Anna Nicole Smith Death: Boyfriend & Docs, Plead Not Guilty
Anna Nicole's Smith lawyer boyfriend and two doctors were accused of conspiring to illegally provide the late Playboy model with sedatives and opiates before she died.
Earlier this month, they all pleaded not guilty.
The Associated Press reports that the defendants pleaded not guilty to drug conspiracy charges, and a judge has refused to suspend the physicians' medical licenses.
Superior Court Judge David Wesley rejected lifting the medical licenses, saying a yearslong delay in seeking that action undermines the claim of an imminent danger to the public if the doctors continue to practice.
However, the doctors are also are fighting a medical board effort to suspend their licenses to practice pending the outcome of the trial.
See this previous post for information on the charges originally filed against Stern and two doctors who treated Anna Nicole -- Khristine Eroshevich, 61, and Sandeep Kapoor, 40.
The trial for the Anna Nicole Smith death may not happen until next summer but numerous motions will have to be resolved before then.
As previously discussed, after a three-week preliminary hearing that detailed the multiple sedatives given to Smith before she died, the judge in the case ordered all three defendants to stand trial.
Smith died of an overdose from a cocktail of prescription drugs in 2007. She died in a hotel room in Florida shortly after the birth of her daughter Dannielynn and the death of her adult son Daniel also from a drug overdose.
- How People Get Charged with Crimes (FindLaw)
- Legal Dictionary: Drugs & Medical Devices (FindLaw)
- Pharmacist: Anna Nicole Smith's drug list 'pharmaceutical suicide' (CNN)