Marilyn Manson Receives Fine, Community Service for 2019 Assault Case

September 19, 2023 3:17 pm

Marilyn Manson, real name Brian Warner, has been sentenced to 20 hours of community service and a fine of about $1,400 for a misdemeanor assault charge in 2019. Warner, 54, pleaded no contest to spitting and blowing his nose on a videographer Susan Fountain during a concert at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire on August 19, 2019.

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The rocker turned himself into authorities 18 months after an arrest warrant was issued. He was originally charged with two counts of simple assault and negotiated a plea deal to dismiss the second charge.

For the sentencing in Laconia, New Hampshire on Monday (September 18) Warner was required to be present. The judge described the assault as “egregious.”

“For me, I’m a professional person and I’ve been in this industry for 30 years,” said Fountain, who was not present for the sentencing, in a court statement. “I’ve worked for a lot of companies, and in all the years I’ve worked with people, I’ve never been humiliated or treated the way I was by this defendant, For him to spit on me and blow his nose on me was the most disgusting thing a human being has ever done.”

Fountain’s statement continued, “I understand this was not a big criminal charge to begin with, but I was hoping that the defendant would receive a sentence that would make him think twice before doing something like this again.”

Warner must complete his community service by February 4, 2024, and is allowed to carry it out in California, where he lives. He must remain arrest-free and notify New Hampshire police of any future performance taking place within the state for the next two years. Manson reportedly said he wanted to carry out his community service by working with people in recovery.

In 2021, several women accused Warner of sexual and psychological abuse, including his former fiancée actress Evan Rachel Wood, who was briefly engaged to him in 2010. He denied all allegations and was later dropped by his label Loma Via Recordings.

Model Ashley Morgan Smithline, who initially sued him for sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, dropped her charges against Warner in 2023. Smithline recanted her claims against the artist and, in a sworn statement, stated that the allegations she originally brought against him were untrue and that she was “manipulated” by Wood. Warner is still facing two sexual abuse lawsuits by two other women.

Warner recently lost his defamation lawsuit against Wood. In March of 2022, he accused his former partner of defamation and emotional distress, after he said she portrayed him as a “rapist and abuser” in the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising.

Earlier in 2023, Warner hinted that he was working on new music, which would be a follow-up to his 2020 Marilyn Manson album, We Are Chaos. “I’ve got something for you to hear,” he wrote in a caption, along with a black and white photo taken by his wife Lindsay of him holding a candle.

Photo: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images