Marilyn Manson has officially been sentenced in 2019 assault case. According to the AP, the shock rocker — whose legal name is Brian Warner — appeared in a New Hampshire court on Monday. He was given a fine and sentenced to 20 hours of community service. The AP reported that Manson had been hoping to appear in court via video, over the misdemeanor charge, but the judge required him to be present in person.
The assault charges against Manson stem from a 2019 incident, in which Manson was accused of “[shooting] his snot” onto a camerawoman who was filming his concert. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Manson pleaded no contest to the nose-blowing charge, while the prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second charge, in which Manson allegedly spit on the videographer. Manson has downplayed the situation in the past, but eyewitnesses have provided a different account.
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“He was spitting everywhere and one time it got on her camera so she wiped it off and looked semi-irritated,” a witness previously told PEOPLE. “I think her final straw is he got on the floor, got within 2-3 feet of her and hacked a giant snot rocket at her, not the camera. She was pissed off and disgusted so she stormed off and he just laughed.”
The assault case was just one of many legal troubles for Manson over the past few years. Back in May, he suffered a major loss in a lawsuit against his ex-wife, Evan Rachel Wood. According to Deadline, a California judge threw out many elements of the shock rocker’s defamation case against Wood. The lawsuit has been filed in the wake of Wood’s allegations that Manson was abusive toward her during their relationship.
Based on the judge’s ruling, Manson would be able to continue with his lawsuit, but much of the claims he was using against Wood could not be allowed in court. “We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling, which affirms and protects Evan’s exercise of her fundamental First Amendment rights,” Wood’s lawyer Michael Kump told Deadline following the ruling. “As the Court correctly found, Plaintiff failed to show that his claims against her have even minimal merit.”
Manson’s team also issued a statement, with his attorney Howard King saying, “The ruling is disappointing but not unexpected. The Court telegraphed this outcome when it refused to consider the bombshell sworn declaration of former plaintiff Ashley Smithline, which detailed how women were systematically pressured by Evan Rachel Wood and Illma Gore to make false claims about Brian Warner.” King then added, “The failure to admit this critical evidence, along with the Court’s decision to not consider Ms. Gore’s iPad, the contents of which demonstrated how she and Ms. Wood crafted a forged FBI letter, will be the subject of an immediate appeal to the California Court of Appeal.”
