Eagles Trial Reveals New Don Henley Teen Overdose Details

Shocking never-before-seen paperwork from an ongoing trial regarding allegedly stolen Eagles lyrics shine new mild on an notorious evening in 1980 when Don Henley was arrested after a teen overdosed at his house.

Henley has all the time maintained that the overdose occurred throughout a going-away occasion full of crew members because the band started a prolonged post-’70s hiatus. Henley was charged with giving cocaine to a minor, however stated he took the rap to guard the others. He additionally has maintained that he by no means had intercourse with the teenager.

“There were roadies and guys in my house – we were having a farewell to the Eagles,” Henley informed GQ in 1991. “I got all of them out of the house; I took complete blame for everything. I was stupid; I could have flushed everything down the toilet. I didn’t want this girl dying in my house. I wanted to get her medical attention. I did what I thought was best, and I paid the price.”

A up to date letter written by Henley to a Santa Monica probation officer, now launched into proof within the unrelated present trial, tells a really totally different story.

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Rather than going down at a celebration, Henley writes that he was depressed and alone when he referred to as an escort service. Soon, a younger girl appeared on the door, and so they shared some cocaine whereas attending to know each other higher. “She told me that she was only a temporary call-girl until she paid off a $2,000 cocaine debt in San Diego,” Henley writes within the assertion. He says she later admitted to doing extra coke “every time I got up to get her a drink or went to the toilet.”

In the letter, Henley says he tried to have intercourse with the teenager earlier than she talked about that she did not really feel effectively. He was within the rest room getting her aspirin, in line with the assertion, when she started to have a seizure.

Henley referred to as for assist, however the teen appeared to have recovered by the point paramedics arrived. He says they left after Henley promised to get her house safely. He says he then referred to as a buddy to offer her a journey, and the buddy had simply arrived when members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit arrived on the morning of Nov. 24, 1980.

News reviews stated investigators confiscated 22 grams of cocaine and 5 ounces of marijuana, in addition to Quaaludes and different medication. The 16-year-old escort, apparently nonetheless bare, was charged with prostitution whereas her 15-year-old buddy was arrested for being underneath the affect of medication.

Then in his early 30s, Henley later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor cost of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was finally sentenced to 2 years probation and a $2,500 superb.

‘It’s No Big Deal’

In this bygone period, there seemed to be little fear over how this might affect Henley’s profession. “It’s no big deal,” a record-label government informed the Los Angeles Times. “Kids don’t exactly put rock stars on a pedestal these days.” That’s the way it performed out.

Henley’s description of himself as a sympathetic fall man on this ugly incident grew to become an understood a part of Eagles historical past. He additionally leveraged private outrage over associated media protection into his first solo radio hit. The entire factor principally slipped into the previous.

Then a brand new trial acquired underway this week within the case of allegedly stolen lyrics sheets from the Hotel California period. Attorneys for Edward Kosinski, one of many accused, sought to introduce Henley’s letter into the report and interrogate him about his public descriptions of the evening in query.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Aaron Ginandes fought to have it excluded. “Mr. Henley has a 1980 misdemeanor conviction and given the length of time, how long ago that was, and the fact that that misdemeanor conviction has – the nature of it is quite prejudicial and it has absolutely no probative value,” Ginandes argued.

Judge Curtis Farber disagreed, and the letter might be a part of the defendant attorneys’ makes an attempt to question Henley’s honesty. Henley will apparently testify between Eagles tour stops.