Randy Blythe's manslaughter charges
| Randy Blythe manslaughter trial | |
|---|---|
Blythe at 2009's Optimus! Alive
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| Court | High Court in Prague |
| Decided | June 5, 2013 |
| Case history | |
| Appealed from | Municipal Court in Prague (presiding Tomáš Kubovec) |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Jiří Lněnička (presiding) |
The Randy Blythe manslaughter case was a court case in the Czech Republic, stemming from a 2010 Lamb of God concert in Prague, wherein 19-year-old fan Daniel Nosek sustained head injuries leading to a coma and subsequent death. During the investigation, Czech police unsuccessfully asked United States authorities for cooperation. When the band returned to the Czech Republic for another concert two years later, its vocalist Randy Blythe was arrested, charged with causing Nosek's death, and remanded in custody for five weeks.
According to a verdict delivered by the Municipal Court in Prague on March 5, 2013, it was proven that Blythe had thrown Nosek offstage and thus had moral responsibility for his death. However, due to the circumstances, Blythe was not held criminally liable, and most of the blame lay with promoters and security members. The acquittal was upheld by the Prague High Court on June 5, 2013.
During a concert on May 24, 2010, in the Prague club, Abaton, Blythe was involved in an incident that resulted in the death of Daniel Nosek, a 19-year-old attending fan. According to eyewitness statements cited by the Czech online daily newspaper aktuálně.cz following Blythe's arrest, Blythe was chanting "Come on up" between songs, which, the newspaper stated, may have been intended to invite applause from the audience and not a direct invitation to fans. The newspaper went on to report that the fan tried to climb onstage and was thrown by the singer from the stage, falling backwards directly on his head. According to the same paper, Nosek was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, suffered serious brain trauma, fell into a coma, and died weeks later from his injuries.
A report about the concert at issue released on May 26, 2010 by topzine.cz stated that "one of the things that was unexpected was the behavior of the singer Randall Blythe, who on a few occasions struck some fans in a relatively brutal way off the stage." The article also contains pictures, one of them showing Blythe holding a fan down on the ground. Meanwhile, another report released two days after the concert by metalopolis.net alleged that "Randy in a totally uncompromising way took down an impertinent fan, who has climbed the podium several times. The front-man clearly showed that it is his territory, he struck the intruder down, punched him a couple of times and sent him through the air off the podium, without even stopping singing (!)" On May 28, 2010, the report by marastmusic.com stated that "some broken head was a testimony to the fact that the band does not like anybody on the stage", while abysszine.com stated that "the only negative thing about the concert was, to say it mildly, disputable approach of the band towards the stage-divers ... when somebody tried to climb the stage, he was brutally swept down."
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Wikipedia