Rose speaks – Celebrity and High Profile Trials

Sammy1 says:

Posted on TMZ at 1:39pm

The first witness in the preliminary hearing over Anna Nicole Smith’s prescription drug death testified authorities found a baby bottle of Pedialyte on her bed, along with a bottle of Cipro.

Pedialyte is used to rehydrate children when they experience diarrhea and vomiting. Anna had been battling the flu.

Cipro is an antibiotic used to treat infections.

Anna was found unresponsive in her hotel room on February 8, 2007 at the Hard Rock in Seminole, Florida. Her cause of death was a sleeping med along with 8 other prescription drugs.

Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, and Khristine Eroshevich are charged with fueling a drug addict’s habit.

The baby bottle evidence could be important because prosecutors are trying to show Anna Nicole was so incapacitated from drugs she could barely function.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz0Tq6qUfW8

Beth says:

Interesting thought trina!
I do not think he should have even tried to step foot in the door of that prelim!

O/T > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091013/ap_on_re_us/us_king_lawsuit
Associated Press Writer Errin Haines, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 13, 6:36 am ET
ATLANTA

** Rose, is this the case Mr. Wood was working on for Bernice King?

Sammy1 says:

Radaronline.com reports:

Three defendants facing charges relating to the death of former reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith are facing a judge Tuesday in Los Angeles, who will decide if there is enough evidence for the three to stand trial.

Psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich, internist Sandeep Kapoor and attorney Howard K. Stern are accused of conspiring to illegally provide Smith with the drugs that led to her fatal overdose at 39 in a Florida hotel room in February of 2007.

As reported previously on RadarOnline.com, the three have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During the morning session of Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Danny Santiago, a Special Agent with the California Department Of Justice, was the first witness to take the stand.

He testified that eleven bottles — containing 10 different prescriptions– were found in Smith’s hotel room the day she died.

Santiago testified that some of the drugs were prescribed by Eroshevich. He also said that some of the medications were prescribed in Stern’s name, and that his last name was spelled differently on different bottles – some were spelled “Stern” and on others, “Stearn.”

According to a coroner’s report (March 26, 2007) Smith died of ‘Acute Combined Drug Intoxication’ of Chloral Hydrate and Clonazepam and several other controlled substances. Santiago also testified that Stern said that Smith had suffered a fall a day before she died and hit her head in the bathtub. Stern said she had been feeling ill when she arrived in Miami from the Bahamas.

He says Stern said Smith had the flu, but when a member of the hotel’s staff called a doctor to check Smith out, Stern told the staffer they didn’t want a doctor in fear her condition would be leaked to the media.

Santiago also said that on the morning Smith died, Stern was not with her. He was off to see about buying a boat. She was being looked after by her bodyguard’s wife who attempted to perform CPR when Smith was discovered to be unconscious.

The bodyguard’s wife then called her husband who also attempted to perform CPR, but she did not respond.

The court took a short recess mid-morning, but then resumed with Santiago back on the stand.

RadarOnline.com will keep you up-to-date with all the late breaking developments in this case.

Beth says:

Thanks Rose,
Just got a cup of coffee to ‘warm’ up here…
Was glancing @ the weather channel after it was done talking about the rain and heavy winds here..
Reporters went on to say the south east will be getting it bad in the next few days.
North East TX, Longview area might have possible flooding and power outages.
Get those flashlights ready!

[6] Interesting commentary…
” It was not clear what sentence Stern might face if convicted.”
WHY NO, I bet it isn’t clear! How many other regular citizens are charged as if they held a medical degree? ;)

trina says:

Wow. from the link above! Thrilled that the Judge realizes that these charges are not related to ANS’ death. I read one headline today from like CBS or NBC that was calling it a death hearing. Really irritated me that the media can report things so wrong and not be called on it. And Joe reader hasn’t a clue. anyways, reading that from the Judge is good. And a waste of time evidencing ANS death in FL. This is about abuses of the Controlled Substance Act. Period, end of story. Did ANS have legimate medical needs? Was ANS an known addict based on the H&S codes? Those are the big questions, imho.

Beth says:

Yes, trina,

(from the JUDGE in the CA case against ANS’s doctors…) link in [6]

*** QUOTE: ***

“Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry, who will decide if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial, noted that the defendants have not been accused of killing Smith.

Perry also questioned the relevance when prosecutor Renee Rose asked Santiago about Smith’s cause of death.

“There is not a murder charge,” Perry said. “The cause of death is not an issue.”

END QUOTE!!!

** THE CAUSE OF DEATH IS NOT AN ISSUE **

hmm says:

trina they are going to play this up big time and we can only hope that the other side to this comes out and is reported also.That these stations do not take after Faux noise.I wouldn’t doubt the mcShame sent notices out himself. Glad to see DC get slapped down Just because he is former does not mean a thing,many former LE are not honest.Have to wonder if McShame is talking to the DA and making his points.

Sammy1 says:

Here’s another AP report very similar to the last one with slight differences.

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch, Ap Special Correspondent – 1 hr 22 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – The final days of celebrity model Anna Nicole Smith were described in court Tuesday as being marked by illness and confusion.

California Department of Justice investigator Danny Santiago testified that witnesses said Smith was unable to walk unassisted into a Florida hotel and was being kept in seclusion.

The testimony was presented in a preliminary hearing involving charges that Smith’s former lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two California doctors conspired to illegally provide Smith with controlled substances before her drug-overdose death in Florida at age 39.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry, who will decide if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial, noted that the defendants have not been accused of killing Smith.

Perry also questioned the relevance when prosecutor Renee Rose asked Santiago about Smith’s cause of death.

“There is not a murder charge,” Perry said. “The cause of death is not an issue.”

Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristina Eroshevich have pleaded not guilty. Their attorneys have said they are undecided or unlikely to call defense witnesses during the preliminary hearing.

Santiago’s testimony was a summary of what law enforcement investigators had learned after Smith’s fatal collapse in the hotel room on Feb. 8, 2007. He also identified prescription drugs found in the hotel room as the prosecutor showed pictures of bottles and hundreds of pills.

Some of the prescriptions were in Stern’s name, although some used an alternate spelling, Stearn, and some had been prescribed by Eroshevich, Santiago said.

Smith’s autopsy concluded she died of “acute combined drug intoxication,” and the drugs involved were chloral hydrate combined with Benadryl, clonazepam, diazepam and lorazepam.

Santiago recounted a detective’s description of Smith’s arrival at the hotel on Feb. 5.

“He said she was being supported by Mr. Stern,” Santiago said. “He was holding her as they walked through the lobby. He said she wasn’t her usual vivacious self. She seemed down and was possibly ill.”

Santiago said he was told Smith “was so weak she could not sit up to drink liquids” when she and Stern arrived

He also testified that Stern had told an investigator he had been giving Smith the children’s electrolyte formula Pedialyte in a baby bottle and that she was so confused she asked where her baby was.

Stern told Smith the baby, Dannielynn, had remained in the Bahamas during their trip to Florida to buy a boat.

Stern also told investigators that Smith had complained of flu-like symptoms and was being treated with Tamiflu by Eroshevich, who had the suite next door, Santiago said.

At one point, Stern had to help Smith to the bathroom because she couldn’t get there, the witness said.

Eroshevich at one point asked a hotel employee to call a doctor because she could not write prescriptions in Florida, but Stern called to cancel the request because they did not want any leaks about Smith’s condition, Santiago said.

Santiago said registered nurse Tasma Brighthaupt, the wife of Smith’s bodyguard, was seated at her bedside at one point but did not notice Smith’s lips were blue and her body was discoloring until someone else arrived and pointed it out. He said Brighthaupt thought Smith was sleeping.

By the time paramedics were called, he testified, the bodyguard had arrived and started CPR. Stern had left Smith that day to look at a boat, Santiago said.

During some of the testimony, Stern sat forward in his courtroom chair with his head in his hands.

Stern is named in all 11 counts of the complaint. The doctors each face six counts, including conspiracy, and if convicted could be sentenced to as much as five years, eight months in prison. It was not clear what sentence Stern might face if convicted.

Smith died in the midst of a long legal battle to collect millions of dollars from the estate of her late husband, J. Howard Marshall II, owner of Great Northern Oil Co. Smith was 26 when she wed the 89-year-old tycoon. They met while she was a topless dancer at a Texas strip club.

That battle is unresolved. The estate ultimately may go to Smith’s daughter, now 3.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

Sammy1 says:

LOS ANGELES – Anna Nicole Smith was so weak in her final days that she was being fed Pedialyte with a baby bottle, it was revealed Tuesday.

Prosecutors dropped the bizarre bombshell as they laid out their case against Smith’s lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two doctors, charged with conspiring to keep the Playboy model doped up on prescription drugs.

Stern was out shopping for a boat when Smith’s nurse feared something was horribly wrong – and tried to perform CPR.

She “was unresponsive, her lips were blue and her skin was beginning to be discolored,” Special Agent Danny Santiago said, recounting a July 2007 interview with nurse Tasma Brighthaupt, the wife of Smith’s bodyguard.

The nurse performed CPR for at least 10 minutes in a soft bed – rather than on the floor, as recommended, prosecutors said.

The testimony echoed the circumstances of Michael Jackson’s recent overdose death, where his doctor told cops he had tried to resuscitate the singer on his bed rather than a hard surface.

Santiago said Brighthaupt was with Smith the morning of Feb. 8, 2007, because Stern said he “had to go see a boat.”

Brighthaupt hesitated at first to try to wake Smith, Santiago said, because Stern had warned her not to wake Smith because she was sick with the flu and needed to rest.

Stern later told cops Smith was so sick in the days before her death from an overdose that she was drinking Pedialyte from a baby bottle found in the hotel room.

Brighthaupt told investigators she tried to find Smith’s pulse but couldn’t. She then called her husband to report the dire situation and started to perform CPR in Smith’s room at the Hard Rock Hotel in Florida, Santiago said.

The bodyguard called a hotel employee to request paramedics, Santiago said, but it wasn’t until he arrived “10 or 15 minutes” later that “he lifted [Smith] off the bed onto the side of the bed by the floor” and took over performing CPR.

The hotel employee who received the bodyguard’s distress call contacted a supervisor and had the supervisor place the call to paramedics, Santiago said.

Smith, who never regained consciousness, was eventually taken on a gurney to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Stern dropped his head into his hands and appeared overcome with emotion when the investigator described Smith’s death.

An autopsy found she died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. She was 39.

Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristina Eroshevich face charges they funneled 44 different prescription drugs to Smith toward the end of her tragic life. They’ve pleaded not guilty.

Santiago testified in detail about the cache of drugs recovered from Smith’s Florida hotel room, including chloral hydrate, diazepam, clonazepam, Carisoprodol, Topamax, Cipro and Tamiflu.

Some of the prescriptions were made out to Stern under two different spellings of his name, the investigator testified.

Eroshevich, one of the doctors charged, was staying in the room adjoining Smith’s and had prescribed or helped obtain many of the drugs, prosecutors allege.

Santiago testified that a hotel employee found a local doctor to make a house call to Smith after she arrived Feb. 5 with flu-like symptoms, but that Stern canceled the doctor visit, saying he “didn’t want any leaks getting out about Anna’s physical condition.”

Santiago was the first of many witnesses in a preliminary hearing expected to last at least two weeks before a judge who will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to order a trial.

ndillon@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/10/13/2009-10-13_weak_anna_nicole_smith_died_of_overdose_while_boyfriend_howard_stern_shopped_for.html#ixzz0Tr3JEHI2

Sammy1 says:

This article is very long.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/13/anna.nicole.smith.hearing/index.html

raven says:

Well, now that I’ve thought about my question, that wouldn’t be a defense privilege……..more like a joint Prosecution Privilege. : )

Aggie says:

CNN????? Headline SPIN … I thought CNN was better then this …

——————————————————————————–

Hearing begins for 3 charged in Anna Nicole Smith’s death

By Alan Duke CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — A nurse sitting next to Anna Nicole Smith’s bed did not realize she had stopped breathing until a friend of Smith’s noticed her lips were turning blue, according to an investigator’s testimony Tuesday.
The nurse, Smith’s bodyguard and paramedics were unable to revive the former Playboy model and reality TV star, who was later pronounced dead at a South Florida hospital, said special agent Danny Santiago of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

Santiago was the first witness Tuesday in what could be a three-week preliminary hearing in Los Angeles, California, for Smith’s companion and two doctors, all charged with conspiracy to provide drugs that led to Smith’s death on February 8, 2007.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/13/anna.nicole.smith.hearing/

Sammy1 says:

Thank you Rose and Ken.

BEVERLY says:

I may be alone in this,but I would blame the stupidity of Tas and Moe,what kind of a RN would do what Tas did,?none,With Anna so sick and weak,you would have thought she would have checked on her at least once,and by the way,do not use the excuse Howard wanted her left alone to sleep.Once a very sick person is left in your care,to hell with what someone said,you are responsible.Do you think I would have called Howard first,NOT ON YOU LIFE,911 AND OUT.THEN hOWARD.Save your friend and pt,and worry about others matters later,I am in total disbelief,that Howard had Dr and a EMT and RN ,all three acted brainless.

Sammy1 says:

Here’s the latest video from TMZ – Howard leaving the courthouse – paps are ruthless/cruel.

http://www.tmz.com/2009/10/13/howard-k-stern-anna-nicole-smith-preliminary-hearing-drugs/#comments

Beth says:

Thanks Rose!
I just saw this update in the article when I was shutting down!

** INTERESTING!!! ;)

” Last FINAL REAL LAST update tonight. Don Clark, Wilma Vicedomine and Tom Pirtle were all served today and tonight the last one just has been delivered to Houston the home of Wilma Vicedomine asking that all of them or to be in the California court on October 14, 2009 for the defense as hostile witnesses. Folks this is going to get GOOD as for as court room theatrics goes…

Prediction is Renee Rose will be replaced by the L. A. D. A. office by Thursday, and the big question is why is Jerry Brown via the L. A. D. A. going for such a public preliminary hearing. As I said before you can get a grand jury to indict on a ham and cheese sandwich so why go this way and allow the defense to get a “feel” for the witnesses? That is the $64k question for tonight? “

Beth says:

Thanks Rose!
I just saw this update in the article when I was shutting down!

** INTERESTING!!!

” Last FINAL REAL LAST update tonight. Don Clark, *ilma *icedomine and Tom Pirtle were all served today and tonight the last one just has been delivered to Houston the home of *ilma *icedomine asking that all of them or to be in the California court on October 14, 2009 for the defense as hostile witnesses. Folks this is going to get GOOD as for as court room theatrics goes…

Prediction is Renee Rose will be replaced by the L. A. D. A. office by Thursday, and the big question is why is Jerry Brown via the L. A. D. A. going for such a public preliminary hearing. As I said before you can get a grand jury to indict on a ham and cheese sandwich so why go this way and allow the defense to get a “feel” for the witnesses? That is the $64k question for tonight? “

kate says:

Heath #41 Anna was at the boxing match and photographed with Hulk Hogan in Jan 2007. I’m sure you knew this already though. JMO

kate says:

Santiago said registered nurse Tasma Brighthaupt, the wife of Smith’s bodyguard, was seated at her bedside at one point but did not notice Smith’s lips were blue and her body was discoloring UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE arrived and pointed it out. He said Brighthaupt thought Smith was sleeping.

BY THE TIME paramedics were called, he testified, the bodyguard had arrived and started CPR. Stern had left Smith that day to look at a boat, Santiago said.
……………………….

Still the big question WHY DID IT TAKE THE NURSE SO LONG TO CALL 911? What was she DOING, that made her unable to notice a problem, as she sat bedside? Only to have someone else who is NOT a Registered Nurse, say I THINK THERE’s something wrong!!! and Why did the bodyguard arrive BEFORE paramedics? What is the the true timeline? Too many soundrels in Anna’s life! JMO May she and her son RIP and be the Angels for Dannielynn and Howard. JMO

kate says:

heath says:
October 13, 2009 at 10:50 pm
#44 ……..It is all so long ago now.

Yes it’s been so long now, I just would like it all settled and the truth, as I’m beginning not to care. Though I’d like to see all those, greedy, money hungry
and 15 minuters set in their place. jmo