Regardless of what the court of public opinion has decided about Howard K. Stern, it's ultimately the Los Angeles Superior Court's opinion that counts—and that may take a while.
Commissioner Kristi Lousteau this morning granted attorneys for Stern and for Smith's former psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich a continuation of their arraignment on a litany of felonies until next month.
Stern and Eroshevich will remain free on bond until May 13, which is the same arraignment date as the third felony-facing party, former Smith doc Sandeep Kapoor.
The trio is facing myriad felonies for allegedly supplying Smith with loads of prescription medication, including charges of conspiracy, furnishing drugs and prescribing, administering or dispensing controlled substances to a known addict.
After the hearing, Stern's attorney, Steve Sadow, adamantly defended his client, saying Smith "was her own person. No one told her what to do."
"We intend to fight to clear Howard K. Stern."
"He is innocent," Sadow said. "Let me repeat that—he is innocent of the baseless allegations made against him in the criminal complaint. Howard loved Anna Nicole with all of his heart and would have never done anything intentional to harm her."
Sadow also bashed California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who was quick to come down on Stern as a "principal enabler" of Smith's drug habit.
"Brown, not Howard K. Stern, is the real enabler in this misguided and unprecedented prosecution," the lawyer told reporters. "[Brown has] maliciously and viciously labeled Anna a drug addict, knowing full well that it's legally unsupportable and untrue under the California Penal Code."
To which Brown replied later that Sadow was using a "smoke and mirrors tactic" to defend Stern.
"The fact of this prosecution is that it has been brought by the independent district attorney of Los Angeles," Brown said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "My office spent two years researching and investigating this whole matter...talking to many witnesses, perusing documents and computer files, and we concluded there [were] several serious violations.
"We do not make the ultimate decision, the district attorney does," Brown continued. "He filed these charges—conspiracy, violations of state law in the provision of dangerous chemicals for Anna Nicole Smith. I believe this is a very solid case. It's just unfortunate that Stern's lawyers have to try the case out on the street corner with diversionary rhetoric rather than preparing themselves for the jury of their peers that will render their verdict."
Eroshevich's attorney, Adam Braun, was also quick to try and clear his client's name, telling reporters, "Everything she did was done with the best interest of the patient in mind."
Braun added that Smith suffered "acute physical and psychiatric" problems and said that Eroshevich "had two choices—to turn her back on her patient, or to do her best under some difficult circumstances, and she chose the latter."
But while Braun argued that the doctor's choice of treatment was a responsible one, the California attorney general disagrees.
Eroshevich also faces the additional felony counts of obtaining a prescription for opiates by fraud, deceit or misrepresentation and obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.
The threesome were charged last month, following a raid on Kapoor's Studio City, Calif., office.
All 11 prescriptions found in Smith's Florida hotel room after her accidental overdose death in 2007 were written by Eroshevich. Eight were in Stern's name.
Stern has long publicly maintained his innocence in the matter. If convicted, all three face a maximum of five years, eight months in prison.
(Originally published on April 7, 2009, at 9:50 a.m. PT)