RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)—Imprisoned Richmond local, and lead singer for Grammy nominated Lamb of God was back in court today in the Czech Republic—and many are glum about the outcome.
Randy Blythe, age 41, has been detained almost two weeks since police picked him at the airport in Prague in connection with manslaughter dating back to a May 24, 2010 show at Prague’s Club Abaton.
Numerous outlets report that he has not been charged, but is under investigation for “bodily harm of 4th degree and resulting in the death of a fan,” which could carry a prison term of 5-10 years if convicted.
CBS 6 has shown the video that allegedly documents the concert in question; click here to view as a fan jumps on stage three separate times (stage diving is common at metal shows).
The deadline for the prosecutor to make the decision to deny or accept the bail Blythe paid on July 2–four million Czech korunas, which is slightly less than U.S. $200,000 dollars– by Monday, July 9.
The prosecutor reportedly had three days to enter evidence and make a final decision, but since Thursday and Friday were public holidays in the Czech Republic, the Lamb of God front man didn’t return to court until today.
It appears that the prosecutor in the case has formally filed a complaint to reject the singers bail. This how the Czech Republic system works, and it is different than the U.S. legal system.
The bail hearing will now be set at a later date. The Gauntlet commented that “today’s complaint by the prosecutor is just a stalling tactic to keep Blythe locked-up without having to have any evidence or file a single charge.”
The Gauntlet also reports that Blythe’s U.S. attorney will be in Prague shortly to assist in the matter. [You can view our complete coverage, dating back to the beginning, here regarding the Randy Blythe case.]
Father-in-law of the band’s guitarist told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the entire band was taken into custody originally. He said that after discussion, U.S. embassy personnel were able to get four of them free. Those band members were told to leave the country immediately.
Lamb of God has set up a fund to help pay Blythe’s legal expenses. A statement on the band’s Facebook page reads, in part, “As many of you know, Randy is being held in Czech jail for a crime we believe he did not commit. We are still learning about the legal system there and the situation is fluid. We have retained local legal counsel, have support from the U.S. embassy and we are flying over additional lawyers to try and assure that Randy has the best representation possible. As many of you have pointed out, the simple fact is that the legal fees are adding up very quickly.”
A petition has been filed asking the State Department to intervene on Blythe’s behalf. So far, it’s been signed by almost 3,000 people.[Click here to see the petition]
On Twitter, a hashtag is used to catalog the international tweets for Blythe’s release, it is #freeRandyBlythe. There’s a Free Randy Blythe Facebook site and a “Free Randy” t-shirt being marketed.
