Marilyn Manson’s Ex-Assistant Can Proceed With Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against The Singer, Court Rules

Marilyn Manson‘s former assistant, Ashley Walters, won an appeal that would bring back a dismissed sexual assault lawsuit she brought against the singer in 2021.

A tribunal with California’s Second Appellate District sided with Walters and reversed a lower court ruling, ordering that the case be sent back to the judge for trial.

According to the court filings, Walters declared that Manson had forced her hand into his underpants. She alleges that he also whipped her, pushed her into a wall and made her stay awake for 48 hours straight.

The filings claim that Manson offered Walters up sexually to associates and friends. He even instructed her to stand on a chair for 12 hours and fed her cocaine so that she would not fall asleep.

There are more accusations mentioned in the filings in addition to these.

Walters claims that Manson often relied on threatening behavior, including blackmail, to keep her quiet.

“We believe this ruling makes clear that courts must factor in trauma-induced repression into the legal reasoning why survivors often come forward years after their trauma to raise claims,” Walters’ lawyer, James Vagnini, said in a statement. “This clears a path, much like many of the newly passed laws sweeping the country, allowing victims of sexual assault and harassment to raise their claims against their abusers when they are able to, not by a deadline set by statute.”

In 2021, Walters sued Manson for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

She argued that even though the alleged abuse occurred in 2011, the two-year statute of limitations was not applicable since she suppressed her memories until the year before she sued Manson.

A law that postpones the statute of limitations for victims who suppress painful memories allowed Walters extra time to file the lawsuit, the appeals court ruled.

A trial court judge eventually dismissed her case in May 2022.

“Walters contends she alleged sufficient facts to support the application of the delayed discovery rule, which postponed accrual of her claims until 2020 when she joined a support group and was able to recover suppressed memories of Warner’s abuse,” the judge stated in Walters’ ruling.

This appeal was made after several women spoke up against Manson in the past two years.

Manson reached a settlement agreement with an anonymous woman who accused him of raping her and did so days before the trial was set to begin.

Another lawsuit that Manson faced in 2021 was brought by actress Esmé Bianco, who sued Manson for psychological and physical abuse. She stated that she had been left with PTSD and physical scars.

The rock musician claimed his innocence on Instagram.

In February, Manson’s lawyers filed a statement from Ashley Morgan Smithline, another accuser, asserting that she was gaslit by the other accusers into making false sexual abuse accusations against him.