What’s going on my fellow rock n’ rollers. Don’t forget to hit the bell notification
icon to be notified everytime I put up another video on my channel. It was something that
Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe didn’t see coming. The band was set to play a show in
Prague in the Czech Republic on June 27, 2012. It had been 2 years since the band had played
Prague and they were excited to return to the country once again.
The band flew to Prague from Italy where they had played a metal music Festival in Milan
and as the band exited the plane upon their arrival they were surrounded by policeman
wielding machine guns. The police apprehended Blythe and took him to the police station.
The police would charge Blythe with manslaughter for being responsible for the death of a 19
year old fan named Daniel Nosek who attended the band’s show 2 years prior in 2010. Under
Czech Republic’s criminal code Blythe could have faced 5-10 years in prison. And your
probably wondering what happened during that 2010 show.
During the 2010 show Nosek climbed into the stage and was apparently pushed by Blythe.
The Czech teenager who was sober and not under the influence of any drugs -- fell on his
back and hit his head, and appeared to be OK initially but later complained of a headache
following the concert and vomited violently. He was rushed to a hospital, where he underwent
emergency brain surgery but would slip into a coma and died several weeks later.
The police who investigated the death had interviewed witnesses who were at the concert
that night and they all pointed the finger at lamb of god singer Randy Blythe who they
claimed pushed Nosek off the stage. The problem though was conflicting accounts over what
happened. No one disputed blythe pushed him off stage, but it was a dispute over how he
fell off stage that was a key point of contention. One local newspaper claimed Blythe actually
punched Nosek before shoving him back into the audience. And Blythe would release his
own book detailing his entire account in the Czech republic’s legal system and the incident
in 2015 titled ‘Dark Days A Memoir’ In his book he described not remembering much
of the show itself since he’s played hundreds of concerts, but one thing he remembers was
the security or lack there of. The band was playing a pretty small venue with a really
small stage and Blythe would describe how a number of fans kept bumping into him as
they ran across the stage. Typically at every show Lamb of God has played
they have a signed contract with the promoter and the contract explicitly states what the
band requires. One of those requirements is security that is well trained and barricades
at the front of the stage to keep audience members back . Blythe would reveal that security
is one thing that is never compromised for a show, but that night in Prague was different.
Blythe would comment how there was literally no security present and there didn’t appear
to be a barrier holding the crowd back. Everytime he put his foot up on the front monitor it
would get struck by fans. And He would state in his book “This show was a disaster – the
club sucked, my crew was pissed off, the stage was tiny and crowded with our equipment. A
crowded stage is a dangerous stage for me, because I hop all over the place constantly
when we play, Following the concert The band would leave
the country and as the story was blowing up was unaware of all the commotion.
Following the arrest, the Czech State Attorney filed a motion to keep Blythe in police custody
after claiming the singer was a flight risk. Several hours after the motion was filed the
judge overseeing the case gave Blythe some hope setting the possibility, but not the
guarantee of bail at $200,000 US. The band’s lawyer and management team paid the money
immediately, but under Czech law once the bank receives the bail money it’s up to
the State to determine whether he should be released. Due to national holidays occurring
around the time of July 3rd when the money was deposited, the courts were closed. The
attorney would reject the bail amount 5 days later as Blythe ramined in a Czech prison.
Things only got worse for the singer when on July 17, almost 20 days after the arrest,
three judges from Prague’s municipal court made a ruling siding with the state attorney
and now doubled the bail amount to $400K US. To make matters worse the state attorney also
filed a motion requiring randy to remain in the country and report to a parole officer
on an ongoing basis until he went to trial. The motion though would be rejected though
and finally Blythe would be released from prison on August 2nd. The next day the singer
would fly back to the US but promised the Czech government he’d return for the trial.
And Blythe could have easily put this whole matter behind him by not returning to the
Czech Republic to face trial because the US Government wasn’t cooperating with the Czech
authorities at the time . But to really show the quality of his character Randy lived up
to his promise and returned to the Czech Republic almost 6 months later.
The trial would begin on Feb 4, 2013 and go on for almost a week.
. Upon taking the witness stand Blythe told the panel of judges he was nearsighted and
frequently performs frequently without glasses so he couldn’t see who from the audience
came on stage. Blythe would claim that a fan jumped on stage and waved his hands at the
singer and Blythe pushed him back to the crowd. The same fan again came onto the stage and
tried to hug the singer and Blythe claimed he acted in self defense and pushed him back
into the audience again. Following this incident Nosek climbed up onto the stage and Blythe
thought he was the same fan who approached him twice before and pushed him back into
the audience thinking the crowd would break his fall, but tragically they didn’t.
The judges verdict came on March 5th and they determined that while Randy was morally responsible
for Nosek’s death he was not criminally liable. They placed a majority of the blame
on the poor venue security. Randy returned home to the U.S folowing their decision.,
but the case wasn’t done yet as the prosecutors could appeal to Prague’s higher court and
that they did. The State Attorney appealed the lower court’s
decision and three judges in Prague’s High Court reviewed the case, without Randy being
present, but in the end the higher court upheld the ruling and Blythe was exonerated. Following
this whole ordeal Blythe would have some really wise words about how he empathized with the
family as he stated in the clip And when you came back when you were released on bail you
didn’t have to go back people i understand told you don’t go back. Yes everyone and
their uncle told me not to go back. You know i never would have been extradited.The United
States government didn’t cooperate with an exam with an investigation that the Czech
government wanted at first they said this isn’t worth our time but they never informed
me of any of this so but for me you know it just felt like the right thing to do. It’s
just I had to follow my inner moral compass. One of the interesting things i found in reading
this is that you talk about the fact that parents of the young man who died never really
confronted you and I think in a way you were able to empathize with them because you lost
a child in your life but not anyway near in the same way but as a parent losing a child
you can empathize with them. Sure. and you know I think that’s one thing you really
have to when you’re dealing with people i think there’s so many people have so many
preconceived notions of people where they are from a different culture, different economic
bracket, Or different country or whatever.I think you have to look for things you can
empathize with people with cause I tour all over the world all the time and I’ve discovered
that people are the same everywhere. if you can find some commonality whether it be tragedy
or something you both enjoy you can have empathy for this person you can try and understand
them. The world might be a better place if people try to understand each other. It’s
a shocking idea i know you know. That does it for today’s video guys thanks for watching.
Let me know for your thoughts on this incident and Do you think he should have been held
criminally liable. Let me know in the comments section below and If you guys have suggestions
for future topics let me know in your comments as well. Take care.