MANHATTAN (CN) — Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday abruptly moved to drop charges two weeks into the trial against three collectors who had been accused of trying to sell stolen handwritten lyric sheets from The Eagles’ hit album “Hotel California.”
In dropping the case, Justice Curtis Farber said Wednesday that Don Henley, the band’s drummer and the district attorney’s star witness, used attorney-client privilege to hide information from prosecutors that weakened their claims.
The information came to light earlier this week with the “belated disclosure" of privileged emails, defense attorneys said. They claim Henley initially hid those emails to “obfuscate” key details in the case.
“This case should not have been brought,” defense lawyer Scott Edelman said Wednesday outside the Manhattan criminal courthouse. “The district attorney had many opportunities to drop the case. I commend them in the end for making the right decision. But frankly… it’s too little, too late, and they should have done the right thing from the beginning.”
Henley's lawyer Daniel Petrocelli claimed that the attorney-client privilege that previously guarded those emails is "a foundational guardrail in our justice system."
"Rarely, if ever, should you have to forsake it to prosecute or defend a case," Petrocelli said in an email statement. "As the victim in this case, Mr. Henley has once again been victimized by this unjust outcome, and he will pursue all his rights in the civil courts.”
Prosecutors accused rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and music memorabilia dealer Edward Kosinski of conspiring to sell the stolen manuscripts, supposedly belonging to Henley. Henley first reported the documents as stolen in 2012 after discovering them up for auction on a rock memorabilia website.
But none of the defendants were charged with stealing the documents. Instead, prosecutors said it was writer and prominent counterculture figure Ed Sanders who stole the sheets more than 40 years ago while working on a biography about The Eagles that was ultimately shelved.
Prosecutors didn’t charge Sanders, but they needed to demonstrate that he stole the documents and illegally sold them to the defendants to prove their case.
“There was no evidence that Mr. Sanders had stolen the manuscripts,” said Edelman, who represents Kosinski. “Mr. Sanders himself was never charged. No explanation was ever provided by the district attorney’s office.”
The defendants held that Henley gave Sanders the documents to help him write his book. Henley didn’t dispute that in his own testy testimony for the prosecution last month — but he claimed Sanders knew he was supposed to give the sheets back.
“It doesn’t matter if I drove a U-Haul truck across the country and dumped them on his front door,” Henley said. “He had no right to keep them and no right to sell them.”
Horowitz’s lawyer Jonathan Bach chided prosecutors on Wednesday for apparently allowing themselves to be tricked by Henley and for failing to give the defendants the opportunity “to explain our side” before bringing charges.
“One of the ironies in the case is that Mr. Horowitz and other defendants were accused of not doing a full investigation of Mr. Sanders,” Bach said. “But it appears that the failure to do a full investigation lies with the other side.”
Edelman claimed the district attorney was blinded by Henley’s aura.
“The district attorney in this case got blinded by the fame and the fortune of a celebrity and brought a case that would never be brought if it was just a normal person involved,” Edelman said. “That blinded them to the information that they weren’t being given, and led to the events of today.”
Henley’s personal life took center stage at the trial, which had been underway since Feb. 21. During his testimony, defense attorneys pressed the 76-year-old rockstar on his history of drug use and infamous arrest.
In 1980, Henley was arrested after authorities say they found cocaine, quaaludes, marijuana and a naked 16-year-old girl suffering from an overdose at his Los Angeles home. He claimed he hired the sex worker in an effort to cope with The Eagles’ breakup at the time.
“It never occurred to me that she was underage,” Henley said, quipping, “I don’t ask for ID when they come into my house.”
The defense attorneys didn’t say Wednesday whether or not they’d be pursuing further action against Henley or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for the ordeal.
“We will be assessing our rights,” Inciardi’s lawyer Stacey Richman said.
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