Liam Payne’s Death Investigation: Friend & Two Hotel Workers Cleared of Charges

Several people have been cleared of charges relating to Liam Payne’s death.

Rolling Stone reports that all charges have been dropped against Payne’s friend Roger Nores and two CasaSur Palermo Hotel employees, Gilda Martin and Esteban Grassi.

In December, Nores, Martin and Grassi were charged with manslaughter. They were facing up to five years in prison if convicted.

In the ruling obtained by Rolling Stone, the Argentina Court of Appeals determined that Nores had no involvement in Payne “obtaining or consuming alcohol” and couldn’t prevent the singer’s death.

The doc stated, “It is possible that, if he had stayed in his company at all times, [Payne] would not have obtained the drugs and alcohol in the quantities necessary for the state of intoxication he exhibited at the time of his death.”

“But it cannot be ruled out that, even if he had taken those extreme precautions… that [Payne] would have managed to obtain the substances anyway, as is common among addicts, even when they are under the loving care of their family,” the papers wrote.

While prosecutors accused Nores of “failing to fulfill his duties of care, assistance and help” in December, the courts ruled that his responsibility wasn’t any different than Payne’s family, citing an email that he wrote to Payne’s father a month before the tragedy.

The doc said, “Despite accusing Nores of failing to communicate and raise alarms with the victim’s family, they remained silent about the email through which the accused had expressed his concerns and warned that he would not be able to look after Payne’s health.”

After the charges were dropped, Nores told Rolling Stone, “Glad this is finally over. I’m happy I’m now going to be able to travel to the UK and say goodbye to my friend.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, Grassi, the receptionist, asked that Payne be dragged to his hotel room and that Martin, the hotel manager, failed to stop it, noting that the balcony in the room posed a “serious threat.” 

The judge has ruled that there is not enough evidence to say that Grassi and Martin acted in “thoughtless, reckless, or merely negligent behavior.”