Buenos Aires, Argentina — An Argentinian court on Wednesday dropped the criminal charges of negligence against three of the five individuals indicted with the death of singer Liam Payne.
The ruling dropped the negligent homicide cases against Rogelio Nores, a businessman who accompanied Payne during his Buenos Aires trip; Gilda Martin, manager of the hotel where Payne fell off and died in October; and Esteban Grassi, the hotel’s main receptionist.
The court sided with the defense, who appealed that Nores had no legal, moral, or social duty to care for Payne. He was also outside the hotel when Payne fell from the balcony of his room.
Martin and Gassi admitted that they saw Payne severely intoxicated in the lobby and called out to other workers to help him back to his room.
The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that taking Payne to his room was a sign of “constituted unlawful, unruly, clumsy, reckless, imprudent or negligent conduct” on the part of the hotel workers.
Meanwhile, 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 was ruled to stay in detention for charges on supplying Payne narcotics, days and hours leading up to his death.
The former One Direction member died in October after falling off a balcony in a hotel in Buenos Aires, after sustaining major injuries.