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But the trial surprisingly ended early on March 6, when prosecutors filed to dismiss the case.
(Its not the first time Henleyhas taken legal action over Hotel California.)
Heres what to know.
Why was the case dismissed?
The defendants reportedly hugged in court after the case was dismissed.
What happens next?
As the victim in this case, Mr. Henley has once again been victimized by this unjust outcome.
The dismissal does unintentionally answer questions over why this was brought as a criminal trial in the first place.
However, attorneys for the defendants also hinted at civil action against Henley.
These are three factually innocent men.
The question is now … where do these men go to get their reputations back?
said Stacey Richman, attorney for Craig Inciardi, after the dismissal.
Well be assessing our rights in the wake of the demonstration that these men are factually innocent.
Scott Edelman, attorney for Edward Kosinski, added, This case never should have been brought.
What happened to the lyrics?
The band hadreportedlyallowed Sanders to access their archives, which included notepads of lyrics for the 1976 albumHotel California.
Sanders never published the memoir, but apparently he kept the notepads.
He sold them to Glenn Horowitz, a rare-books dealer, for $50,000 in 2005.
He soon got the Manhattan district attorneys office involved, filing a stolen-goods report.
(The auction house later withdrew them.)
The Manhattan district attorneys office charged the men in 2022.
What were the charges?
That charge carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Inciardi and Kosinski were each charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
Sanders, the writer, was not charged.
So, howdidthey get the lyrics?
That is the key question of the case.
But once attorneys for Henley got involved after they attempted to sell the lyrics, Sanders offered different stories.
He variously claimed he took the papers from a dressing room or stagehand as part of his research.
In 2017, he said hed gotten the manuscripts from the EaglesGlenn Frey, who died in 2016.
Horowitz reportedly said crediting the late Frey would make this go away once and for all.
The motion was denied.
Why is this a criminal case?
The defense wants to know as well.
Prosecutors called this claim a conspiracy theory rather than a legal defense.
What did Don Henley say in his testimony?
Don Henley finished testifying on February 28, after multiple days on the stand.
I never gifted them or gave them to anybody to keep or sell.
Henley said in court.
It doesnt matter if I drove a U-Haul truck across country and dumped them at his front door.
He had no right to keep them or to sell them.
Asignificant portion of questioningfocused on Henleys 1980 arrest after the Eagles breakup.
Police had found him at home in Los Angeles with drugs and a naked 16-year-old girl who had overdosed.
You know, sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll is not revelatory, he said.
Henley admitted he used cocaine intermittently during the 1970s, but not when performing and doing business.
(He also said Henley preferred to write on yellow notepads, while Frey preferred white.)
This post has been updated.
