Eagles’ Don Henley quizzed at lyrics trial about time a naked 16-year-old girl overdosed at his home

Eagles’ Don Henley quizzed at lyrics trial about time a naked 16-year-old girl overdosed at his home

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Don Henley arrived at a New York courthouse Monday to take the stand at the criminal trial surrounding what he says were stolen, handwritten draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. (26 Feb. 2024)

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FILE - Members of The Eagles, from left, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh pose with an autographed guitar after a news conference at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah, Jan. 19, 2013. Henley, the co-founder of classic rock band the Eagles, is scheduled to testify Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. They’re charged with colluding to veil the questioned ownership of sheets of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits in order to sell them and deflect Henley’s demands for their return. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

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Musician Don Henley leaves Supreme Court during lunch break, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in New York. The trial surrounding pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits is set to feature a star witness: Henley. The Eagles co-founder is scheduled to testify Monday at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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Musician Don Henley, left, leaves Supreme Court during lunch break, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in New York. The trial surrounding pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits is set to feature a star witness: Henley. The Eagles co-founder is scheduled to testify Monday at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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Musician Don Henley arrives at Supreme Court to testify, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in New York. The trial surrounding pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits is set to feature a star witness: Don Henley. The Eagles co-founder is scheduled to testify Monday at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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Defendant rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz arrives at Supreme Court , Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in New York. The trial surrounding pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits is set to feature a star witness: Don Henley. The Eagles co-founder is scheduled to testify Monday at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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FILE - Don Henley of The Eagles performs on the “History of the Eagles” tour at the Forum, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, in Los Angeles. Henley, the co-founder of classic rock band the Eagles, is scheduled to testify Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. They’re charged with colluding to veil the questioned ownership of sheets of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits in order to sell them and deflect Henley’s demands for their return. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)

By JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — Don Henley was asked in a New York courtroom Monday about a seamy episode from his past: his 1980 arrest after authorities said they found drugs and a naked 16-year-old girl suffering from an overdose at the Eagles co-founder’s Los Angeles home.

Henley was testifying at an unrelated criminal trial, where three collectibles dealers are charged with conspiring to own and attempt to sell handwritten draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits without the right to do so. The men have pleaded not guilty.

A prosecutor asked about the singer and drummer’s November 1980 arrest early on, apparently to get ahead of defense lawyers. They previously indicated that they planned to question the 76-year-old about his memory of the era and his lifestyle at the time.

The arrest was briefly reported on at the time, and it gained only a passing mention during the recent #MeToo movement, when many such incidents involving public figures were reexamined.

On Monday, Henley told the court that he called for a sex worker that night because he “wanted to escape the depression I was in” over the breakup of the superstar band.

“I wanted to forget about everything that was happening with the band, and I made a poor decision which I regret to this day. I’ve had to live with it for 44 years. I’m still living with it today, in this courtroom. Poor decision,” Henley testified in a raspy drawl.

As he did in a 1991 interview with GQ magazine, Henley testified that he didn’t know the girl’s age until after his arrest and that he went to bed with the girl, but never had sex with her.

“I don’t remember the anatomical details, but I know there was no sex,” said Henley, who said they’d done cocaine together and talked for many hours about his band’s breakup and her estrangement from her family.

He said he called firefighters, who checked the girl’s health, found her to be OK and left, with him promising to take care of her. The paramedics, who found her in the nude, called police, authorities said at the time.

Henley said Monday that she recovered and was preparing to leave with a friend she’d had him call, when police arrived hours later.

At the time, authorities said they found cocaine, quaaludes and marijuana at his Los Angeles home.

Henley pleaded no contest in 1981 to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to probation and a $2,500 fine, and he requested a drug education program to get some possession charges dismissed.

Henley was asked about the incident on Monday before he gave the court his version of how handwritten pages from the development of the band’s blockbuster 1976 album made their way from his Southern California barn to New York auctions decades later.