After spending five weeks in a Czech Republic jail for an arrest in June in connection with the 2010 death of a fan at a Lamb of God concert in Prauge; frontman Randy Blythe has arrived back home in America.
Classic Rock reports that although Blythe was never charged with any crimes related to the death of fan Daniel Nosek at the Prague concert, prosecuters objected to Blythe’s bail twice. A final 16-hour hearing saw the court overruling all protests and finally set the metal frontman free.
Blythe was originally arrested at the Prague airport for manslaughter charges on June 27, and even after fronting approximately $US 200,000 – reportedly the equivalent of the metal singer’s annual salary – was denied bail and ordered by a Prague judge that he was to be grounded until the case was settled, as he was considered a “flight risk.”
The Lamb of God frontman was connected to the death of 19-year-old Daniel Nosek, who died a month after a 2010 Lamb of God concert in which he sustained a head injury after rushing the stage several times and being pushed off, later dying of a brain haemorrhage. The band and many in the metal community protested Blythe’s innocence, and fan footage from the concert surfaced that showed that Blythe did not touch Nosek, but instead it was unruly fans that had muscled him from the stage.
The final hearing that cleared Blythe could find no evidence that linked the frontman to Nosek’s fatal injury, Classic Rock reports that as he left the hearing, Blythe told a local TV station: “It’s very tragic that a young man died. I feel very bad that his family has to go through it. I feel awful for them – but it’s a tragic coincidence in my mind.” Blythe also commented on the ongoing stigma that metal music often faces, “to people who are not used to this type of music, I know it must seem crazy and violent. But that sort of activity is normal at a concert. That concert was one of literally thousands I’ve played.”
As for his time in jail, Blythe said it “wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t exactly fun… I had three meals a day, a roof over my head and clothes on my back, so I tried to be grateful. I read, wrote some new songs, exercised in my cell and talked to cellmates. I signed some autographs, but even the people who didn’t know who I was, they knew why I was there. Nobody was mean to me at all – I had no problems.”
Czech Republic authorities apparently had warned Lamb of God and their management that Blythe was under suspicion for criminal charges related to the 2010 incident, and would be taken into custody for investigation for returning to Prague. But band management said they were never given that information; with Blythe adding, “I did not know anyone was hurt. When I showed up in Prague I was very surprised to be arrested. We had no knowledge that someone had been injured, much less died.”
Blythe, has now returned home to his Richmond, Virginia home, but added that if necessary he would return to the country to tie up any loose ends, “if it’s necessary for me to return to Prague to go to this court thing, I certainly will. I’m no flight risk.”
