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A criminal case against a trio of collectors and auctioneers that drew widespread attention for the bounty they were accused of conspiring to sell — pages of handwritten lyrics penned by the 1970s rock band the Eagles, including the words to their legendary single “Hotel California” — ended suddenly on Wednesday when New York prosecutors dropped all charges against the defendants in an unexpected collapse.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2022 accused rock auctioneer Edward Kosinski, rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz and<b> </b>former Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi of acquiring pages of the Eagles’ manuscripts after they were stolen in the 1970s. Prosecutors accused Kosinski, Horowitz and Inciardi of conspiring to auction off the manuscripts, valued at more than $1 million, in 2016.

But the trial was upended over the weekend when attorneys for Eagles frontman Don Henley released about 6,000 of pages of documents mid-trial that defense attorneys said established perjury by several witnesses they had already cross-examined and tore a hole in the state’s prosecution. On Wednesday, prosecutors conceded that the defense had not been given time to review the vast disclosure of new evidence and moved to dismiss the case.

The drama was not lost on New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber, who commended the district attorney’s office for “eating a slice of humble pie” while suggesting that it had failed to properly investigate the case before bringing charges.

Attorneys for Kosinski, Horowitz and Inciardi — all of whom had pleaded not guilty — applauded the decision and said their clients should never have been charged.

“We are glad the District Attorney’s office finally made the right decision and dismissed this case,” Jonathan Bach, an attorney for Horowitz, said in a statement to The Washington Post. “It should never have been brought.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment beyond its statements in court.

Dan Petrocelli, an attorney for Henley, said in a statement that the outcome was “unjust,” adding that his client will “pursue all his rights in the civil courts.”

Eagles lyrics notes were stolen years ago. Now three men face charges.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2022 <a href="https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-three-individuals-charged-with-possessing-stolen-handwritten-lyric-notes-for-the-eagles-album-hotel-california/" target="_blank">alleged</a> that Kosinski, Horowitz and Inciardi bought about 100 pages of the Eagles’ manuscripts — which featured handwritten notes and lyrics by Henley of songs from the band’s 1976 album “Hotel California,” including the title track, “Life in the Fast Lane,” and “New Kid in Town” — after they were stolen. Prosecutors accused the trio of working for years to prevent Henley from recovering the manuscripts and attempting to auction them for profit, and charged them with conspiracy and possessing or attempting to possess stolen property.

Attorneys for the three men contended the trio’s innocence at the time. Intrigue followed as the case <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/trial-begin-case-eagles-stolen-hotel-california-lyrics/story?id=107386278" target=_blank>went to trial</a> in late February, with Henley divulging details on the stand about his career and the origins of the Eagles’ most enduring song.

Arguments in the case centered on whether the manuscripts were stolen before Kosinski, Horowitz and Inciardi obtained them. Defense attorneys said Henley gave the pages willingly to an author hired to write a biography of the band, who then passed the pages onto Horowitz. Henley <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2024/02/26/henley-hotel-california-lyrics-trial-eagles/51d78354-d4b7-11ee-82ad-c2391b06a8f5_story.html" target=_blank>countered</a> that they were initially given under a book contract that said the notes remained the Eagles’ property. The author has not been charged.

Defense attorneys said Kosinski, Horowitz and Inciardi were never told about the contract, and they questioned why Henley’s attorneys never informed them about the contract and instead cast the theft as a burglary when they wrote in 2012 to the defendants to demand the return of the manuscripts, Bach said.

The trial turned on its head Saturday, when defense attorneys suddenly received thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents, including attorney-client communications, Bach said. They were belatedly released after Henley abruptly revoked his attorney-client privilege before the testimony of one of his attorneys. Henley had previously invoked his attorney-client privilege to withhold information when the defense cross-examined two other attorneys, before he changed tack.

That led to the sudden release of a slew of material that contradicted the testimony of the first two attorneys, said Stacey Richman, an attorney for Inciardi. She said the scenario was like something out of a crime drama.

“Every time we turned a page, we were like, ‘What? Oh my God. This is revelatory,’” Richman said.

Bach said in court on Monday that the newly disclosed documents indicated that attorneys for Henley recognized that the contract was central to the case. The first two attorneys had testified that they didn’t think the contract was important when explaining why they did not cite it while demanding the return of the manuscripts, he said.

Bach argued that he and his colleagues were denied an opportunity to cross-examine previous witnesses over the reams of new material and motioned for a mistrial. The situation left attorneys for both parties stunned, he said.

“All of the defense attorneys at the trial noted that it was unprecedented in their collective experience,” Bach told The Post, adding that the prosecutors had said the same.

Prosecutors initially contested the motion, but on Wednesday conceded that defense attorneys had not been given the opportunity to review the delayed disclosures and moved to dismiss the case, according to court transcripts. Farber, the judge on the case, concluded that Henley had used his attorney-client privilege to evade a thorough cross-examination and criticized the district attorney’s office for failing to thoroughly investigate the case before bringing charges.

“I commend the prosecution for refusing to allow itself or the courts to be further manipulated for the benefit of anyone’s personal gain,” Farber said.

Stanford University, BA in History and MA in Communications

Daniel Wu is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. He joined The Post as an intern on the Metro desk in 2022 and previously worked for the Seattle Times and the San Jose Mercury News.

Daniel Wu

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Eagles ‘Hotel California’ lyrics case dropped over new evidence

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Hotel California Lyrics Trial

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