Liam Payne case: Argentine court dismisses charges against 3 of the 5 defendants

The Argentine justice system dismissed charges of culpable homicide against three of the five defendants in the death of British singer Liam Payne, the former member of the band One Direction who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

The information was confirmed by court documents accessed by AFP.

Three judges of the appeals court also confirmed the prosecution of two other individuals accused of supplying drugs to the musician, who fell from the balcony of his hotel room after having consumed alcohol, cocaine and an antidepressant, according to a legal document.

This Thursday, the court decided to acquit Rogelio Luis Nores, Payne's friend and representative in Argentina who was with him until shortly before his death; as well as Esteban Reynaldo Grassi, head of the hotel reception; and Gilda Agustina Martin, manager of the establishment, of the crime of negligent homicide.

The judges exonerated the three "expressly stating that the formation of this case does not affect the good name and honor they had enjoyed" before the events that took place at the CasaSur hotel, in the central Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.

The sentence confirmed, in turn, the indictments of Ezequiel David Pereyra and Braian Nahuel Paiz for the "onerous delivery of narcotics" as well as the preventive imprisonment of both.

Pereyra was an employee of the hotel, while Paiz was a waiter at another establishment in Puerto Madero, a wealthy area of the capital.

In November, Paiz denied in a television interview that he had given Payne drugs in exchange for money, although he did admit that he met him and spent time with him in his room.

"We spent the night, we got high, because that's the reality, something intimate happened," he told Telefe Noticias.

According to the ruling, Pereyra and Paiz delivered cocaine to Payne "for consumption during their stay at the hotel, upon payment of the fixed price." The first was on Oct. 14, and the second on Oct. 15 and 16.

The document details that, on the evening Payne died, a receptionist related that the singer "exhibited an aggressive, high or alcoholic attitude, had his giant eyes wide open, like overcome," while a maid who heard noises "coming from his room as if he was breaking everything, he was screaming" gave immediate notice of this to hotel staff.