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Howard K. Stern, Docs Facing Trial for Overmedicating Anna Nicole Smith
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Danny Moloshok / Reuters; Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Ning Chiu/ZUMApress.com
The salacious Anna Nicole Smith details have only just begun.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry ruled this afternoon that prosecutors have shown ample evidence for Smith's erstwhile sidekick Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor to stand trial for 22 of their combined 23 drug-related felony charges.
"All the defendants have been held to answer on all counts and will stand trial except for [prescribing placebos]," court spokeswoman Vania Stuelp, tells E! News.
Over the course of the past three weeks, the judge has heard testimony from psychiatrists, pharmacists, bodyguards and even baby-daddy Larry Birkhead, all telling tales of the former beauty's drug abuse. To say it hasn't been pretty would be a severe understatement.
Naked Lesbian Photos of Anna Nicole Smith Deemed Off-Limits
Poo is not taboo, but nudie pics are out of the question.
In the hearing to determine if the Anna Nicole Smith's pals Howard K. Stern, Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor should stand trial for their combined 23 drug-related felony charges, gross has been the name of the game thus far.
Testimony has covered the gamut of indecency—from feces floating in a pool to infected abscesses in nether regions—but naked photos of the star in a bathtub with her psychiatrist Eroshevich have been ruled as crossing the line.
Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry denied the request from prosecutors that the images be presented as evidence to show that the pair's relationship went far beyond the bounds of a doctor-patient one.
"I don't want to sensationalize this hearing any more than it has already been sensationalized," his honor said Monday.
Anna Nicole Smith Faced "Pharmaceutical Suicide"
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Danny Moloshok / Reuters; Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Ning Chiu/ZUMApress.com
Anna Nicole Smith was on a ton of drugs at the time of her death. That much we've known for ages.
But we've never heard her addiction phrased quite like pharmacist Ira Freeman put it today, when he took the stand in the hearing to determine whether the star's lawyer/lover Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor should go to trial for their 23 combined felony drug charges.
When Kapoor faxed the owner of Key Pharmacy in Valley Village an order for six different prescriptions, the dosages for two of them were "way out of whack," Freeman said in court today.
"This is crazy," he claims he told Kapoor. "This is pharmaceutical suicide."
"For me, the first red flag was the dosage levels of Soma and Dalmane," he explained. He became concerned the medications would lead to "fatal consequences" and consulted a colleague with expertise in the field, who agreed the prescriptions were "way out of line."
The pill man testified that he spoke to Eroshevich and refused to fill the order. He urged his expert pal to speak to her directly, and he told her to "forget the paparazzi," take Smith to the hospital and get her antiseizure meds and a defibrillator in case her heart stopped.
Another pharmacist, Olga Kopetman from Ralphs pharmacy, is up next. The star's baby daddy, Larry Birkhead, gave his testimony earlier this week.
Today's Anna Nicole Smith Shockers: Lesbian Love and Poolside Drowning
We're only three days into the two-week preliminary hearing of Anna Nicole Smith's cohorts Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, and already, the graphic testimony regarding bedside defecation and nether-region infections have been enough to make anyone cringe.
It doesn't get any better today, folks.
Interrogating Smith's former bodyguard Maurice Brighthaupt, prosecutors brought up the alleged sexual relationship between the model and Eroshevich as proof that their acquaintance was far from strictly professional.
Judge Robert J. Perry quickly shut down that line of questioning, but he did allow a recollection of Smith unsuccessfully attempting to "float" in a pool just days after laying her son to rest.
Update
Drugs, Feces and the Final Days of Anna Nicole Smith
She may have posed for Guess? and Playboy, but make no mistake—Anna Nicole Smith's death wasn't pretty.
Revelations made in the first few hours of the preliminary hearing against the model's lawyer/friend Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor—the trio facing a combined 23 felony charges relating to the star's drug use that eventually led to her death—were downright ugly.
We're talkin' feces in the bed, infections in uncomfortable places, blue-lipped. Seriously. Disturbing. Ugliness.
Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole Smith Docs Ready to Face the Music
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Danny Moloshok / Reuters; Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Ning Chiu/ZUMApress.com
The Gosselins already had their moment in court today, and now it's time for Anna Nicole Smith's pals to have theirs.
Lawyer-lover-puppetmaster Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor are set to begin a preliminary hearing today at Los Angeles Superior Court to determine if there is enough evidence to put the three on trial for allegedly providing drugs to the model, who died of an overdose two and a half years ago.
Stern has been named the "principal enabler" and faces 11 felony counts, including obtaining fraudulent prescriptions, conspiracy to administer drugs and prescribing, administering or dispensing controlled substances to an addict. The doctors are each looking at half a dozen similar charges.
All three pleaded not guilty to their respective lists of charges, which link them to a combined total of 44 different prescription drugs Smith had taken in the time leading up to her death.
The troubled trio were initially charged in March with the alleged crimes relating to Smith's death. Last month, the tally of charges nearly doubled when discovery—which included photos of the model naked in a bathtub with Eroshevich—was presented. The prelim could last up to four weeks.
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In case you lose track of all the courtroom drama unfolding, there's always this.
Anna Nicole's Dad Dies of Lung Cancer
This is not a good week to be closely associated with Anna Nicole Smith. First, her doctors and onetime lawyer-lover feel the full weight of the legal system. Now comes word that the late model's father, Donald Hogan, has died after a battle with lung cancer.
Hogan's other daughter and Smith's half-sister, Amy Chapman Hogan, told E! News that "he had a lump in his chest that kept giving him a lot of pain. But for some reason the X-rays didn't find it. By the time the doctors diagnosed he was in the last stages of lung cancer."
The 62-year-old, who had long and loudly blamed Howard K. Stern for his daughter's death, refused treatment and spent three weeks in hospice before passing away.
"He just wanted to go home," Hogan said. "We just buried him on Tuesday. It's been a tough week."
Unfortunately, despite repeat attempts, Hogan said her father never got to see his granddaughter Dannielynn before he died. She says the family tried to contact Larry Birkhead several times to set up a meeting to no avail.
As it is, it's not the only event Hogan wishes her father had been able to witness.
As for the handful of new felonies Stern was slapped with yesterday, she said, "Dad would have been really happy about that."
Something tells us he's not the only one.
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Catch up on the ongoing Anna Nicole Smith saga.
Update
Anna Nicole Smith Case Heats Up: Naked Pics, More Headaches for Howard K. Stern
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Danny Moloshok / Reuters; Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Ning Chiu/ZUMApress.com
UPDATE: Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor are present in the courtroom this morning.
Documents have been filed and, as predicted, there are now 11 felony complaints against Stern, including accusations of using a false name to score Smith drugs. The doctors already faced similar charges and all three maintained their not guilty pleas.
The district attorney blamed a clerical omission on Stern's previously light charge count. In addition to the original charges, he now faces four counts of obtaining fraudulent prescriptions and one cout of prescribing, adminstering or dispensing controlled substances to an addict.
"I think that the case against Howard K. Stern is weak because they are holding him responsible for medical decisions made," Stern's attorney, Steven Sadow told E! News after the hearing. "[He] is not a doctor—he was relying on the doctors that were treating Anna. Excessiveness is in the eyes of the beholder."
All three are due back for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 5.
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This latest round of Anna Nicole Smith death allegations just got a bit more interesting...and salacious.
Photos of the model naked in a bathtub with her shrink, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich—the one whose name was on all 11 medications found in Smith's room at the time of her death—were discovered on a computer. Needless to say, these "various intimate embraces," as the court docs put it, don't exactly fit with a proper doctor-patient relationship.
Howard K. Stern Finally Heading to Trial Over Claims of Gay Affair With Larry Birkhead
That's right, folks.
It's been nearly two years since TV journalist Rita Cosby released that steamy Anna Nicole Smith tell-all, and today a judge granted Smith's former paramour, Howard K. Stern, the freedom to move forward with the defamation lawsuit he brought about so long ago.
Let's recap a bit:
More than six months after Smith's passing, Cosby's Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death hit shelves and rocked the world of everyone close to her—mainly former paternity foes, Stern and Anna Nicole ex Larry Birkhead.
The exposé claimed, among countless other things, that the two men engaged in sexual romps and that Stern basically served as a pimp for Smith. Stern fired back first with threats and eventually a full-blown lawsuit. Both men denied any sexual relationship.
Today, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said Stern's defamation case could move ahead on 11 of the 19 allegedly libelous statements, ruling that Cosby may have trumped up "explosive" claims to sell her book.
Update
Howard K. Stern Pleads Innocent to Plying Anna Nicole With Drugs
Howard K. Stern is not only back in the courtroom, he's back to proclaiming his innocence.
Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion, along with her two former psychiatrists, pleaded not guilty this morning to supplying the late Playboy model with the drugs that eventually took her life.
Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor stand accused of six felony counts, including prescribing, administering, and dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau will decide on a date for the trio's preliminary hearing on June 8, and already both sides are gearing up for a lengthy battle.
During this morning's arraignment, city prosecutor Renee Rose said that she was anticipating the forthcoming hearing to "easily" last two weeks.
Update
Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole Doc Delay Arraignment; Attorney General Weighs in Again
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."









