Jonathan Majors’ trial for charges of assault and aggravated harassment has been delayed. While proceedings for the Manhattan-based hearing were supposed to begin today, Judge Michael Gaffey announced that the commencement date had been pushed back a month because the prosecution needed more time for discovery. The trial will now begin September 6 (per Deadline).
The Creed III actor arrived in court today for the hearing which lasted “literally two-minute[s],” per Deadline. As with his last appearance in court for a short, pre-trial hearing on June 2o, Majors was accompanied by actress Meagan Good and his criminal defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry. The actor approached the bench holding a notebook and a bible.
“The people are not ready for trial today,” an assistant D.A. reportedly told the judge in reference to their need to delay. Gaffey responded that the prosecution had a deadline and “time will continue to run against the people,” which Deadline notes “was delivered more like a reminder than any sort of threat.”
Majors was initially arrested in Manhattan on March 25 after an alleged domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend. At the time of arrest, the then-unnamed woman accused him of twisting her arm, striking her head, and pushing her into a vehicle “so violently, she fell on the pavement,” according to NPR. If found guilty, Majors faces up to a year behind bars.
From the beginning, Chaudhry has insisted that Majors’ ex-girlfriend—who was granted a full temporary order of protection forbidding any contact between Majors and herself—was the real perpetrator, calling the whole affair a “witch hunt” motivated by “racial bias” against her client.
In a statement issued just after today’s brief hearing, Chaudhry claimed that police were prepared to arrest Majors’ accuser as soon as she “sets foot back in New York.”
“For an excruciating four months, Jonathan Majors, the real victim in this shameful ordeal, has had his life, career, and reputation torn apart,” she continued. “Yet he remains unwavering in his determination to be absolved from this harrowing ordeal.” Deadline notes, however, that “no charges have been laid against the women in the months since the incident” and the NYPD has “no plans” to do so, despite Chaudhry’s statement.