A Los Angeles judge has ordered 24/7 supervision by a conservator for Eagles founding bassist, Randy Meisner, as a result of a murder/suicide threat he allegedly made in January 2015 while in a hospital in Encino, CA. In the months following the incident a struggle has ensued between his friend James Newton, who claims Meisner is bipolar, alcoholic and possibly a danger to himself and others, and the classic rock musician’s wife Lana, who insists that nothing is amiss with his mental state.
In May, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cunningham previously ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Meisner after Newton filed for supervision in April. He claimed that Lana Meisner enables a “state of near-constant inebriation” for her husband, saying “he is easier to control when he’s drunk.” He is said to have struggled with addiction issues for decades and been in rehab multiple times.
Meisner’s son Dana Scott Meisner also filed a declaration earlier expressing his concern about his father’s state and that the musician’s wife is “providing [his father] with the alcohol that is slowly killing him.”
Lana Meisner counter-claims that the moves are an attempt to get control of her husband’s finances. His net worth is said to be valued in the millions, with regular royalty payments in the hundreds of thousands coming in annually from his work with the Eagles.
During Randy’s January hospital stay, he allegedly threatened to “gun everyone down with an AK-47,” though at the time he had no weapon. On another occasion he said he would take his own life.
After Judge Cunningham made his decision on June 8, he said, “If I’m going to err… it’s going to be on the side of protecting Mr. Meisner. If it’s overkill, it’s overkill.”
Watch Meisner in better days singing the #4 hit song he wrote with Eagles’ Don Henley & Glenn Frey
