Judge Lets Marilyn Manson Assault Suit Proceed
A California judge has declined Marilyn Manson’s latest effort to shut down a civil sexual assault lawsuit brought by his former personal assistant Ms. Ashley Walters, keeping the case alive as it moves into the next phase of litigation. The ruling centres on whether Walters’ revived claims can proceed under a newer California law that reopened a window for certain older adult sexual assault allegations.
Rock Celebrities reported that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Steve Cochran refused to dismiss or trim the claims in Walters’ third amended complaint after Manson’s legal team argued her allegations did not meet AB 250’s requirement that she was physically restrained during the alleged assault.
At a hearing in downtown Los Angeles, Manson’s attorney Ms. Alexa Foley argued that any alleged restraint had ended before the alleged intimate touching occurred, contending Walters “quickly moved away” after an attempted kiss. Judge Cochran rejected the idea of parsing the allegation at the pleading stage, saying, “What’s being alleged, as alleged, would ring that bell,” and adding, “With allegations like this, you think I’m going to be quibbling with somebody about whether it’s sexual assault or not at the pleading stage? I’d have trouble sleeping.”
The dispute follows earlier procedural turns in the case, and the ruling keeps Manson in court as the lawsuit proceeds amid continued scrutiny around the musician’s broader public controversies, including the fallout detailed in Rob Zombie facing boycott pressure linked to Marilyn Manson.
With the motion to dismiss denied, Walters’ claims will now be tested through the litigation process rather than being thrown out on threshold legal arguments about AB 250’s standards.
