Don Henley in the courtroom in February 2024 in New York City.Photo:YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty

US musician Don Henley of the band “Eagles” arrives at the courtroom after lunch break at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 26, 2024, in New York. The Eagles frontman Don Henley said Monday he was the victim of “extortion” as the trial began of three men accused of trying to sell around 100 pages of stolen notes from the band’s 1976 album “Hotel California”.

YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty

The case dates back to the late 1970s, when Henley and the Eagles began work with writer Ed Sanders on a band biography that never saw the light of day.

Don Henley on Feb. 26, 2024 in court in New York City.YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty

US musician Don Henley of the band “Eagles” arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 26, 2024, in New York. The Eagles frontman Don Henley said Monday he was the victim of “extortion” as the trial began of three men accused of trying to sell around 100 pages of stolen notes from the band’s 1976 album “Hotel California”.

Henleyreportedly testified last monththat while he may have given Sanders, who is not charged in the case, access to the lyric papers in order to help with the writing of the book, he “never gave” him permission to keep the pages, which contain handwritten words to classics like “Hotel California.”

Sanders sold the lyric pages to Horowitz in 2005, and he later sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who all pleaded not guilty to charges including criminally possessing stolen property, per the AP. Henley has said he was shocked to see the pages surface at auctions in 2012; that year, he bought back four pages for $8,500.

“It just wasn’t something that was for public viewing. It was our process,” he said while on the stand last month, according to the AP. “It was something very personal, very private. I still wouldn’t show that to anybody.”

The Eagles (Don Felder, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner) ca. 1977.RB/Redferns

Photo of Glenn FREY and Joe WALSH and Don HENLEY and Don FELDER and EAGLES and Randy MEISNER; L-R: Don Felder, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner - posed, studio, group shot - Hotel California era

“These delayed disclosures revealed relevant information that the defense should have had the opportunity to explore,” Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Aaron Ginandes told the court, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, the outlet reported that Kosinski said he felt “very good” as he left court, while Inciardi said in a written statement that “the next step is building back our reputations.”

source: people.com