The ruling also prohibits Ashley Walters from refiling the charges
A sexual assault lawsuit filed against Marilyn Manson by his former personal assistant, Ashley Walters, has been dismissed.
In part, this is due to a legal technicality: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern ruled that Walters’ allegations of battery, harassment and sexual assault surpassed California’s two-year statute of limitations. “The plaintiff has pleaded too few facts and too late to keep this case in court,” he wrote in his ruling, which prohibits Walters from refiling the charges. Walters first sued Manson in May 2021, having worked for the musician between 2010 and 2011. She also named Manson’s record label as a co-defendant.
In March of this year, Walters filed an amended lawsuit in which she explained that she had suppressed memories of Manson’s alleged abuse until recently. She also said that she had felt threatened by his legal team after appearing in Phoenix Rising, a critical documentary about the musician produced by Rachel Evan Woods, his ex-fiancée, who has also alleged serious abuse.
When Walters first met Manson, she was an aspiring photographer. She told The Cut that Manson offered her creative opportunities, before going on to emotionally and physically abuse her. According to reports, Manson subjected her to toxic reporting environments, once forced her to work for 48 hours straight, prevented her from seeing other family members, and invited his friends to sexually assault her, among other allegations.
Following Evan Wood’s going public with her allegations against Manson, more than a dozen accusers have come forward. As it stands, Manson is facing three separate lawsuits related to abuse: Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline, and an anonymous ‘John Doe’ plaintiff all have pending lawsuits against him.
Manson himself, meanwhile, is suing Evan Woods for defamation, a situation, which echoes the Depp-Heard trial. “This is what pretty much every survivor that tries to expose someone in a position of power goes through, and this is part of the retaliation that keeps survivors quiet. This is why people don’t want to come forward. This was expected,” Evan Woods told The View earlier this year.