Marilyn Manson avoids trial for sexual assault due to statute of limitations

Brian “Marilyn Manson” Warner will face no criminal charges on the myriad accusations of sexual assault and abuse that have been levied against him over the last few years, an L.A. District Attorney said this week, citing the statute of limitations on the various accusations.

The announcement, per Deadline, came after a four-year investigation into Warner’s conduct by Los Angeles authorities. In a statement, District Attorney Nathan Hochman (who ran as the Republican candidate for California District Attorney in 2022, before winning the L.A. job as an independent in the most recent election) said that, “We have determined that allegations of domestic violence fall outside of the statute of limitations, and we cannot prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt.” He also thanked the many women who came forward with reports of being abused or raped by Manson “for their cooperation and patience with the investigation.”

More than a dozen women—including actors Evan Rachel Wood and Esmé Bianco—have accused Warner of coercive behaviors, harassment, abuse, and sexual assault. In addition to the police investigations, the accusations have produced a few lawsuits, most of which have since been settled or dismissed. (That includes a defamation suit Warner brought against Wood after she began making it clearer in public statements that she was talking about Warner when she mentioned a man who had allegedly raped and abused her. That case saw Warner forced to pay more than $300,000 to Wood in legal fees after the courts shut him down.)

Warner’s attorney, Howard King, issued a statement on Friday construing the D.A.’s inability to prosecute his client in the most favorable light possible: “We are very pleased that, after a thorough and incredibly lengthy review of all of the actual evidence, the District Attorney has concluded what we knew and expressed from the start: Brian Warner is innocent.” Meanwhile, the statement from the District Attorney’s office (which you can read in full here) ends by encouraging “Anyone experiencing abuse to seek support and make a report to law enforcement as quickly as possible,” which we’re sure is very comforting advice for someone, somewhere.