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Manhattan prosecutors made the stunning decision Wednesday (March 6) to drop a criminal case against three men accused of trying to sell stolen notes linked to the Eagles’ 1976 album Hotel California, with a judge saying Don Henley had “manipulated” prosecutors.

At a hearing Wednesday, a New York judge dismissed the charges after prosecutors alerted him that newly uncovered evidence cast doubt on whether Henley’s notes had been stolen in the first place — the core defense advanced by Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski.

The disclosures came mid-way through a closely-watched criminal trial against the three men, in which Henley and longtime Eagles manger Irving Azoff had already testified. The proceedings had already run more than two weeks and had been expected to keep going until at least next week.

The sudden reversal was sparked by Henley producing new evidence that had been previously withheld under attorney-client privilege. The new materials touched on whether a journalist hired in the 1970s to write a book about the Eagles, Ed Sanders, had legitimately come into possession of Henley’s notes.

At a hearing in open court on Wednesday, Justice Curtis Farber sharply criticized Henley and Azoff’s conduct: “It is now clear that both witnesses and their lawyers … used the privilege to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging to their position that the lyric sheets were stolen.”

The judge said he was also troubled that prosecutors had been “manipulated” into bringing the charges, and questioned why they had not more thoroughly vetted the accusations and the evidence. But he praised them for dropping the case once new evidence had come to light.

“Albeit late, 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. “District Attorney Bragg and the prosecutorial team here, while eating a slice of humble pie, are displaying the highest level of integrity in moving to dismiss the charges. I am impressed.”

In a statement to Billboard following Wednesday’s hearing, Henley’s attorney Dan Petrocelli said: “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.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office declined to comment.

Horowitz, a rare book dealer, Inciardi, a curator at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Kosinski, a memoriabila auctioneer, were all charged in 2022 with conspiracy over accusations that they tried to resell and hide the origin of the handwritten notes, penned by Henley during the creation of Hotel California. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said the trio had “made up stories about the origin of the documents and their right to possess them so they could turn a profit.”

But the three men always maintained that they had done nothing wrong. Their core argument: That the alleged “thief,” Sanders, had legally obtained them in the 1970s in the process of writing a never-released book about the Eagles. If the notes were never stolen, the three argued, how could they be charged with re-selling stolen property?

The trial kicked off last month, with Inciardi’s attorney telling the judge that prosecutors had “distorted the history” to charge innocent men and the DA’s office would be “apologizing at the end of this case.” Henley later testified that the he had not willingly given away the notes, saying they were “something very personal, very private.”

But at Wednesday’s hearing, Justice Curtis said that Henley had recently handed over more than 6,000 new pages of emails and other disclosures that contained new information about how Sanders came to own the notes. Such “jarringly late disclosures” violated Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski’s constitutional rights, the judge said.

“A review of these newly disclosed materials has demonstrated and highlighted Mr. Henley and Mr. Azoff’s use of the privilege to shield themselves from a thorough and complete cross-examination,” Justice Farber said at the hearing.

“Accordingly, indictment 72426 of ’22 against each defendant, Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski is dismissed,” the judge said.

In a statement to Billboard, Horowitz’s attorney Jonathan Bach said: “We are glad the DA’s office made the right decision and finally dropped this case. It never should have been brought. Mr. Horowitz looks forward to carrying on with his important work.”

Attorneys for the other two defendants did not return requests for comment.