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Eagles co-founder Don Henley took the stand in a New York court on Monday in the ongoing criminal case over the band's stolen lyrics.
Henley also discussed a 1980 arrest after authorities found drugs and a 16-year-old sex worker in his Los Angeles home.
He testified that he called the sex worker because he wanted to “escape the depression I was in” over the Eagles' breakup.
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“I wanted to forget everything that happened with the band and made a bad decision that I still regret to this day. I had to live with it for 44 years. I still live with it today “Bad decision,” the 76-year-old said in court, according to the Associated Press.
EAGLES' “HOTEL CALIFORNIA” CRIMINAL CASE OVER STOLEN LYRIC PAGES IS “ABOUT THE NAMES INVOLVED”: “A GOLD MINE”
Don Henley addressed his previous arrest and misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor during his testimony during the trial over the band's allegedly stolen lyrics. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Henley said, as in the past, he did not learn the girl's age until after the arrest and that he did cocaine with her but did not have sex.
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“I don't remember the anatomical details, but I know there was no sex,” he said.
The girl suffered an overdose and Henley called the fire department, who checked her condition and determined she was fine. Then they left with the singer's promise to take care of them.
According to Henley, police arrived and found cocaine, Quaaludes and marijuana as she prepared to leave with someone he had called.
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Henley called hiring an underage sex worker who was unknown to him at the time a “bad decision” and said he regrets it to this day. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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In 1981, Henley pleaded no contest to the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to probation and a $2,500 fine and applied for a drug education program to get some drug possession charges dismissed.
The incident occurred as Henley was on the witness stand to give his version of how handwritten pages from the Eagles' development of their 1976 album “Hotel California” made their way from his Southern California barn to New York auctions decades later.
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Henley's arrest was brought up by the prosecution, apparently before the defense could point it out.
Representatives for Henley told Fox News Digital that he could not be reached for comment at this time.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, MAY 7, 1977, THE EAGLES' SONG “HOTEL CALIFORNIA” HIT NO. 1
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The Eagles, from left, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh in 2013. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
The “Boys of Summer” singer testified against Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski, who were charged with fourth-degree conspiracy for allegedly attempting to sell manuscripts that contained “developmental lyrics to the Eagles song 'Hotel California.'” the original indictment filed in 2022 by the New York District Attorney's Office.
According to the district attorney, the manuscripts have a total value of over $1 million.
According to the indictment, the defendants acquired the pages through Ed Sanders, a nonfiction author who was working on a biography of the band that was never published. Sanders reportedly kept the handwritten work and later sold the pages to Horowitz, a rare book dealer, for $50,000.
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According to the AP, Sanders said Henley's assistant sent him the documents for the biography project in an email to Horowitz in 2005.
The three accused men, from left: Craig Inciardi, Edward Kosinski and Glenn Horowitz, appeared in court last week. (Mary Atlaffer)
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Horowitz then sold pages to Inciardi, a former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator and Kosinski memorabilia collector. Inciardi and Kosinski attempted to sell pages of the song's lyrics through Kosinski's company Gotta Have Rock and Roll, but were caught by Henley in 2012.
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According to the indictment, on April 25, 2012, Henley purchased the “original handwritten lyrics of the Eagles song 'Hotel California,' written in Don Henley's hand” for $8,500.
Henley testified before a grand jury that he never gave the biographer the lyrics and reported them stolen in 2012 after Inciardi and Kosinski began offering them at auction houses.
Last week, Irving Azoff, the Eagles' longtime manager, testified that handwritten lyrics pages for “Hotel California” were originally “stolen” by Sanders.
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A writer named Ed Sanders was supposed to be working on a biography of the Eagles, but it was never published. Sanders is allegedly the one who took the text pages and sold them to Horowitz. (RB/Redferns)
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“All of these lyrics are very personal to him, they are part of music history, and it was simply unacceptable to him that they would be stolen by someone else,” Azoff testified. He admitted that he had never seen Henley reveal any of his work, including most of the lyrics he co-wrote with Glenn Frey, a co-founder of the Eagles.
Tracy Wright of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.