As it turns out, Marilyn Manson was not ordered to pay through the nose for the trouble his crotch got him into.

A jury of his peers determined on Monday (September 8) that Marilyn Manson, a.k.a. Brian Warner, did not commit battery when he rubbed his crotch on an unsuspecting man's head, according to a spokesperson from the U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota.

It took the jury three days to return a verdict that Manson did not batter David M. Diaz of Anoka County, Minnesota, when he allegedly grabbed Diaz's head, held his hips against it and gyrated. The incident took place in October 2000 when Diaz, a security guard, was working the front barricade of a Manson show at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre.

Manson's touring company, Jimmy's Touring Inc., was also absolved of any wrongdoing.

Manson had been present in the courtroom when jury selection in the civil case began Tuesday and throughout the trial Wednesday.

Diaz filed the civil suit in December 2001 (see [article id="1451332"]"Second Man Claims To Be Victim of Marilyn Manson's Crotch"[/article]) and asked for $75,000 in damages from Manson for causing battery and emotional distress, ridicule and shame, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation. Diaz's lawyer, James Kaster, said at the time that his client filed suit because he was considered "a joke" by everyone with knowledge of the incident.

Manson and his crotch aren't completely out of the woods, yet. Following a similar incident in July 2001, a security guard in Clarkson, Michigan, pressed criminal charges of felony fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and misdemeanor assault and battery. The felony charge was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor, and Manson pleaded no contest in June 2002 and agreed to pay a $4,000 fine (see [article id="1455317"]"Manson Pleads No Contest To Crotch-Rubbing, Avoids Jail"[/article]). A month earlier, however, the Michigan victim, Joshua Keasler, filed a civil suit against Manson. That case remains pending.

Manson will return to the Twin Cities area October 16 to perform at St. Paul's Roy Wilkins Auditorium in support of his latest album, The Golden Age of Grotesque. Some precautionary advice to the security staff: Don't forget your hat.