With Jonathan Majors handed a guilty verdict for the assault and harassment of his ex-girlfriend, which led to Marvel immediately firing the actor, the next step in the process is sentencing. While Majors could face jail time, attorneys who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter do not believe that will be the case.
“Since it’s the defendant’s first conviction, although technically he faces one year of jail, the judge will 99 percent give him three years probation, anger management and possibly some community service. Mr. Majors is not getting jail time,” Manhattan-based attorney Cary London said.
The chances of Majors getting jail time decrease even further when you factor in his attorney’s intention to the appeal the verdict, which could result in the conviction being overturned due to some unorthodox steps taken during the already unusual trial. At issue are the damning text messages from a prior incident that made their way into evidence:
Several attorneys said they believe an appeal is likely based on the fact that this misstep from the defense team reversed the Molineux ruling protection and allowed this evidence to be introduced. Lance Fletcher, a criminal defense attorney in Manhattan and a former prosecutor, also pointed to the texts as an issue. “Obviously, this kind of thing can sound very bad to a jury and Majors may argue that the jury should not have heard about them, especially since they were not specifically discussing the assault he was on trial for,” Fletcher said.
Regardless of the appeal process, Majors is toast at Marvel. The studio is reportedly making plans to pivot away from his character, Kang the Conqueror, and whatever you do, don’t ask John Boyega if he’s taking over the role. That’ll be a hard pass.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)