RANDY BLYTHE: 'I Believe That I'm 100-Percent Innocent'

August 11, 2012

LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe was released from a prison in Prague, the Czech Republic, on August 2, more than a month after he was arrested and incarcerated on charges of alleged manslaughter. Blythe was facing the possibility of conviction and a long-term jail sentence after a 2010 incident in which a fan attending a LAMB OF GOD show died almost a month later, allegedly from injuries sustained when he was thrown off the stage. Blythe's predicament galvanized the heavy rock community, with artists across the hard rock genre pledging their support.

Speaking to MTV News on Friday (August 10),Blythe said, "It's been a little strange ... since I just came home, it's kind of like everywhere I go, people remind me of it ... it's always on my mind. I've been talking a lot about prison, because everybody wants to see me, so I've been visiting my oldest friends and my family, and I'm trying to answer about a thousand text messages that I got when I got out, telling everybody thanks for the good thoughts. I'm slowly easing back into normality. The first day I was home, I woke up and sat on my back deck and just looked around, and everything is just so green, a lot of trees, and I was like 'Wow, it's not cold and angular and concrete like prison was.'"

Blythe added that, if necessary, he will return to Prague to stand trial if he is brought up on official charges.

"I feel that it's the right thing for me to do, to go back [to the Czech Republic] and face trial. I won't be extradited, but ethically I think it's the correct thing for me to do," he said. "So if I start feeling some trepidation about that, I just remind myself that I have to do the right thing ... this poor young man's family deserves some answers.

"I believe that I'm 100-percent innocent ... but I also believe as a responsible and compassionate human being, I should go back and, if necessary, and go to trial and give this young man's family some answers," he continued. "They're suffering greatly, and I'm not interested in [making them suffer more]. I will certainly fight for my freedom, and do everything I can, legally, to maintain that, but I'm also not going to hide when these people are undergoing the worst emotional trauma."

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