The trial over ownership of handwritten lyrics of hit Eagles songs like “Hotel California” has been dismissed as new evidence was introduced to the court, including 6,000 pages of emails.
New York prosecutors on Wednesday abruptly dropped the case against three collectibles experts accused of stealing the lyrics pages and attempting to sell them for a profit, per AP News. While dismissing the case, presiding Judge Curtis Farber said “witnesses and their lawyers” used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging.”
The trial began in February. Eagles band member Don Henley accused rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski of taking the handwritten lyrics and other memorabilia without permission and selling it.
The defendants said some of the pages in question came from writer Ed Sanders, who was working on an authorized Eagles biography. He allegedly sold them to Horowitz.
Prosecutors and the defense were given access to the written communication over the past few days after Henley and his lawyers waived their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.
The content of the communications that led to the case dismissal isn’t available to the public, but defense lawyers said the documents called into question Henley’s testimony and identified additional key witnesses.
Henley’s attorney, Dan Petrocelli, insists the saga isn’t over, according to Fox News Digital.
“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,” Petrocelli said in a statement. “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.”
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One of Kosinski’s lawyers, Scott Edelman, said prosecutors “got blinded by the fame and fortune of a celebrity” in taking on the case.
“We are checking out and leaving the courtroom,” Stacey Richman, Inciardi’s lawyer quipped as the case was dismissed, referencing the famous line from the Eagles song “Hotel California” that says, “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”