Eagles Trial Reveals New Don Henley Teen Overdose Details

Stunning 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 dwelling.

Henley has at all times maintained that the overdose occurred throughout a going-away celebration 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 have been roadies and guys in my home – we had been having a farewell to the Eagles,” Henley informed GQ in 1991. “I obtained all of them out of the home; I took full blame for all the pieces. I used to be silly; I may have flushed everything down the bathroom. I did not need this woman dying in my home. I needed to get her medical attention. I did what I believed was greatest, and I paid the worth.”

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 completely different story.

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Slightly than happening at a celebration, Henley writes that he was depressed and alone when he referred to as an escort service. Quickly, a younger lady appeared on the door, they usually shared some cocaine whereas attending to know each other higher. “She informed me that she was solely a brief call-girl till 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 “each time I obtained as much as get her a drink or went to the bathroom.”

Within the letter, Henley says he tried to have intercourse with the teenager earlier than she talked about that she did not really feel properly. 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 dwelling safely. He says he then referred to as a pal to provide her a trip, and the pal had simply arrived when members of the Los Angeles Police Division’s Sexually Exploited Little one Unit arrived on the morning of Nov. 24, 1980.

Information 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 pal 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 in the end sentenced to 2 years probation and a $2,500 tremendous.

‘It is No Massive Deal’

On this bygone period, there seemed to be little fear over how this is able to affect Henley’s profession. “It is no large deal,” a record-label govt informed the Los Angeles Occasions. “Youngsters do not precisely put rock stars on a pedestal nowadays.” That is the way it performed out.

Henley’s description of himself as a sympathetic fall man on this ugly incident turned 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 thing principally slipped into the previous.

Then a brand new trial obtained underway this week within the case of allegedly stolen lyrics sheets from the Resort 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 Legal professional Aaron Ginandes fought to have it excluded. “Mr. Henley has a 1980 misdemeanor conviction and given the size of time, how way back that was, and the truth that that misdemeanor conviction has – the character of it’s fairly prejudicial and it has completely no probative worth,” Ginandes argued.

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