New York, NY – Three men involved in a criminal case regarding the sale of stolen Eagles memorabilia, including handwritten lyrics to “Hotel California,” are headed to trial this week. The defendants, who are prominent figures in the collectibles industry, are accused of attempting to hinder Eagles co-founder Don Henley’s efforts to recover the allegedly stolen documents.
The trial revolves around over 80 pages of draft lyrics for songs from the iconic “Hotel California” album, which is ranked as the third best-selling album in U.S. history. Rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, and memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski have pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them.
The documents in question contain drafts of songs like “Hotel California,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” and “New Kid in Town,” which are still popular on classic rock radio and streaming platforms. The case was brought to court in 2022, a decade after the pages started to surface in auctions and caught the attention of Don Henley.
The lyrics sheets were initially in the possession of Kosinski and Inciardi, who had acquired them from Horowitz. Horowitz, in turn, had purchased them in 2005 from writer and counterculture figure Ed Sanders. Despite his involvement in the sale of the documents, Sanders has not been charged in the case.
According to court filings, the trio of defendants sought to create a credible ownership history for the manuscripts once Henley’s legal team began investigating. Their accounts of how the documents were obtained evolved over the years, ranging from finding them in a backstage dressing room to receiving them from Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, who passed away in 2016.
The defendants have claimed that Sanders had legal possession of the documents, and their lawyers intend to question the clarity of Henley’s recollection of his interactions with Sanders and the lyric sheets during the time when the rock star was living a high-profile lifestyle. The three men have opted for a trial by judge and not a jury, leaving the verdict in the hands of Judge Curtis Farber.