Anna Nicole Smith’s Ex-Boyfriend Charged With Conspiracy

Howard Stern, an attorney and close friend of Ann Nicole Smith, was just convicted of two counts of conspiracy. His crime? Providing the late Anna Nicole Smith, with drugs that were prescribed to him.

All the news from the courts, however, was not bad. He was not convicted of all of the charges leveled against hi. He was acquitted on 7 of them. He also avoided jail, at least for now. Instead, he was allowed to go free while his appeal is pending.

Stern didn’t show much emotion. He did put his head in his hands prior to the verdict being read, however, other then that, there were no tears or outward signs of emotion. Stern has about two months before he is due back in court for sentencing.

Anna Nicole doctors say they wanted to help

Two doctors accused of fueling the drug dependence of the late model-turned-reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith told a court Wednesday they were only trying to help her, and claimed the media unfairly targeted them.

Former Playboy model Smith died in February 2007 from an accidental prescription overdose in Florida, aged 39, though the doctors are not charged over her death.

Physicians Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich prescribed medication for her, in collaboration with her former companion Howard K. Stern, which fueled her addiction, prosecutors have said.

But their attorneys insisted that Kapoor, 42, and Eroshevich, 62, have been singled out unfairly.

Eroshevich's attorney Bradley Brunon said in closing arguments that his client rushed to try help Smith after the death of her 20-year-old son from a drug overdose.

"She's essentially on an emergency mission... Her single, entire purpose was to help this woman," Brunon said, telling the jury witnesses "saw her caring for Anna Nicole Smith."

"And what's her reward? She gets dragged through this... She gets publicly humiliated," Brunon maintained.

And Kapoor attorney Ellyn Garofalo said: "Our laws are designed to stop (prosecutors) and law enforcement from second-guessing physicians. If Anna Nicole Smith was not a celebrity, Dr (Sandeep) Kapoor would not be sitting here."

Kapoor's attorney maintained that her client was acting in "good faith" and had a "legitimate medical purpose" in prescribing medication to Smith.

The larger-than-life Smith, a platinum blonde Texan, was once regarded as one of the world's most desirable women during the 1990s when she replaced supermodel Claudia Schiffer as Guess Jeans model.

However, Smith fell out of the spotlight over the next decade, with dramatic fluctuations in her weight, often appearing to be under the influence of drugs or drink in public.

Anna Nicole was over-medicated

A prosecution expert at the trial of Anna Nicole Smith's former partner has testified that Smith should have been weaned off prescription drugs.

As Howard K. Stern's drug conspiracy trial continued on Monday, prosecution witness Dr James Gagne stated that the amount of opiates and sedatives that the model was taking prior to her death left her behaving like "a space cadet".

Two of Smith's physicians, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, are also facing charges in the case and were criticised by the addiction specialist.

The AP reports that Gagne asserted that Smith's own history with drugs should have tipped off Stern and the star's doctors that she could not handle such heavy medication.

"Three sedatives were prescribed at the same time, and one would expect she would abuse them based on her medical history," he explained.

Gagne added that a person taking such a heavy dose of prescription medicine would feel "out of it. Emotionally, they're up and down, not functioning cognitively."

Monday's expert testimony marked the end of the second month of proceedings against Eroshevich, Kapoor and Stern.