“Trial Begins for Men Accused of Selling Stolen ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics”

Trial Begins for Men Accused of Selling Stolen ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics

In a high-profile criminal case that has captured the attention of music enthusiasts and legal experts alike, three men have gone on trial for allegedly selling stolen lyrics to the iconic rock song “Hotel California” and other Eagles favorites. The trial, which began on Wednesday, centers around approximately 100 pages of legal-pad drafts containing the developmental versions of some of the most well-known lines in rock music history. The key witness in the case is none other than Eagles co-founder Don Henley, who is determined to recover these valuable manuscripts. The defendants, who are all prominent figures in the collectibles world, obtained the documents from a writer and counterculture figure with deep roots in the rock scene of the 1960s.

The prosecution argues that the defendants—rare-books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, and memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski—knowingly sold the pages despite their questionable ownership history. Furthermore, they allegedly conspired to hinder Henley’s efforts to reclaim what he believes are stolen pieces of his musical legacy.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Nicholas Penfold emphasized this point during his opening statement, stating, “The defendants were not businessmen acting in good faith, but criminal actors.” However, the defense maintains that the documents were not stolen and that their clients did nothing illegal by purchasing or attempting to sell them. Stacey Richman, Inciardi’s lawyer, passionately declared during her opening statement, “They have accused three innocent men of a crime that never occurred.”

The defense team argues that Henley voluntarily gave away the documents and is now leveraging the legal system to retrieve them. Matthew LaRoche, one of Kosinski’s lawyers, criticized the prosecution’s stance, claiming that they are essentially turning any situation where a celebrity claims ownership into a criminal offense. He stated, “The prosecution effectively makes a crime out of any circumstance in which ‘a celebrity tells you, ‘That property is mine,’ and you don’t give it back when they ask for it.'”

At the heart of the trial are approximately 100 pages of draft lyrics from the Eagles’ 1976 album “Hotel California,” which remains one of the best-selling albums in U.S. history. These documents include early versions of songs such as “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town,” and, of course, the iconic title track “Hotel California.” Despite being criticized by some as an overexposed relic of the ’70s, the Grammy-winning song continues to be a classic rock staple, with millions of streams and radio plays each year.

The case was brought to court in 2022, a decade after some of the lyric pages began appearing at auctions, catching Henley’s attention and sparking his determination to reclaim them. Henley purchased four pages for $8,500 but also reported them stolen. At the time, Kosinski and Inciardi possessed the lyrics sheets, having acquired them from Horowitz for $65,000. Horowitz’s company had initially purchased them for $50,000 in 2005 from Ed Sanders, a renowned poet, nonfiction writer, and activist who co-founded the avant-garde rock group the Fugs. Sanders had collaborated with the Eagles on a band biography that was ultimately shelved, accumulating boxes of material in the process.

According to LaRoche, Sanders had informed Horowitz in 2005 that Henley’s assistant had sent him any documents he wanted for the biography. However, Sanders expressed concerns about potentially upsetting Henley if he were to sell them, as revealed in an email presented in court. This raised doubts about Sanders’ ownership rights and his ability to sell the lyric notes. Prosecutors argue that Sanders signed a contract in 1979 stating that the Eagles retained ownership of any material they provided for the book. The defense claims that their clients were unaware of this contract until after they were indicted.

Prosecutors allege that once Henley’s legal team began questioning the ownership of the documents, Horowitz, Inciardi, and Kosinski worked together to create a plausible ownership history for the manuscripts. Emails cited in the indictment reveal that Inciardi and Horowitz presented various accounts of how Sanders obtained the lyrics, ranging from finding them abandoned in a dressing room to receiving them from the late Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey. While Sanders was involved in some of these discussions, he reportedly rejected certain versions of the backstage-salvage story. The indictment also includes emails in which Horowitz discussed shaping Sanders’ explanation and ensuring he would not face legal consequences.

Jonathan Bach, Horowitz’s lawyer, argued that these emails were not attempts to cover tracks but rather an effort to obtain a statement from Sanders that would refute baseless allegations. The indictment does not show Kosinski participating in these exchanges. However, it does mention that he forwarded one of the explanations to Henley’s lawyer while informing