Eagles Co-Founder Is Star Witness at ‘Hotel California’ Trial

When Don Henley discovered his original lyrics for the classic pop hit Hotel California up for sale in 2012, he bought them back for $8,500, wanting to get them off the web as fast as possible.

When more came up for auction a few years later, he called the cops.

The 76-year-old Eagles co-founder took the witness stand Monday in Manhattan as the prosecution’s star witness in the trial of three men accused of illegally purveying the handwritten notes, which the district attorney claims were stolen.

Don Henley of The Eagles leaves Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Feb. 26.

Photographer: Adam Gray/Getty Images

Henley, in a suit and tie and looking more like a banker than ...