Singer of U.S. heavy metal band Lamb of God released in Prague

The Associated Press, Friday, August 3, 2012, 9:45am (PDT)

PRAGUE (AP) --  The frontman of the U.S. heavy metal band Lamb of God has been released from a Czech prison on $400,000 bail as police investigate him for allegedly pushing a fan off a stage who later died of his injuries, an official said Friday.

A Prague court on Thursday dismissed a prosecution request that Randy Blythe be banned from leaving the country. Blythe's lawyer, Martin Radvan, said he flew out of the Czech capital for the United States on Friday.

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Blythe, 41, was arrested on June 27 when he returned to the Czech Republic for another gig, not realizing that he was being investigated for bodily harm resulting in death during a concert he gave in Prague in 2010, said Radvan.

Blythe, who has not been charged with a crime, said he was not aware of what had happened to the fan at Prague's Abaton club that year and was surprised to be arrested when he returned to the Czech Republic to play a show scheduled on June 28, said Radvan.

"We don't know yet if (the death) was caused by our client or in a different way," the lawyer said. The police investigation is unlikely to be completed until winter, he said.

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Radvan said police believe that during the 2010 concert that the audience member climbed onto the stage and Blythe pushed him off. The fan hit the floor with his head and later died of the injuries, police said.

Martina Lhotakova, a spokeswoman for Prague's Municipal Court, said Blythe was released on Thursday when the court upheld a lower court decision that had rejected a request by prosecutors to keep Blythe in custody. The prosecutors argued that Blythe could leave the country and never return.

But Lhotakova said the court has also dismissed a request that Blythe is banned to leave the Czech Republic.

After the ruling, Radvan said his client was returning to the U.S., but was ready to return.