NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Seated in a courtroom witness box, Don Henley opened a large brown envelope Tuesday and paged through the aging yellow sheets of a legal pad.
鈥淲ell, it's got two song titles written on the top,鈥 he explained when asked what it contained. 鈥 'After the Thrill is Gone' and 鈥極ne of These Nights.鈥欌
Then came another envelope and pad, and another, and one more. They bore 1970s drafts of lyrics to two other Eagles hits, 鈥淭he Long Run" and "The Sad Cafe." The four pads were in what Henley identified as his handwriting and occasionally that of band co-founder Glenn Frey.
It was the first glimpse in court of some of the physical pages at the heart of a trial involving Henley's decade-long effort to reclaim to songs, including the megahit 鈥淗otel California."
After spending Monday about topics ranging from Eagles songwriting to his , the Eagles co-founder underwent further questioning Tuesday from lawyers for three collectibles experts who are on trial.
Henley was asked about the writing of "Hotel California" and how he didn't notice for decades that the handwritten pages were missing. He was also queried about his past cocaine use 鈥 retorting that he was no 鈥渄rug-filled zombie鈥 鈥 and even about a $96 limousine bill from 1973.
He continued to insist that he never voluntarily parted with handwritten sheets from work, including the Eagles鈥 1976 release 鈥淗otel California," the in the U.S.
鈥淚 believed that my property was stolen,鈥 Henley said.
The album produced one of rock's most enduring hits, the song 鈥淗otel California,鈥 credited to Frey, Henley and guitarist Don Felder. Henley recalled that Felder provided a 鈥渧ery basic鈥 tape with guitar chords and a drum-machine beat. Frey and Henley worked from that to craft the lyrics, and three guitarists 鈥 鈥渇our, if you count the bass鈥 鈥 contributed to the recording, Henley said.
A prosecutor objected that the questions weren't relevant, but Judge Curtis Farber let them continue.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know the relevance, but it鈥檚 interesting,鈥 the judge said to laughter from the courtroom audience. Farber will decide the verdict, as the defendants chose not to have a jury.
The defendants 鈥 Edward Kosinski, Craig Inciardi and Glenn Horowitz 鈥 are charged with scheming to conceal the lyrics pages' disputed ownership and sell them despite knowing that Henley claimed they had no right. The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property.
They are not accused of actually stealing the roughly 100 legal-pad sheets. Horowitz bought them in 2005 from writer Ed Sanders, who had worked with the Eagles decades earlier on a band . Horowitz later sold the documents to Inciardi and Kosinski, who then started putting pages up for auction in 2012.
Sanders isn't charged with any crime. He hasn鈥檛 responded to messages about the case.
Henley bought back four pages of 鈥淗otel California鈥 song lyrics from Kosinski and Inciardi in 2012. He also went to authorities then, and again when more pages 鈥 some from the hit 鈥淟ife in the Fast Lane鈥 鈥 turned up for sale in 2014 and 2016.
At the trial, Henley has testified that Sanders was allowed to view the pages, and nothing more.
Henley said Monday that he didn't give permission for the 鈥渧ery personal, very private鈥 lyrics drafts to be removed from his property in Malibu, California, though he acknowledged that he didn't recall the entirety of his conversations with the writer in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In a tape of a 1980 phone call that was played in court, Henley said he'd 鈥渢ry to dig through鈥 his lyrics drafts in order to aid Sanders' book.
But Henley said Tuesday that 鈥渢here is no tape or document anywhere where I say, 鈥楳r. Sanders, you鈥檙e free to keep these items in perpetuity, and you鈥檙e free to sell them.鈥欌
Sanders' 1979 book contract with the Eagles said that material they provided him was their property. Defense lawyers have suggested that Henley is making a criminal accusation out of a clause in a contract that they say Kosinski, Inciardi and Horowitz knew nothing about.
鈥淭he idea that the items were stolen from your barn was perhaps an overstatement, fair to say?鈥 defense attorney Stacey Richman asked Henley. He replied that he didn't know.
The defense also has sought to show that the Eagles provided Sanders with copious insider material. Lawyer Jonathan Bach noted that Henley's property caretaker shipped Henley a box; its contents weren鈥檛 listed.
Attorney Scott Edelman pointed to the 1973 car-service receipt, which authorities said they found when searching Sanders' home. According to testimony, someone typed 鈥淒on Henley's offending limousine bill鈥 on the slip, and Henley filled the margins with hand-written comments that weren't read aloud in court.
The defense also has questioned how clearly the rock star remembers whatever he told Sanders during the book project, which spanned a tumultuous and fast-living time for Henley.
The Eagles broke up in 1980, and Henley was arrested that year after authorities said they found a 16-year-old girl naked and suffering from a drug overdose in his Los Angeles home. He was sentenced to probation and a $2,500 fine after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He wrote to a probation officer that 鈥渕y environment has led me to accept drugs as a part of everyday life鈥 and that cocaine had bolstered his courage 鈥渢o write songs and put my innermost feelings and emotions on public display,鈥 according to a letter presented in court. In the undated letter, he said he was giving up drugs.
Asked whether he had been using 鈥渁 significant amount of cocaine鈥 before his arrest, Henley replied: 鈥淪ignificant?鈥
鈥淵ou know, 鈥榮ex, drugs and rock 鈥榥鈥 roll鈥 is not revelatory," he said in a voice that grew increasingly hoarse as testimony went on. At one point, prosecutors gave him a throat lozenge.
He said he used cocaine 鈥渋ntermittently鈥 throughout the 1970s but he was always lucid when performing or doing business.
鈥淚f I was some sort of a drug-filled zombie, I couldn鈥檛 have accomplished everything I accomplished before 1980 and after 1980,鈥 Henley said.
