Jury Stiffs Anna Nicole Smith
A jury ruled Wednesday that former stripper and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith and the oldest son of her late Texas oilman husband are not entitled to any of his multimillion-dollar estate.
The jury affirmed that the oilman, J. Howard Marshall II, had named his younger son, E. Pierce Marshall, 61, as his sole heir.
Smith, 33, had already dropped her claim on her later husband's estate earlier in the trial, after a federal bankruptcy judge in California awarded her $475 million. But the verdict in Texas could ultimately undermine the California ruling, which is still under appeal.
After Smith dropped her claim in Texas, the five-month trial was reduced mostly to a battle between the two Marshall brothers.
The jury found that Los Angeles businessman J. Howard Marshall III, 63, had no oral agreement with his father to receive a portion of the estate. The jury also found that Smith had no agreement with her late husband to get half his fortune. She was not named in any will documents.
The jury also ordered J. Howard Marshall III to pay more than $30 million in damages to his brother and other family members for interfering with their inheritance rights.
 AP |
| J. Howard Marshall III. |
Smith met J. Howard Marshall II in 1991 when she worked as a stripper in Houston. She was 26 and he was 89 when they were married in 1994. He died 14 months later.
Pierce Marshall said he hopes Wednesday's verdict will help overturn the judgment in California, which he is contesting.
Smith's lawyer, Tom Cunningham, said the jury did not get to hear his client's full side of the story.
Smith took the stand for five days, telling the jury her husband promised to leave her half his estate and to adopt her son from a previous marriage. She produced no evidence to support either claim.
She caused a stir on her last day of testimony, Feb. 14, by wearing a top with the word "Spoiled" beaded across her chest in rhinestones. Smith explained her husband liked to spoil her on Valentine's Day.
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