bar with two uninjured hands as she sorts through credit cards and signs a receipt. They also appear to show her with uninjured hands at the hostess stand and DJ booth.
An attorney for Jonathan Majors claims to possess text messages from the woman he is accused of assaulting. They were allegedly sent after his arrest.
Separate security video from an elevator car appears to show the accuser uninjured around 3:25 a.m. The letter says that video from the nightclub shows the woman brushing hair behind an uninjured ear — which the accuser said Majors lacerated.
Chaudhry told the court that the driver of the car, where the two allegedly fought, would testify that it was the accuser who attacked Majors that night. Chaudhry said this happened between midnight and 1 a.m.
According to Chaudhry, Majors jumped out of the car and ran away — witnessed by “the driver and three people standing in the street” — then hailed a taxi and went to a hotel. The letter says he didn’t see the accuser again until after 11 a.m., when he returned home and called a handyman to unlock his bedroom door. Once inside, the letter says, Majors found the woman “unconscious on the floor of a closet.”
Chaudhry wrote to the court, “We are hopeful that the District Attorney’s Office will move quickly to dismiss this case.”
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