NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their criminal case midtrial Wednesday against three men who had been accused of conspiring to possess a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. The raft of communications emerged only when Eagles star Don Henley apparently decided last week to waive attorney-client privilege, after he and other prosecution witnesses had already testified. “Witnesses and their lawyers” used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging," Judge Curtis Farber said in dismissing the case. Through their lawyers, the men contended that they were rightful owners of pages that weren't stolen by anyone. In a letter to the court, Ginandes, the prosecutor, said the waiver of attorney-client privilege resulted in the belated production of about 6,000 pages of material.

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Persons: Aaron Ginandes, Don Henley, hadn’t, “ Witnesses, ”, Curtis Farber, Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, Edward Kosinski, ” Jonathan Bach, Horowitz, Inciardi, “, Scott Edelman, ” Edelman, Dan Petrocelli, Henley, ” Petrocelli, wasn't, hasn't, Ginandes Organizations: —, “, Eagles, Manhattan, Roll Hall of Fame, Prosecutors, Henley Locations: York, “ Hotel, U.S