NEW YORK — The Manhattan district attorney’s office suddenly dropped conspiracy charges Wednesday against three men accused of criminally possessing 100 pages of Eagles frontman Don Henley‘s handwritten notes and lyrics to the 1976 album “Hotel California “amid new evidence a judge said the rock star and his lawyers hid from the defense and prosecutors.

Prosecutors’ decision to drop the case, which has been on trial in Manhattan Criminal Court since February, came after Henley waived attorney-client privilege and prosecutors gained access to thousands of pages of previously undisclosed material.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Curtis Farber said Henley and his lawyers made “jarringly late disclosures” that showed they sought to “obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging to their position that the lyric sheets were stolen” and shield themselves from a thorough cross-examination.

“It is additionally troubling to this court that [prosecutors] were apparently manipulated. However, such manipulation was the result of passive complicity in allowing this situation to develop,” Farber said.

“Albeit late, I commend the prosecution for refusing to allow itself or the courts to be further manipulated for the benefit of anyone’s personal gain. District Attorney Bragg and the prosecutorial team here, while eating a slice of humble pie, are displaying the highest level of integrity in moving to dismiss the charges. I am impressed.”

A spokesman for DA Alvin Bragg declined to comment on the now-sealed case.

Henley reported the sheets stolen in 2012 after learning they were up for auction by rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz and rock memorabilia specialists Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski, who were on trial. They purchased them from Ed Sanders, a writer who worked with the Eagles on a never-published band biography.

The position presented by Henley’s lawyers before the evidence came to light, “in the words of the judge, was manipulated and strategic and designed to present a one sided view,” Horowitz’s lawyer Jonathan Bach said Wednesday.

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Travis Barker’s influencer son Landon has confirmed his diagnosis with Tourette syndrome, amid fan speculation he displayed symptoms of the condition.

The 20-year-old, who has 5.5 million followers on his verified TikTok, shared a video in which he responded to a comment asking whether he had the neurological disorder.

“I actually do have very, very minor Tourette’s,” he starts in the video, shared on another account that boasts nearly 400,000 followers. “I’ve had it since I can remember, like preschool. I remember exactly ’cause the teacher used to accuse me of rolling my eyes at her, because one of my tics was like … a weird thing I do with my eyes.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, Tourette syndrome is known for triggering repetitive movements or unwanted sounds that sufferers struggle to control.

Barker said that these days, he’s more prone to moving his head in a certain direction or rolling his jaw, as he demonstrated for the camera.

“It really just acts up in nervous situations and nerve-racking environments for me. But I thought I’d just share, because, why not?” said Barker, son of the Blink-182 drummer and his ex-wife Shanna Moakler.

The Mayo Clinic notes that the disorder is roughly three to four times more likely to develop in males than in females.

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A federal judge in Miami has sided with rhythm-and-blues band Earth Wind & Fire in its lawsuit against an “alumni” act it claimed was infringing on its trademark.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno filed a ruling agreeing with Earth Wind & Fire’s claim that promotions by a band with no original EWF members were confusing consumers into believing they were buying tickets to see the real thing.

The trademarked Earth Wind & Fire name and its familiar Phoenix logo is owned by the sons of founder Maurice White, who died in 2016. Original members Philip Bailey, Maurice White’s brother Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson continue to tour as Earth, Wind & Fire under license.

In March 2023, the White sons filed suit against two promoters — Georgia-based Substantial Music Group LLC and Indiana-based Stellar Communications Inc. — that the sons claimed were staging concerts by a group of one-time side musicians under the name Legacy Reunion: Earth, Wind & Fire Alumni.

Those shows continued through the litigation.

According to listings on the Ticketmaster website, the act is scheduled to perform under the infringing name in Charlotte, N.C., on March 14, and on two dates in Evansville, Ind., and Bloomington, Ill. in May.

A spokesman for Substantial Music Group LLC did not immediately respond to emailed questions about whether the group would change its name in the wake of the ruling. A penalty hearing is scheduled the week of May 28.

Earth Wind & Fire’s attorney, David I. Greenbaum, partner in the San Francisco-founded law firm Rimon P.C., said, “We appreciate that the court decided in our client’s favor on liability for trademark infringement. We await the trial on damages.”

From combined wire reports