Liam Payne didn’t “lose his balance” before falling from a hotel balcony, he was trying to escape the building while in a drugged state, according to the judge handling his death investigation. In a ruling Monday obtained by Rolling Stone, Judge Laura Bruniard shared new information on what led to the One Direction singer’s death and updated charges against five people questioned in the case.
Bruniard leveled “homicidio culposo,” or wrongful death, charges against Payne’s friend Roger Nores and both CasaSur Palermo hotel manager Gilda Martin and reception head Esteban Grassi for their acts of “imprudence and negligence” leading up to Payne’s death. Nores’ charges were significantly lowered after he originally faced 5 to 15 years behind bars for “abandonment followed by death.”
“I do not believe that [Nores, Martin, and Grassi] planned and wanted Payne’s death. They did not plan the result but created a legally disapproved risk,” wrote the judge.
If convicted, two other people — Ezequiel Pereyra and Braian Paiz — may face four to 15 years in prison for the alleged sale of cocaine to the singer, and were ordered preventative jail time for the alleged crime.
The wrongful death charges against hotel workers Martin and Grassi came after reviewing evidence that “clearly” captured Payne being “dragged up” to his hotel room on Oct. 16 while he was in an alleged “vulnerable state,” with the judge claiming that them bringing him to his room with that level of intoxication “created a legally disapproved risk to his life.” Payne died of multiple traumas and internal bleeding after the fall, according to a post-autopsy report.
“Payne’s consciousness was altered and a balcony was in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place, and with company, until a doctor arrived,” wrote the judge in her ruling, adding that the two hotel workers “did not act maliciously” but were “imprudent” in their actions. (Martin allegedly instructed Grassi and the other workers to carry Payne to his room.)
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Despite a previous claim from the prosecutor that the One Direction singer fainted on the hotel balcony and fell, the judge declared that Payne — in a severely intoxicated state — was “trying to leave his room through the balcony” before his fall.
“I maintain that [Payne] tried to leave from the balcony of the place where he was left because the forensic experts noted that he did not lose his balance. This is how the fall occurred,” wrote the judge.
As for Payne’s friend, the judge claimed that Nores, who now faces wrongful death charges, had taken the “position of guarantor” to Payne’s family and was the main point of contact for the musician at the hotel. The judge wrote that, based on the autopsy results, “Payne’s state of vulnerability was evident” when Nores left CasaSur Palermo 50 minutes before the fall.
“He should have consulted with a doctor given the commitment made to the family of the deceased,” wrote the judge. “He should have done this without trusting how the hotel employees could have dealt [with Payne].”
According to the investigation, the new wrongful death charges followed reviews of interviews and footage surrounding Payne’s death that confirmed Payne’s high level of addiction and the “presence of cocaine and alcohol in large quantities” in his body at the time of his death. (Nores claimed in a filing reviewed by Rolling Stone earlier this month that Payne came “close to death” because of his struggle with substance abuse multiple times in the last two years.)
Two other people accused of selling Payne drugs — Pereyra and Paiz — will have to face preventative jail time. Payne allegedly paid Pereyra $100 for drugs, per the judge, and later sent a car to his home to bring more cocaine. As for Paiz, despite him claiming that the pair did drugs together but he wasn’t paid for it, the judge determined that Payne “asked for money at the reception desk” while Paiz was in the room.
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In a statement to Rolling Stone, Paiz’s attorney, Fernando Madeo Facente, slammed the accusation and described the judge’s ruling to send Paiz to preventative jail time as “completely arbitrary and illegitimate.”
“This resolution does nothing more than demonstrate what we maintain as a ‘witch hunt’ ought to be carried out in this case,” wrote Facente. “[They’re] looking for guilty parties and accusing innocent people of committing crimes.”
Both Pereyra and Paiz will have to serve preventative jail time as they await trial. “In this case, it was proven that both [Paiz and Pereyra] supplied cocaine to Liam Payne in exchange for money,” Bruniard said.
Nores declined to comment to Rolling Stone. Grassi and reps for Payne’s family did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s requests for comment on the new update.
