Charges Dropped Against Three in Liam Payne Death Case, Two Remain in Custody on Drug Charges

Charges Dropped Against Three Defendants

A court in Argentina has dropped charges of criminal negligence against three of the five people indicted in connection with the death of Liam Payne, the former One Direction singer who fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires last October.

The ruling, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, February 20th, orders the other two defendants in the case to remain in custody. They are facing prosecution on charges of supplying the famed British boyband star with narcotics.

Rogelio Nores: An Argentine businessman with US citizenship who had accompanied Payne during his trip in Buenos Aires.

The manager of the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel where Payne died on October 16th.

The hotel's main receptionist.

The charge of negligent homicide carries a sentence of one to five years in prison in Argentina.

A toxicology report from tests taken after an autopsy revealed that Payne, 31, had alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he fell from the balcony.

Prosecutors argued that Nores had failed to comply with his duties of care by leaving Payne alone while intoxicated. However, the court sided with defense attorneys who contended that Nores had no legal, moral, or social duty to care for Payne. He was also outside the hotel at the time of his friend's death.

The two hotel employees, Martin and Grassi, were in the Casa Sur lobby on October 16th when they saw Payne severely intoxicated and decided to take him to his room with the help of others. Prosecutors said that the men should have kept Payne away from his hotel room, where a balcony posed a clear danger, until the singer could receive proper medical care. However, the court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove how taking Payne to his hotel room "constituted unlawful, unruly, clumsy, reckless, imprudent, or negligent conduct."

The court also ordered the other two defendants in the case — Ezequiel David Pereyra, a former employee at Casa Sur Hotel, and Braian Paiz, a waiter who had served Payne at an upscale Buenos Aires restaurant — to remain in detention on charges that they supplied Payne with narcotics in the days, even hours, leading up to his death. Because the charge they face carries a sentence of four to 15 years in prison, the court said that preventative detention was justified.

Payne's sudden death drew an outpouring of grief around the world from heartbroken fans of One Direction, among the best-selling boy bands of all time.