Jury Convicts Defendants In Anna Nicole Smith Case
Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007 after an accidentally prescription drugs overdose
Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist and her boyfriend were convicted in the conspiracy case regarding the prescription drugs taken by the star, the jury decided, but the doctor who prescribed a serial of drugs for her, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, was acquitted of all charges.
During the nine week trial it was claimed that the three defendants were helping Smith obtain the drugs, having their own interest in the case. According to the prosecutors, they were dazzled by Anna Nicole’s status of a celebrity and the world she had access in and they answered to her demands to receive the prescription medicines only with the purpose to achieve a certain status and the gratitude of the star. However, the three defendants were accused of providing Smith the drugs although they were very aware of her condition and addiction. The six-man, six-woman jury reached the verdict on its 13th day of deliberations.
So, what the jury had to decide in this case was whether the three defendants were willing to help Smith relieve her emotional and physical pain, her suffering being mostly linked to the death of her 20 year old son, Daniel, to a drug overdose, or they were feeding her addiction to prescription drugs, but neither of the three was accused of the death of the star. Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007 in Florida after an accidental drug overdose.
Well, the only one acquitted in the case was Dr. Sandeep Kapoor. “This is not just a victory for me, but for patients everywhere who suffer chronic pain,” he said outside the courthouse and his lawyer added that it was a victory for Anna Nicole Smith because from another perspective, with this decision, the jury established that Smith wasn’t an addict after all. The judge told the jurors that if a doctor believes his patient is in real pain is can’t be guilty of a crime for prescribing controlled substances to relieve that pain.
And since Anna Nicole Smith wasn’t an addict, her boyfriend, Howard K. Stern couldn’t have been found guilty with providing her medicine to feed her addiction, so he was acquitted for seven other charges. The only conviction he received was given because of the false names he used to obtain the prescriptions, according to him just to protect Smith’s privacy. “Everything relating to the appropriateness of the medication I was acquitted of,” Stern confirmed when leaving the courthouse, according to the Associated Press, OMG! wrote.
Khristine Eroshevich, the third defendant, and Smith’s psychiatrist was convicted of unlawfully prescribing Vicodin by fraud, but all other charges against her were dropped. However, both Stern and Eroshevich will remain free until January 6 when their hearing is set and when a motion for a new trial can be filed by the defense. How much time in prison can the two face, if there will be jail time involved, is not clear yet. However, according to The Daily Mail, Stern can face up to three years in jail.
Anna Nicole Smith and Howard Stern Bahamas ceremony
Howard K. Stern has been Anna Nicole’s lawyer and manager, but also her boyfriend since the two first met in 2001. It seems that the two were also very good friends and became inseparable, even when Smith was dating another man. Howard Stern and Anna Nicole Smith were never legally married, although they showed their commitment and exchanged vows in a Bahamas ceremony. Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn, born in 2006 was first said to be Stern’s, who actually claimed to be the father of the child, but an DNA test proved that in fact the baby was Larry Birkhead’s, who now has the custody of the child. And during the trial, Stern’s lawyer pointed out several times that Smith was the love of Stern’s life and he could have never hurt her. Smith named her daughter, Dannielynn, in the memory of her son, how actually died in her hospital room when coming to visit his new half sister.
During the trial prosecutors proved that Smith received more than 1500 pills in only one month in the attempt to show that the star was actually an addict. However, the judge warned that the numbers of pills can not measure an addiction. Anna Nicole Smith died at the age of 39. Her death was ruled as accidental after an overdose. The medicines were provided to the star with the help of Stern and her two doctors, who claimed during the trial that Smith was in severe pain and she needed the prescriptions. However, prosecutors indicated that Kapoor was present at different parties with Smith, taking the relationship with his patient to a very close level, indicating this way that the doctor had his benefits to provide her the drugs. And, during the trial, evidence showed that Khristine Eroshevich was friend with Smith before treating her.
