A jury in Los Angeles convicted the psychiatrist and boyfriend of the late Anna Nicole Smith of conspiracy. The same jury acquitted Smith’s physician of all charges.
Howard K. Stern was convicted for giving false names and acting by fraud to obtain prescriptions for Smith. Dr. Kristine Eroshevich was also convicted of unlawfully prescribing Vicodin by fraud. Dr. Sandeep Kapoor was acquitted of all charges in the same case.
All three defendants were originally charged with conspiracy, excessive prescribing of opiates and sedatives to an addict, and fraudulently obtaining drugs using false names. The jury deliberated the case for approximately 58 hours. The question before them was whether the three were trying to allay Smith’s physical and emotional pain or simply feeding her addiction to the pain medications.
The prosecution in the case argued that the defendants continued to supply Smith with the drugs in order to stay in her good graces. They also contended that Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor continued supplying the drugs because of their intoxication with Smith’s world of fame and money. Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor were not charged in the February 2007 death of Smith. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose from prescription medication.
Stern was acquitted of seven other charges in the case.
"Everything relating to the appropriateness of the medication, I was acquitted of," said Stern after the decision.
Stern and Eroshevich remain free. They will have a hearing on Jan. 6 when the defense can file a motion for a new trial. The prosecution alleged that Smith was a drug addict. They showed the jury prescriptions for Dilaudid, Demerol, Vicodin, methadone, Ambien, Xanax, Valium and chloralhydrate. They told the jury that Smith received a total of 1,500 pills in a month. But Superior Court Judge Robert Perry told the jury that the number of pills were not to be confused with someone with an addiction.
