Anna Nicole Smith Psychiatrist Convicted: What Was Her Crime?
(CBS/AP) Were the drugs that killed Anna Nicole Smith gotten with the help of angels of mercy - or star-struck connivers?
A Los Angeles jury weighing drug-related charges against doctors and associates of the late Playboy model issued mixed verdicts on Thursday, absolving the deceased model's doctor of prescribing excessive drugs for her but convicting her boyfriend and a psychiatrist of conspiring to fake names on prescriptions.
Howard K. Stern, who was described as Smith's manager, lawyer, lover and best friend, was acquitted of seven of the 11 charges originally lodged against him. Superior Court Judge Robert Perry had already dismissed two charges against Stern. The jury found him guilty of two conspiracy counts and specified they were for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and giving a false name for a prescription.
Dr. Khristine Eroshevich was convicted of conspiring with Stern on the fraud and false name allegations and was convicted on two separate counts of unlawfully prescribing and obtaining Vicodin through fraud and use of a false name.
Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, 42, who prescribed an array of sedatives and opiates to Smith, was acquitted of prescribing excessive drugs and prescribing to an addict. He hailed his acquittal as a triumph for the medical field of pain management.
"This is not just a victory for me, but for patients everywhere who suffer chronic pain," an emotional Kapoor said outside court.
The prosecutors contended the defendants were dazzled by Smith's glamor and filled her demands for prescription drugs to protect their insider status in her personal life and her celebrity world. Jurors appeared to reject that argument.
Defense attorneys portrayed the defendants as angels of mercy who were trying to help Smith cope with her chronic pain, particularly after she gave birth to her daughter by cesarean then quickly lost her 20-year-old son, Daniel, to a drug overdose.
The 39-year-old Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in Florida in 2007.
Eroshevich, 63, was Smith's neighbor and friend before treating her as a psychiatrist. Prosecutors claimed the friendship was a violation of professional ethics and called a pharmacist who testified the amount of drugs Eroshevich requested for Smith at one point would have amounted to pharmaceutical suicide.The pharmacist refused to fill the request, and prosecutors showed Eroshevich used other pharmacies to get most of the drugs, some under fictitious names, and took them to Smith in the Bahamas.
"I feel relieved," Eroshevich said outside court. "I'm just happy it's over."
Stern and Eroshevich remained free pending the next hearing. Both could face loss of their professional licenses to practice.