EAGLES: DON HENLEY BACK IN COURT

Don Henley was back on the witness stand for a third day in a row Wednesday in Manhattan criminal court in his bid to prove ownership of his notebooks of original lyrics and notes for the Eagles’ Hotel California album.

This time out Henley was cross-examined by Assistant District Attorney Aaron Ginandes and asked if he reviewed the documents in 2012, 2014 or 2016 when they offered to him for sale to determine if they were indeed the pages stolen from him. Henley said he didn't "because I always knew those were my property."

Henley was then asked by defense attorney Jonathan Bach if, when he gave Eagles biographer Ed Sanders access to the documents in 1979 if he set a timeline for their return. Again, Henley said he did not because he had a "common sense understanding that he would return the materials once he was done with them."

While the trial continues, Henley now heads to Hollywood, Florida where the Eagles are performing in Friday.

To quickly review this case, the manuscript at the center of this case was stolen by Eagles biographer Ed Sanders in the late ’70s who sold it to Glenn Horowitz, a dealer of high-end rare books and private archives of writers, including Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.

Horowitz then sold it to Craig Inciardi, curator and director of acquisitions at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Edward Kosinski who owns Gotta Have Rock and Roll, a memorabilia business in New Jersey.

They in turn tried to sell it back to Henley, as well as to Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses, claiming they received the manuscript from the late Glenn Frey.

In 2022, Inciardi, Horowitz and Kosinski were indicted in New York on charges of conspiracy as they're accused of trying to “possess, transport, store and sell such manuscripts” and of “fabricating provenance for the lyric manuscripts and for all of the defendants to communicate such false provenance to third parties.” 

They've been charged with one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree, which could land them in jail for four years.

Source: Rolling Stone and Premiere