It's been a stressful week for Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe. He is currently standing trial on charges of manslaughter stemming from a 2010 concert in Prague. On day 1 (report here) Blythe testified proclaiming his innocence and on day 2 (report here) friends of the fallen fan, Daniel Nosek testified that Blythe was acting extremely aggressive on stage. Blythe himself checked in last night online with a new statement proclaiming some of the information being reported is lost in translation, and to wait until a verdict is made.
Today, during day 3 of the trial, new witnesses and fans in attendance took to the stand to defend Blythe.
You may recall that when initally reporting on the news in July, we posted the below photo of what appeared to be Blythe choking a fan believed to be Nosek:
Turns out this was not Nosek, but another fan, Milan Poránek. Blythe has testified earlier in the week that he pushed the fan off the stage earlier in the show due to his belligerence. Poránek took the stand earlier today to defend Blythe's actions, saying he was not choked as previously testimony from other witnesses suggested.
"It may have appeared this way, but that isn't what was happening." Milan stated. "I wanted to stagedive and Blythe pulled me to the ground and held me there as I was very drunk. He did it because of the way I acted, and he was justified in doing so."
Another eyewitness, only identified in Czech reports as a female fan refuted claims that Blythe was acting "extremely aggressive" on stage, saying it was all part of the show:
"Heavy metal bands are always trying to look angry on stage. What happened did not look serious at all."
So overall, it was a good day in court for Blythe. Unfortunately, while we reported that the trial was going to be wrapped up this Friday, as I was writing this story, the news broke on WTVR that the trial will be delayed, at the request of Blythe's defense team due to a key eyewitness falling ill. There will be one more witness testifying tomorrow and then the trial will be postponed until March 4th.
Blythe will return to the United States in the interim but has once again indicated that he would return in March to conclude the trial.
Blythe could face up to 10 years in Czech prison, and the family of the victim, Daniel Nosek, are seeking compensation of 10 million Czech Koruna (approximately $530,000). Read all of our previous coverage of the trial here.
