A criminal trial involving a rare books dealer, Glenn Horowitz, accused of possessing stolen handwritten lyrics from Eagles co-founder Don Henley recently collapsed as the charges were dismissed by a judge in Manhattan. In an unexpected turn of events, Justice Curtis Farber granted the dismissal request by the Manhattan district attorney’s office due to the late disclosure of 6,000 pages of material by Mr. Henley’s legal team.
The trial came to a halt two weeks in, with the judge criticizing both the district attorney’s office and Mr. Henley’s legal team for their actions throughout the case. The case revolved around over 100 pages of draft lyrics for Eagles hit songs, allegedly stolen by an author, Ed Sanders, who sold them to Mr. Horowitz in 2005.
The sudden collapse of the trial shed light on the delayed disclosure of crucial evidence, including email messages between Mr. Henley, his team, and a private investigator, causing outrage among defense lawyers. The judge eventually granted the dismissal, citing manifest injustice and a tainted trial.
Mr. Horowitz, a well-known dealer in rare manuscripts, expressed relief that the case was dropped, emphasizing that it should never have been brought to court. The dismissal marked a victory for the defendants but left the fate of the stolen lyrics uncertain, with the potential for further legal action regarding their ownership.
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