Ashley Walters’ lawsuit against Marilyn Manson has now been given a date for a civil jury trial. At a Case Management Conference held on August 12th 2026 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Steve Cochran scheduled the trial for November 15, 2027, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 306 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. The court also scheduled a Final Status Conference for November 10, 2027. How We Got Here The case has been through several rounds of dismissal and revival since Walters first sued Manson in 2021. Most recently, Judge Cochran allowed the lawsuit to proceed under California’s newly enacted Assembly Bill 250, and in June rejected the defense’s attempt to have Walters’ amended complaint dismissed. At that hearing, the judge said it was too early to make a final determination and that the case should move forward while the parties gathered evidence. Manson’s attorney Howard King described the ruling as an expected procedural step and said the defense would have the opportunity to purs...
As waves of sexual assault accusations against powerful figures in entertainment, politics, and business surfaced, which led to a growing public recognition of the widespread nature of sexual assault in American culture, some activists went a step further and fought for legal protections for abuse survivors. On February 27, 2018 Evan Rachel Wood appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to testify about her experiences with sexual assault on behalf of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act, which went into effect at the federal level in 2016 but still needed to be implemented in all 50 states. The law gives sexual abuse survivors the right to have their rape kit preserved for the entire duration of the statute of limitations (or up to 20 years), as well as the right to know their forensic results. EVAN RACHEL WOOD'S 2018 TESTIMONY ABOUT BEING RAPED AND TORTURED BY UNNAMED ABUSER My name is Evan Rachel Wood and I am an artist. But I am also a domestic violence and sexu...