In early 2021, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that it was investigating claims of domestic violence and sexual assault against Marilyn Manson. The case was submitted to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for review the following year. Now, Los Angeles’ district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, has announced that Manson will not face criminal charges.
“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,” Hochman said in a press release. “We recognize and applaud the courage and resilience of the women who came forward to make reports and share their experiences, and we thank them for their cooperation and patience with the investigation. While we are unable to bring charges in this matter, we recognize that the strong advocacy of the women involved has helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.”
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, Manson’s attorney, Howard E. King, said that he and his client are “pleased” with the outcome of the investigation.
Investigators began looking into claims of abuse against Manson after the musician’s former partner Evan Rachel Wood said that Manson abused her during their relationship. The investigation, in turn, focused on incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2011 when Manson lived in West Hollywood.
Late last year, George Gascón, the now-former district attorney of Los Angeles County, provided an update on the years-old case, saying that prosecutors were “carefully reviewing new leads and additional evidence.”
In response to Gascón, Esmé Bianco—the Game of Thrones actress who sued Manson for sexual assault and battery and later settled the case—criticized how long the process was taking. And, in a statement today, she expressed her disappointment in the district attorney’s office’s decision not to file criminal charges against Manson.
“Once again, our justice system has failed survivors,” Bianco wrote. “Not the individual prosecutors and detectives who worked for years on this case, but the system that made them do so with one hand tied behind their collective backs.”