Jonathan Majors appears in court for jury selection before trial in NYC

NEW YORK — Actor Jonathan Majors appeared in a New York courtroom Wednesday for the long-awaited start of jury selection in a trial in which he is accused of injuring his then-girlfriend during an argument last spring.

The trial could end up playing a big role in what happens next with Majors, who had emerged as a rising star with major roles in films like “Creed III” and was emerging as the next big supervillain in the Marvel multiverse.

The 34-year-old actor entered a Manhattan courtroom with his current girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, carrying a Bible and one of his iconic coffee mugs. He did not speak during the beginning of the procedure. It was not immediately clear whether Majors would take the stand during the trial.

Majors was arrested in March for a confrontation between the actor and Grace Jabbari, his girlfriend at the time, during a car trip in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said Jabbari had snatched a phone from the actor’s hand after seeing a text message, presumably from another woman, that said: “I wish I was kissing you right now.” Majors tried to grab the phone from him.

Jabbari said the actor pulled out his finger, twisted his arm behind his back and punched him in the face. After the couple’s driver stopped the car and the couple got out, Jabbari said Majors threw her back into the vehicle. Police said Jabbari was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Majors’ attorneys have maintained that Jabbari was the aggressor during the fight and scratched and punched him. They alleged Wednesday that police responding to the scene failed to interview Majors and that Manhattan prosecutors refused to review evidence showing he was the victim.

Jabbari was also briefly arrested by New York City Police last month after Majors filed a complaint against her, but the Manhattan district attorney’s office dropped all charges against her the next day.

On Wednesday, Judge Michael Gaffey described Jabbari’s brief arrest as “highly unusual,” suggesting that Majors’ celebrity status may have influenced the police department’s decision to charge his accuser three months after the incident.

“Did this only come about because of the high-profile nature of the case?” Gaffey asked the court. “If this was an ordinary, homeless New Yorker, would this arrest have happened?”

Majors is charged with misdemeanors, including assault, and could be sentenced to up to a year in jail if convicted. Prosecutors plan to bring more than a dozen witnesses to the stand.

Before jury selection could begin Wednesday, Majors’ attorneys managed to keep the public and press out of the courtroom to discuss evidence in the case that has not been made public. The lawyer, Seth Zuckerman, warned that the evidence could “taint the jury beyond redress for Mr. Majors,” adding that his client could face a “newspaper trial.”

Gaffey agreed, finding that the evidence would likely be “inflammatory” and could taint the jury if reported in the media.

The Manhattan district attorney did not comment on the matter. An attorney hired to represent the press, Katherine Bolger, opposed the move to seal the evidence, saying the public had a right to know the evidence in the case.

Majors starred in the Marvel television series “Loki” and the film “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” and was awaiting the release of another star vehicle, “Magazine Dreams,” a standalone film that is now in limbo.

He is known for bringing a cup of coffee to the red carpet and to media interviews, one of four he rotates through, as a symbol of his mother’s old advice: “Don’t let anyone fill your cup.”