Marilyn Manson achieves major legal victory

Marilyn Manson secured victory as a sexual battery lawsuit brought against him by his former assistant has been dismissed by a judge just one month before it was scheduled to go to trial.

Ashley Walters, who previously worked for Manson between 2010 and 2011, filed the lawsuit in May 2021 in Los Angeles alleging she experienced “horrific” abuse at the hands of the star.

Walters claimed that Manson abused her sexually, physically and psychologically during her brief employment but that she had “repressed” the memories until 2020.

Manson consistently denied Walters' allegations and has repeatedly attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out as his lawyers argue the case is in violation of California's two-year statute of limitations.

The suit was initially dismissed in May 2022 but revived in December 2023 on appeal.

As reported by Rolling Stone, at the latest court hearing on Tuesday, Los Angeles County Judge Steve Cochran dismissed Walters' lawsuit for a second time as he ruled that it fell outside of the statute of limitations.

Judge Cochran said, “We have a situation where the complaint was not filed until about 10 years after the operative events. I'm not able to find that the delayed discovery rule is applicable.”

“I don't have the authority to rule that the delayed discovery doctrine would apply under the circumstances that exist in this case,” he added.

Meanwhile, Marilyn Manson's lawyer Howard King celebrated the dismissal in a statement to Daily Mail, saying, “It's gratifying, after all these years, that a judge can just look at the facts and see that once again, Brian Warner was wrongfully accused. It's nice for him to get some justice, though it was at great personal cost. Now he can move on.”