Judge allows charges to proceed against 5 people in connection with Liam Payne's death
An Argentinian judge is allowing charges against five people allegedly associated with the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne to move forward.
The Argentinian Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement Monday that Judge Laura Bruniard allowed the charges against the five individuals to proceed in a decision on Dec. 27. A trial date will be set in January, according to sources.
Those charged include a hotel employee and a waiter who allegedly supplied narcotics to Payne before he fell to his death from the third floor balcony of his hotel room at Hotel Casa Sur in Palermo, Buenos Aires, on Oct. 16.
The hotel manager and receptionist who were on duty at the time of Payne's death have also been charged with manslaughter.
ABC News has reached out to the hotel for comment.
Payne's friend, Rogério Nores, who allegedly traveled to Argentina with the singer and was allegedly present at the hotel and left before the singer was taken to his hotel room, has also been charged with manslaughter. Nores was previously charged with abandonment of a person followed by death before that charge was lowered, prosecutors said.
Nores, a dual U.S. and Argentine citizen, is forbidden from leaving the country, a police source and prosecutor's office source told ABC News.
The hotel employee and waiter who are charged with "supply of narcotics" could face between four and 15 years in prison if convicted. Bruniard ordered them to be jailed ahead of their trial, and they are required to pay a provision of 5 million pesos -- about $5,000 -- or the same amount in assets will be seized, according to the prosecutor's office.
Nores, the hotel manager and receptionist will not serve jail time ahead of their trial but are required to pay 50 million pesos -- around $48,000 -- as a provision, the prosecutor's office said.
Payne, who was 31 when he died, had multiple substances in his system at the time of his death, according to sources. Those substances included "pink cocaine" -- a recreational drug that typically is a mix of several drugs including methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA and others – as well as cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack. An improvised aluminum pipe to ingest drugs was also found in his hotel room, according to the sources.
A preliminary autopsy report also revealed that Payne suffered from "multiple traumas" and "internal and external hemorrhage."
In her Dec. 27 judgment allowing charges against the five people to proceed, Bruniard said prosecutors' evidence showed Payne was "unable to care for himself" in the moments leading up to his death.
Bruniard also cited "compelling" hotel security camera footage, in which she said Payne appeared to be in a "state of vulnerability" when he encountered the hotel manager and receptionist before being brought up to his room.
The judge said the hotel manager and receptionist's decision to "[bring] Payne up in that state to room 310 where he was staying" created "a legally disapproved risk to his life."
"Payne's consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room," Bruniard said. "The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and with company until a doctor arrived."
While Bruniard said she didn't think the hotel manager and receptionist acted maliciously in Payne's death, "they were imprudent in allowing him to be taken to the room."
Nores has denied any involvement in Payne's death, telling MailOnline in a statement last month, "I never abandoned Liam."
"I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened," he said at the time. "There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could never have imagined something like this would happen."
Payne was laid to rest in a private service on Nov. 20. His family and friends -- including his One Direction bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Harry Styles -- were in attendance at the service, which took place in the United Kingdom, where Payne was born and his music career began.
