Jonathan Majors Domestic Violence Trial Ends First Day With No Jury Seated, No Ruling On Sealed Evidence

On Wednesday, Jonathan Majors appeared inside a Manhattan courtroom to begin preceedings for his domestic dispute case.

via: Deadline

After a day spent with lawyers fighting over what can and cannot be made public in Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial, the Loki star got his first look Wednesday afternoon at potential New York jurors who will decide his guilt or innocence.

However, Majors, his defense team and prosecutors won’t know until at least Thursday which of the 40 candidates will make up the panel. Once chosen, the jury of six and at least one alternate will weigh the evidence in the actor’s misdemeanor criminal trial for assault and harassment in New York City against a then girlfriend in late March. Long insisting on his innocence, Majors faces up to a year behind bars if convicted.

At the end of the first day of the much-delayed trial in New York Wednesday, Majors exited the court via a side door. He made no comments to media or others on his way out.

After a closed hearing today that lasted nearly an hour to discuss potentially “prejudicial and inflammatory” evidence that remains under seal, Judge Michael Gaffey allowed spectators back into his Manhattan courtroom towards the end of the day. The judge told the assembled that he will rule on Thursday morning on the defense team’s motion to keep the evidence out of the trial record entirely.

Judge Gaffey then welcomed in the 40 jury pool members, swore them in, told them the high-profile defendant’s name, and instructed them to not discuss the case, research the case online, or watch any media coverage. “You can’t Google, FaceTime, Twitter — which I guess is now called X,” he quipped. “You can’t do any Internet searches, social media searches, absolutely anything you can think of that I haven’t mentioned … you cannot do.”

The judge then sent the prospective jurors home to return at 10 a.m. on Thursday to be screened for the jury pool. Everyone in the courtroom rose, and Majors stood with hands clasped watching the jurors exit.

With that, Judge Gaffney clarified a ruling that during voir dire — the questioning of potential jurors by lawyers for both sides — neither the prosecution nor the defense can refer to Majors’ accuser, Grace Jabbari, or to Majors himself, as a “victim.”

“Nobody’s the victim on voir dire,” the judge proclaimed.

Jabbari is expected to testify at the trial. It is unclear if Majors will.

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