Performer Marilyn Manson agrees to surrender to Gilford arrest warrant

GILFORD — It appears that Gilford Police Department’s strategy of taking to social media to advance a case against the musician who performs as Marilyn Manson has worked.

Chief Anthony Bean Burpee has announced an agreement with the attorneys representing Brian Warner – Manson’s off-stage identity – for him to turn himself in on an arrest warrant that he had been avoiding for some time.

The charges stem from an Aug. 18, 2019, Marilyn Manson performance at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford. Warner is alleged to have twice spat on a female photographer, who had been contracted to work the event. In May of this year, Gilford Police posted to Facebook that there was an active arrest warrant for two counts of Class A misdemeanor Simple Assault, resulting from the expellant. “Mr. Warner, his agent and legal counsel have been aware of the warrant for some time and no effort has been made by him to return to New Hampshire to answer the pending charges,” read the May 25, 2021 post on Gilford Police Department’s Facebook page.

Less than a month later – and after more than 30,000 comments, many of which criticized Gilford PD for pursuing the charges – the two sides have agreed to address the alleged victim’s complaints. The agreement will allow Warner to turn himself in to Los Angeles Police, who will partner with Gilford to book Warner and process his bail, which will be necessary for the scheduling of a court date.

That date will likely fall sometime in August, Bean Burpee said in a release to media. If he chooses to, Warner could avoid appearing himself. At the initial court date, Warner or his legal representation could enter a not guilty plea, or, the court may continue with its COVID protocol of canceling the date and scheduling instead a “case status hearing” at a later date.

Bean Burpee noted that the court system, which was constrained during the pandemic, is currently scheduling trials into 2022, so the case wouldn’t likely be argued for many months.

In his release, Bean Burpee addressed one argument, which was floated in May by one of Warner’s attorneys. That statement, made by Howard King of the LA-based law firm King, Holmes, Paterno and Soriano LLP, alleged that the victim of the assault only pursued criminal complaints after a demand for compensation was denied.

“That is emphatically false,” Bean Burpee said. The alleged victim reported the assault the day after the concert, he said, and the investigation took several months before enough evidence was gathered to support an arrest warrant.

Despite some online critics of the strategy of publicizing the charges, it appears to have succeeded, Bean Burpee noted. “It has forced Mr. Warner to finally address his outstanding NH warrant, which will, in turn, allow the victim of the crime to have her say/day in court in order to hopefully hold Mr. Warner accountable for his actions.”