Eagles co-founder Don Henley ‘victimized’ by ‘Hotel California’ trial dismissal: lawyer

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The trial over the alleged stolen handwritten drafts of Eagles hits like “Hotel California” has come to an abrupt finish.

Prosecutors have dropped their prison case mid-trial, in accordance with The Associated Press.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Aaron Ginandes knowledgeable the choose Wednesday at 10 a.m. that prosecutors would now not proceed with the case, citing newly accessible emails that protection attorneys stated raised questions in regards to the trial’s equity. The trial had been underway since late February.

The emails emerged when Eagles co-founder Don Henley apparently determined final week to waive attorney-client privilege, after he and different prosecution witnesses had already testified. 

EAGLES’ ‘HOTEL CALIFORNIA’ CRIMINAL TRIAL OVER STOLEN LYRIC PAGES IS ‘ABOUT THE NAMES INVOLVED’: ‘A GOLD MINE’

Close up of Don Henley in court hallway

Don Henley, in court docket on Feb. 26, noticed the case over the alleged stolen handwritten drafts of Eagles hits like “Hotel California” abruptly dismissed.  (David Delgado/Getty Images)

Prosecutors agreed that protection attorneys had basically been blindsided in latest days by getting 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates. The materials was supplied to either side solely in the previous few days, after Henley and his attorneys apparently made a late-in-the-game resolution to waive their attorney-client privilege to maintain authorized discussions confidential.

“These delayed disclosures revealed relevant information that the defense should have had the opportunity to explore” Ginandes instructed the court docket, per the AP.

In dismissing the case, Judge Curtis Farber stated that “witnesses and their lawyers” used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging.”

Dan Petrocelli, Henley’s newly employed lawyer, instructed Fox News Digital in an announcement through Henley’s representatives, “The attorney-client privilege is a foundational guardrail in our justice system, and rarely, if ever, should you have to forsake it to prosecute or defend a case. As the victim in this case, Mr. Henley has once again been victimized by this unjust outcome. He will pursue all his rights in the civil courts.”

Don Henley getting out of a car outside of the courtroom

Henley’s new lawyer, Dan Petrocelli, instructed Fox News Digital in an announcement, “Mr. Henley has once again been victimized by this unjust outcome. He will pursue all his rights in the civil courts.” (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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Rare ebook consultants Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski had been charged with scheming to promote round 100 pages of “developmental lyrics to the Eagles music ‘Hotel California,'” in accordance with the unique indictment filed by the New York District Attorney’s workplace in 2022.

The manuscripts are collectively valued at over $1 million, in accordance with the district lawyer.

Prosecutors alleged the three males circulated faux tales in regards to the manuscripts’ possession with a purpose to promote them. 

Defense attorneys argued that the boys obtained the drafts legally from a author who labored on an Eagles biography with Henley many years in the past that was by no means printed after Henley gave them to him. Kosinski, Inciardi and Horowitz pleaded not responsible. 

Craig Inciardi, Edward Kosinski and Glenn Horowitz wear suits in Manhattan court

The three males charged, from left, Craig Inciardi, Edward Kosinski and Glenn Horowitz, throughout an earlier court docket session. (Mary Atlaffer)

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According to the indictment, the defendants acquired the pages by means of Ed Sanders, a nonfiction author who was engaged on a biography of the band that was by no means printed. Sanders reportedly saved the handwritten work and later bought the pages to Horowitz, a rare-book supplier, for $50,000.

Per the AP, Scott Edelman, a lawyer for Kosinski, stated they had been going to “evaluate next steps,” and added, “The district attorney in this case got blinded by the fame and fortune of a celebrity, and that blinded them to the information that they weren’t being given.”

Following the dismissal of the trial, the AP reported that Incardi stated in a written assertion, “The next step is building back our reputations.”

Last week, Henley testified that the handwritten pages had been at all times his property.

Timothy Schmitt, Vince Gill, Don Henley, Joe Walsh

From left: Timothy Schmitt, Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Joe Walsh of the Eagles. Henley testified final week that the handwritten pages had been at all times his property. (eagles.com)

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“I always knew those lyrics were my property. I never gifted them or gave them to anybody to keep or sell,” Henley stated in court docket.

Irving Azoff, the Eagles’ longtime supervisor, additionally lately testified that the handwritten “Hotel California” lyrics pages had been initially “stolen” by Sanders.

“All these lyrics are very personal to [Henley], they’re a part of musical history, and it was simply unacceptable to him that they be stolen by anyone else,” Azoff testified. Azoff admitted that he had by no means recognized Henley to present away any of his work, together with many of the lyrics he created with fellow Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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