Having verdict in the case of
Hollywood star Jonathan
Majors, a jury has found him
guilty of some charges
in this New York criminal case,
which stems, of course,
from a domestic incident
with his former girlfriend.
Majors is best known for his roles
in Marvel films and TV shows,
along with Creed three.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagg maestra
joins us now, along with CNN legal
analyst Joey Jackson.
Elizabeth, first to you.
What can you tell us about
what he's been found guilty of?
So Jonathan Majors was found guilty
on some charges
stemming from this domestic dispute.
Now, this all stems from an incident
that occurred in March of this year
between Jonathan Majors
and his ex and girlfriend, Grace Jabari.
They were in a car and evidence
that was released
during the trial
showed them outside of the car.
Now, what Grace Jabari alleged
is that Jonathan Majors
struck her in the head, also on her arm.
There was a doctor
who testified during the trial
that said that
she had a fracture on her finger.
So he has been found
on one count of assault
and another
with harassment
and was acquitted on two other charges.
And Joe, you're following this.
What's your reaction to this verdict?
So the reaction is, is that
the jury had a lot to evaluate.
And by finding guilty on some charges
and not the others,
it means that in
evaluating the testimony,
Brianna and bars,
that there were some things
that the jury credited
and other things that they did not.
It appears as though
there was a guilty finding on
what's called reckless assault.
Well, what is that?
There's a distinction
between intentional assault,
which means that it was your intent,
it was your goal,
it was your aim,
it was your objective to assault
versus reckless.
Reckless is the conscious disregard.
It means a jury didn't
make a finding that what is intentional.
But it was sufficiently reckless.
Right.
Such that the jury made a finding
as to that
the jury also made
a finding as to harassment,
which is not a crime.
It's simply a violation of a violation
of law
means that it doesn't rise
to the level of a criminal offense.
And just in terms of clarifying
the parlance,
a misdemeanor offense in New York
state is an offense
that is punishable
by up to a year in jail,
a violation punishable by up to 15 days.
And so that's what
the judge
will have to sentencing, evaluate
whether there's any time at all
that is going to be imposed.
But that would be certainly
the parameters of any sentencing,
not there yet.
But when we get there,
what will be facing,
Elizabeth, it's not just
the sentencing that he's facing,
but also a huge fall in grace
and his reputation as a Hollywood star.
Take us through his story,
because he was rapidly
becoming a household name.
Absolutely.
And the fact
that he was found guilty on some charges,
no matter what he is sentenced to or not,
as Jessie said,
you're absolutely correct
that now
there is going to be
some sort of fall from grace.
Now, not everybody at home
may know who Jonathan Majors is,
but he was
on his way to becoming an A-list star.
Had he not been on trial right now,
he would likely be campaigning
for an Oscar.
Earlier this year
at the Sundance Film Festival.
He had a film debut
called Magazine Dreams.
It got rave reviews.
He could have been on the Oscar campaign
for that.
Now, perhaps even more important.
He was cast
as basically the future star of Marvel's
next phase.
He was cast as the character called Kang,
who is a villain.
He had already made his debut
in this character
but had not yet debuted in his own film.
Marvel was anchoring
two films around him.
We know that these movies
can each make upwards
of $1 million, even $2 million
for one of the most
recent Avengers films.
So now Disney has a big decision to make.
Do they keep him,
Do they not, with two guilty charges
that is going to be very difficult.
And I have to tell you, prior
to getting this verdict
and I spoke to my sources
and people in the industry
are saying no matter what
the verdict was,
this is hard for a company,
particularly like Disney,
which is family friendly,
to keep someone who has been accused
and now found guilty of these charges.
Yeah, very good point.
And I think we have much more
to hear ahead on this.
Elizabeth, Joey, thank
you to both of you.