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Will Conviction Cost Howard K. Stern Control of Anna Nicole Estate?

Like it or not, Smith's lawyer won't let a little thing like a felony conviction get in the way of his work

By Soo Youn Oct 29, 2010 8:32 PMTags
Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole SmithROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images; Scott Suchman/WireImage.com

UPDATE: On Nov. 29, Stern moved for either a new trial or to have the two conspiracy convictions against him dismissed, claiming that the "district attorney's story was fiction and the case against him was brought in the interest of politics and publicity, and not justice."
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Just because he's now a convict doesn't mean Howard K. Stern has to give up his day job.

Despite being found guilty yesterday of conspiring to use fake names and false pretenses to score prescription meds for Anna Nicole Smith, Stern will not have to give up control of her estate.

According to Stern's probate attorney, here's why...

"Mr. Stern remains qualified to serve as executor," attorney Bruce Ross insists to E! News.

"Moreover, it is very premature to speculate about Howard's executorship in that motions for new trial will no doubt be filed, and because the trial judge has the discretion to reduce the two relatively minor felony convictions to misdemeanors," Ross continued, noting that Stern was acquitted of seven more serious counts.

Smith's former psychiatrist, Khristine Eroshevich, was also convicted on four charges: two conspiracy counts and two false prescription counts.

Stern and Eroshevich both face a maximum of three years in state prison, but would likely get off with far lesser sentences when the judge hands down their punshiment on Jan. 6.

Another doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, was acquitted of all charges.

Smith died of an overdose of prescription drugs in 2007, but none of the three was charged with her death.

Stern has overseen her assets, all of which go to the model's infant daughter Dannielynn, who lives with her father, Larry Birkhead. Still undecided is whether the estate is due a share of the $1.6 billion fortune her late oil tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall II.

The case has bounced around the courts for years, with the Supreme Court announcing last month that it has once again agreed to hear the case.

"The value of the estate depends upon a variety of factors, including the outcome of the proceedings now scheduled to go before the U.S. Supreme Court," says Ross.

While Stern still has his gig, it's not as plum as people would believe. Says another Stern attorney, Vivian Thoreen, "Howard has waived all compensation."