Jonathan Majors found guilty in 2 out of 4 counts of assault, harassment

. I’M KYRA PHILLIPS. I’M TERRY MORAN. WE’VE GOT SOME BREAKING NEWS. THE JURY IN THE JONATHAN MAJORS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRIAL HAS FOUND HIM GUILTY OF ONE COUNT OF ASSAULT AND ONE COUNT OF HARASSMENT, BUT ACQUITTED HIM OF ANOTHER COUNT OF ASSAULTING HIS FORMER GIRLFRIEND. THIS COMES AFTER JURORS SPENT FOUR OR 5 HOURS DELIBERATING OVER PORTIONS OF SEVERAL DAYS. AND THIS IS A CASE THAT HAS GOTTEN A LOT OF ATTENTION. JONATHAN MAJORS, MAJOR RISING STAR. AND HE HE MET A CRISIS AND THIS IN THE JURY HAS NOW RETURNED WITH HIS VERDICT. AND THERE WAS A LOT

OF TALK THIS TRIAL IMPACTING HIS FUTURE IN THE MOVIE BUSINESS STAR WITHIN THE MARVEL MOVIES. OUR LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, BRIAN BUCKMIRE HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THIS FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AS WELL. >> SO I GUESS LET’S FIRST OF ALL TALK ABOUT THE CHARGES HERE. BRIAN, YOUR FIRST REACTION. YEAH, I’M ACTUALLY KIND OF SCRATCHING MY HEAD JUST BECAUSE I’M LOOKING AT THE DIFFERENT CHARGES AND LET ME BREAK IT DOWN. EXPLAIN. THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT ASSAULTS HERE. ONE IS INTENTIONAL ASSAULT AND ONE IS RECKLESS ASSAULT BASED ON THE NUMBER ORDER THAT THEY WERE TELLING US. GUESS AND PLEASE ON

ME, IF I’M WRONG, IS THEY’RE ACQUITTING HIM INTENTIONAL ASSAULT BUT FINDING HIM GUILTY OF RECKLESS ASSAULT MEANING THAT HE JUST DID SOMETHING HE SHOULD HAVE

KNOWN BETTER AND CAUSED THE INJURY OF GRACE JABARI THEN HE’S FOUND NOT GUILTY OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, WHICH IS TO ALARM ANNOY, HARASS OR THREATEN SOMEONE AND SUBJECT THEM TO PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. BUT HE’S NOT GUILTY OF THAT. BUT HE IS GUILTY OF ALARMING AND ANNOYING GRACE. JABARI, TO ME THIS SOUNDS LIKE WHAT WE CALL A KING SOLOMON AND THEY LITERALLY JUST SPLIT THE BABY AND SAID HALF AND HALF. BUT SOME OF

THE CONVICTIONS AND SOME OF THE ACQUITTALS DON’T REALLY MAKE SENSE WHEN YOU PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER. >> WELL, LET ME LET ME TRY TO MAKE A LITTLE SENSE. I WONDER I DON’T KNOW THE EXACT BACK PATTERN THAT WASN’T IN THE COURTROOM, BUT YOU SAY THAT IN THE FURY OF WHAT IS A DOMESTIC DISPUTE, HE WAS RECKLESS IN HIS HANDLING, IN HIS PHYSICAL HANDLING OF JABARI, AND THAT WAS A THAT WAS THE RECKLESS ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT AS HE LOST HIS TEMPER RATHER THAN CONSCIOUSLY WENT AFTER IT, WENT AFTER HER, DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? >> NO, BECAUSE

IT WOULD MAKE SENSE FOR RECKLESS AND THEN THE AGGRAVATED HARASSMENT CAUSE ,THE AGGRAVATED HARASSMENT IS HARASSING SOMEONE THROUGH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. SO WHY FIND GUILTY OF ASSAULTING RECKLESSLY BUT NOT GUILTY OF HARASSING SOMEONE? PHYSICAL FORCE? THAT’S THAT’S THE PART THAT I’M THINKING. SOMEONE JUST KIND OF SAID, YOU KNOW WHAT? I FIND HIM GUILTY FOR TWO, BUT NOT GUILTY FOR THESE TWO. BUT IT COULD WORK. >> SO WE’VE GOT TO ASK THE JURY, I GUESS. YEAH. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE EVIDENCE, BECAUSE THERE WAS CLEARLY A CLASHING FROM BOTH SIDES. WE HAD VIDEO, AUDIO, PHOTOS. DO WE HAVE

THAT VIDEO? OKAY. THIS IS SOME OF THE PHOTOS THAT WE HAD HERE OF OF THE THE BRUISES, THE CUTS. >> THIS IS THE VIDEO THAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. I MEAN, THIS WAS PROBABLY OF THE MOST POWERFUL PIECES OF THE EVIDENCE THAT THEY PLAYED IN COURT. >> ABSOLUTELY. AND I WAS IN COURT WATCHING SOME OF THIS VIDEO GAME PLAYED TO THE JURY. >> AND I THINK IT WAS DIFFICULT FOR BOTH THE PROSECUTION AND THE DEFENSE AND REALLY ARTICULATE THIS VIDEO IN A WAY THAT REALLY MOVED THE JURY. AND I THINK ULTIMATELY THE JURY KIND OF TOOK

THIS CASE INTO THEIR OWN HANDS. WE SAW FROM THE JURY NOTES SAYING WE WANT ALL OF THE EVIDENCE PRETTY VIDEO TESTIMONY. >> NO ONE CALLS AND THEY DECIDE IT FOR THEMSELVES. FOR ME, IS THIS JONATHAN MAJORS ASSAULTING, HIS THEN GIRLFRIEND, THEN RUNNING AWAY OR IS THIS HIM TRYING TO STOP HER FROM STEALING OR I GUESS RHYS STEALING, HIS CELL PHONE AND GETTING AWAY FROM HER, THE JUXTAPOSITION OF HOW THIS WAS PRESENTED TO THE JURY, I THINK IS WHAT CAUSED THE DELIBERATION. >> IT TAKES A LOT AND THERE’S THIS IS THERE’S A STATE OF MIND OBVIOUSLY

THAT THE PROSECUTION WOULD HAVE TO PROVE. RIGHT AND SO HERE THEY ARE. SHE HAS SEEN THE SPARK THAT TRIGGERED THIS FIGHT WHERE . SHE SAW WHAT SHE THOUGHT WAS A MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER WOMAN ON HIS PHONE. SHE WAS TRYING TO GRAB THE PHONE. HE’S TRYING TO GRAB IT BACK THERE, PROBABLY AT THE PEAK OF EMOTIONS AND ANGER AND MUTUAL CONFLICT AT THAT POINT. AND WOULD THE JURY FACTOR THAT IN? IN OTHER WORDS, WE’VE ALL BEEN IN FIGHTS WITH PEOPLE WE LOVE. >> AND SO IT’S NOT THE SAME AS AS AS A SELF, AS MORE CONSCIOUS.

>> CONSCIOUS. MYLES IS LIKE, YEAH, SEE THIS? THIS IS THE DIFFICULT PART FOR ME AND THIS IS WHERE I WAS GETTING IN TROUBLE AT HOME WHEN I TRIED TO BREAK THIS DOWN TO MY WIFE. WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS DEFENSE IS THEY DIDN’T FOCUS ON WHAT IS CALLED PENAL LAW. 3525 IS THE ABILITY TO USE FORCE TO STOP A LARCENY OR THEFT OR CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. >> THE DAMAGE YOUR PROPERTY. >> AND I ALWAYS GO BACK TO THIS ANALOGY THAT I’VE SAID MULTIPLE TIMES AND ABC, IF AND I’LL USE KIRA, USE AN EXAMPLE, IF YOU’RE

WAS WALKING DOWN THE STREET AND SOMEONE TAKES HER PURSE, THE LAW SAYS YOU’RE ALLOWED TO USE FORCE TO TAKE YOUR PROPERTY BACK. THE LAW DOESN’T SAY, WELL, YOUR GIRLFRIEND’S TO TAKE YOUR CELL PHONE BECAUSE SHE’S ALLOWED TO CHECK FOR INFIDELITY. THE LAW SAY, WELL, MY WIFE’S ALLOWED OR I’M ALLOWED TO TAKE MY PROPERTY BECAUSE I NEED TO CHECK IT FOR THIS OR THAT. >> NO, TO ME, THIS BROKE DOWN TO GRACE JABARI STEALING PROPERTY AND JONATHAN MAJORS USING FORCE. NOW THE QUESTION IS IT APPROPRIATE FOR US TO TAKE BACK HIS PROPERTY? >> BUT THAT SEEMS

TO BE AN ARGUMENT THAT WAS MISSED COMPLETELY IN THIS TRIAL. I’M NOT SURE QUITE WHY. FOR THE MOST PART THEY REALLY FOCUSED ON CAN BELIEVE THAT THESE INJURIES ACTUALLY OCCURRED IN THAT VEHICLE. WELL, IN GRACE, YOUR THEN WENT OFF DRINKING WITH THESE NEW FRIENDS THAT SHE SAW THAT SHE SUPPOSEDLY BUMPED INTO A WALL, SLOWLY BOUNCED HER HEAD OFF IN THE DJ BOOTH, WAS SMOKING WITH A CIGARETTE WAS HER FINGER REALLY BROKEN? WAS HER EAR REALLY? THAT’S WHERE THIS CASE REALLY FOCUSED. IT DIDN’T FOCUS ON IS ANY PERSON JUSTIFIED OF USING FORCE TO TAKE BACK THEIR

PROPERTY? >> SO MAJORS DIDN’T TESTIFY IN HIS OWN DEFENSE, RIGHT? THAT’S CORRECT. HE DID NOT TESTIFY IN THIS CASE . SO. SO DO YOU THINK THAT HELPED OR HURT HIM? >> I HINDSIGHT’S ALWAYS 2020. SO YOU LOOK AT IT NOW AND YOU’RE LIKE, MAYBE IT HURT HIM. I THINK THE DIFFICULTY IN HIM TESTIFYING WAS THAT THE EVIDENCE THAT CAME IN WAS SO STRONG THAT, FOR LACK OF A BETTER TERM. THIS WAS A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP. THIS WAS A MAN WHO BELIEVED HE WAS AS HIS OWN WORDS, A GREAT MAN AND THAT HE NEEDED A GREAT WOMAN

SIMILAR TO THAT OF MICHELLE OBAMA, CORETTA SCOTT KING, AND SEE THE PROSECUTION’S EYES OR THEIR LENS WAS MANIPULATING GRACE JABARI TO BE SOMEONE ELSE THROUGH VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL AND THAT THIS CRESCENDO OF VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE LED TO THE PHYSICAL ABUSE THAT IS THIS CASE. AND IF JONATHAN MAJORS THE STAND, HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO ANSWER FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THOSE INSTANCES OF VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE. AND I THINK THAT WOULD’VE BEEN VERY FOR HIM, NOT JUST IN A CRIMINAL SETTING, BUT ALSO IN A IN A PR SETTING. HE’S GOT TO HAVE A

LIFE AFTER THIS. SO I THINK STRATEGICALLY IT MAKES SENSE FOR HIM NOT TO. BUT I THINK IN ANOTHER SENSE, HIM TESTIFYING WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT VEHICLE SAYING I WAS JUST TRYING GET MY PHONE BACK. THIS WAS NOT A FORM OF MANIPULATION. THIS WAS NOT A FORM OF ABUSE THIS WAS SOMEONE TOOK MY PROPERTY AND I TRIED TO TAKE IT BACK WITH AS FORCE OR A LITTLE HARM AS POSSIBLE. AND SHE WASN’T INJURED WHEN I LEFT. I KNOW THAT COULD’VE BEEN HELPFUL AS WELL. ALL RIGHT, LET’S GO TO AARON KATERSKY, WHO’S BEEN COVERING THIS FOR US.

THANK YOU, BRIAN. SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER. SO, AARON, THIS IS A SPLIT. BRIAN’S JUST BEEN SLICING AND DICING THE LAW WITH US AND SOME OF THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS VERDICT? WHAT’S THE JURY SAYING AND WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES FOR JONATHAN MAJORS? >> I THINK OFF THE BAT, WITH TWO COUNTS OF CONVICTION, JONATHAN MAJORS FACES IS AS MUCH AS A YEAR IN PRISON, ALTHOUGH HARD PRESSED TO FIND ANOTHER CASE OF OF MISDEMEANOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WHERE A FIRST TIME OFFENDER ACTUALLY SERVED TIME. SEE THAT AS IT MAY, HE DOES FACE THE

POSSIBILITY OF A YEAR IN PRISON ON EACH OF THE TWO COUNTS OF CONVICTION. KERRY, I THINK THE VERDICT REFLECTS A SIGNAL FROM, THE JURY, THAT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE JONATHAN MAJORS ASSAULTED GRACE JABARI, THE BACK SEAT OF THAT SUV BACK IN MARCH, BUT WAS RECKLESS WHEN WHEN HE TRIED TO TO GRAB BACK HIS PHONE AND LEFT HERE WITH A LACERATED HERE IN A FRACTURED FINGER BECAUSE ON BOTH COUNTS THAT INVOLVED INTENTIONAL CONDUCT, THE JURY ACQUITTED HIM ON THE COUNTS WHERE IT WAS JUST ASSAULT. HE WAS CONVICTED AND THEN THE JURY SAW VIDEO OF THE ALLEGED

HARASSMENT OUTSIDE SUV WHERE WHERE MAJORS IS SEEN HOISTING JABARI OFF THE GROUND AND SHOVING HER BACK INTO THE SUV THAT THAT WAS PRETTY CUT AND DRY, IT SEEMED TO THE JURY. AND SO THEY HIM ON THE SINGLE MISDEMEANOR COUNT OF HARASSMENT . SO WHAT’S THE THE TALK BEN AARON JUST ABOUT HIS FUTURE AND HIS CAREER AND HOW THAT’S PLAYING INTO ALL OF THIS. I MEAN, THE A LOT OF THE COVERAGE HAS BEEN ABOUT HOW HE WAS THIS RISING STAR WITHIN MARVEL AND THAT CASE COULD DEVASTATE HIS HIS FUTURE WELL, HE WAS A RISING STAR WITHIN

MARVEL, WASN’T IT? >> YOU KNOW, WITH ROLES IN LOKI AND ANT-MAN AND THE WASP QUANTUMANIA, WHICH IS WHERE HE MET GRACE JABARI ON SET. SHE WAS DOING A DANCE FOR SOME OF THE CAST MEMBERS AND A LOT OF PROJECTS HAVE BEEN PUT ON HOLD PENDING THE OUTCOME OF THE CASE. BUT REGARDLESS, AND YOU KNOW, HE CAN TRY TO FIGHT THE TWO COUNTS OF CONVICTION. BUT REGARDLESS THERE WERE SOME THINGS CAME OUT DURING TRIAL WHICH WERE NOT A GOOD LOOK FOR HIS REPUTATION WHEN THE JURY HEARD AND MAJOR IS DOES NOT DISPUTE THAT YOU KNOW MAJORS

WAS THROWING THINGS AT GRACE JABARI ON SEVERAL THREW A CANDLE AT HER HEAD THAT THE CANDLE CONTAINER SMASHED THE JURY SAW PICTURES OF IT. THERE WERE CLEARLY INSTANCES OF A VERBAL EMOTIONAL ABUSE WHERE HE’S IMPLORING HER NOT TO COME HOME DRUNK BECAUSE. HE’S A GREAT MAN. HE NEEDS A GREAT WOMAN TO SUPPORT HIM AND IMPLORES HER TO BEHAVE MORE LIKE CORETTA SCOTT KING OR MICHELLE OBAMA, IMPLICITLY COMPARING HIMSELF TO THE HUSBANDS OF THOSE TWO WOMEN. AND THERE OTHER INSTANCES WHERE HE TELLS HER AND THE JURY SAW SURVEILLANCE IMAGES OF THIS TO BUTTON UP HER BLOUSE,

HE THOUGHT HER HER HER BLOUSE WAS UNBUTTONED TOO MUCH AS THEY WERE GOING OUT ON THE MARCH 25TH EARLIER THIS YEAR WHEN THE ASSAULT OCCURRED. SO THERE WERE THINGS THAT WEREN’T FOR MAJORS THAT CAME OUT. NOW, WHETHER HE CAN OVERCOME THAT, YOU KNOW, TERRY, YOU GUYS KNOW HOW THEY WERE SOMETIMES. SO SHORT MEMORY. >> HMM. WELL, ALTHOUGH SINCE REALLY THE METOO MOVEMENT IS HARD FOR SOMEONE TO COME BACK FROM THESE KINDS OF ALLEGATIONS WITHOUT A GREAT JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION WITH HIMSELF. FIRST, PERHAPS. >> AND CARRIE, I THINK THAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID SEEMS TO REFLECT

A REASON THAT THE MANHATTAN DISTRICT DECIDED TO BRING THIS CASE IN THE FIRST PLACE. IS BECAUSE PROSECUTORS SEEM TO BELIEVE THAT, YOU KNOW, IT DOESN’T HAVE TO JUST BE HARVEY WEINSTEIN OR CONDUCT THAT REACHES THAT LEVEL. AND IN FACT, THINK PROSECUTORS ARE COMING TO TO A BELIEF THAT WOMEN ARE ENDURING SORTS OF OTHER KINDS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE THAT DON’T NECESSARILY RISE TO FELONY CONDUCT UNDER THE LAW. BUT MAY DESERVE A LOOK FROM PROSECUTORS. NONETHELESS I CAN’T THINK OF ANOTHER MISDEMEANOR ASSAULT CASE THAT’S EVER GONE TO TRIAL IN THE LAST 20 YEARS HERE, JERRY. BUT THE

MANHATTAN D.A.’S OFFICE WAS DETERMINED TO BRING THE CASE, KNOWING IT WAS AN IMPERFECT SET OF FACTS. AND I THINK THE SPLIT VERDICT REFLECTS THAT. BUT KNOWING IT WAS AN IMPERFECT SET OF FACTS, THEY MOVED AHEAD ANYWAY BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO SEND, I THINK, A BIT OF A MESSAGE THAT THAT THE CONDUCT WOMEN OFTEN ENDURE IN RELATIONSHIPS, EVEN IF IT ISN’T AS SERIOUS AS SOMETHING LIKE HARVEY WEINSTEIN, NONETHELESS DESERVES A DAY IN COURT. IT’S FASCINATING. YEAH. POINT WELL MADE. OVERALL, NOT A REAL HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WHEN YOU LEARNED A LOT OF THE FACTS AND THE BACK AND

FORTH AND JUST THE MANIPULATION AND KNOWING THAT. SO RYAN AARON, THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH. AND SENTENCI