RANDY BLYTHE: 'It'll Be Hard For Them To Convict Me On The Charge They Have Leveled Against Me'

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.

A few days after his return to Richmond, Virginia, Blythe spoke to Linda Leseman of LA Weekly about his feelings, his plans to stand trial, and losing his own daughter to a heart defect. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

LA Weekly: You've said you'll stand trial in Prague if you have to because you can understand how the young man's family must feel, as you lost a child yourself.

Randy: My first wife and I... we had a daughter together who had a heart defect. We knew that when the baby was in utero. And the doctors told us it's going to be no big deal, when [she comes] out, we'll operate on her...At about seven and a half, eight months or so, the baby went into distress in utero. So there was a Caesarean section. She came out. She was alive. But, due to the fact that she was slightly premature, she was too small for them to go ahead and operate on. So, she was alive for a while, and then they were like, "This isn't working out." So, I said, "Well, let her go." It's something I really can't describe in words and nobody could understand unless they had to live through this. I know that this family [in Prague] is just going through the worst possible hell, and they have questions. So, despite the fact that I maintain my innocence, I feel ethically and morally obliged to do my best to provide them with some answers, if it goes to trial, to help them go down this road, where their pain can lessen a little bit.

LA Weekly: It almost sounds like you're trusting that you're not going to be convicted.

Randy: I think we have a good case. I think it'll be hard for them to convict me on the charge that they have leveled against me because it's ludicrous. From what I understand, it's a crime of intent, and I certainly never intended to hurt anyone at any point in time during that show. But, life shows up and happens. Right? It shows up and happens. And if it shows up, and they give me ten years, I will have to deal with it as such. It's frightening for me to think about. The fact of the matter that I don't want to go to prison for ten years in a foreign country or in America or in any country has nothing to do with the fact that I need to do the right thing. That's the whole thing, you know? I have to do the right thing. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to face myself.

Read the entire interview from LA Weekly.