Anna Nicole Smith This article is more than 13 years oldAnna Nicole Smith: boyfriend and psychiatrist convicted for drugs conspiracy
This article is more than 13 years oldTwo men found guilty of conspiring to give former Playboy model excessive amounts of prescription drugsThe boyfriend and psychiatrist of the late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith have been found guilty of conspiring to give her excessive amounts of painkillers, antidepressants and other prescription drugs.
Smith's former boyfriend and lawyer Howard K. Stern was convicted by a Los Angeles jury yesterday of giving false names and acting by fraud to obtain prescriptions. He was acquitted of other charges.
Her former psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich was convicted of conspiracy and unlawfully prescribing Vicodin by fraud.
A second doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, was acquitted on all charges.
The trio had all pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of fraudulently providing drugs and controlled substances to a known addict. The former topless model died of an accidental overdose in 2007 aged 39.
The prescriptions were issued between June 2004 and January 2007, just weeks before Smith's death.
When she died, investigators found more than 600 pills – including about 450 muscle relaxants – were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old. Ultimately, it was a syrup, the powerful sleeping aid chloral hydrate, that was blamed with tipping the balance in the toxic mix of drugs and causing her death.
Stern and Eroshevich remain free pending a hearing on January 6 in which the defence can file a motion for a new trial.
If the motion is denied, the judge can sentence both defendants, but it was not immediately clear how much prison time, if any, they could face.
Smith was best known for having married the Texas oil tycoon J Howard Marshall II, who was 63 years her senior, in 1994. They met when she was 23 at Gigi's strip club in Houston where she worked as a dancer. After his death the following year she was drawn into a lengthy legal battle over the settlement of his $1.6bn fortune.
When she died on February 8 2007, her legal battle for a share of the estate was ongoing. It has been carried forward by Stern, the executor of her estate. The US Supreme Court recently agreed to hear another challenge in the case.
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