Prosecutors announced Friday that they will not indict Marilyn Manson after years of investigation into allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman said the charges are too old by law and there was insufficient evidence to charge the 56-year-old shock rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner.
“We have determined that the domestic violence allegation is outside the statute of limitations and that the sexual assault charge cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hochman said. “We recognize and celebrate the courage and resilience of the women who came forward and shared their experiences, and thank them for their cooperation and patience during our investigation.”
Nearly four years after the investigation began, then-District Attorney Georges Gascón said on Oct. 9 that authorities were investigating new leads to add to the “already extensive” file they had amassed.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives announced in early 2021 that they were investigating Manson for incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2011 in West Hollywood, where Manson lived at the time. The investigation also included a search warrant executed at a home in West Hollywood. The case was initially turned over to prosecutors in September 2021, but the investigation was reopened after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office requested more evidence.
The identity of the woman interviewed by police and prosecutors has not been revealed, but “Game of Thrones” actor Esme Bianco, who sued Manson in a case that has already been settled, said she was also involved in the criminal investigation. He said he was doing so. Before the decision not to prosecute, she criticized Hochman, who was elected shortly after, at a rally for how long the process was taking.
“Almost four years ago, I did what any rape victim should do: I went to the police,” she said on Oct. 10. My stage name Marilyn Manson raped and abused me during our relationship. ”
Bianco said she provided investigators with “hundreds of pieces of evidence, including photos of my body with bite marks, bruises and knife wounds, emails and text messages, and threats against my immigration status.”
In her lawsuit, Ms. Bianco alleges sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and that Ms. Manson violated human trafficking laws by bringing her from England to California for non-existent roles in music videos and movies. stated that it had been violated.
Manson’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. He previously said the allegations were “patently false”. A representative for Bianco could not be reached for comment.
In 2021, his ex-fiancée, “Westworld” actor Evan Rachel Wood, first named him as her abuser in an Instagram post.
Wood and Manson’s relationship became public in 2007, when he was 38 and she was 19, and they were briefly engaged in 2010, but they broke up.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and was extremely abusive to me over the years,” Wood said.
Manson responded on Instagram that these were “horrible distortions of reality.” He accused Wood of making accusations against him and another woman and convincing others to do the same. A judge threw out key parts of the case, but in November Manson agreed to drop the case and pay Wood’s legal fees.
The Associated Press typically does not publish the names of people who say they were sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Bianco and Wood did.
In the months after Wood came forward, other women also came forward to accuse Manson. A representative for Mr. Wood did not immediately return a message Friday.
Manson emerged as a musical star in the mid-1990s with hit songs such as “The Beautiful People” and hit albums such as 1996’s “Antichrist Superstar” and 1998’s “Mechanical Animals.” It is also known for causing controversy among the public.
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