CelebSpice

Two Los Angeles doctors used multiple fake names to funnel "powerful addictive medications" to Anna Nicole Smith, prosecutors said on Wednesday at the opening of a trial into the Playboy model's sudden death three years after it occurred.

Prosecutors also alleged that Smith's lawyer and one-time boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, helped keep the buxom blonde actress over-medicated, calling various doctors to obtain painkillers and other drugs, and sometimes administering them.

Smith, a fashion model and TV actress famous for marrying an 89-year-old oil billionaire, died in Florida from an accidental prescription drug overdose in February 2007 at the age of 39.

The two doctors and Stern are not charged with causing Smith's death, but are charged with unlawfully prescribing and giving controlled substances to an addict for three years.

Stern, and doctors Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, have all pleaded not guilty. They could face more than five years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutor Renee Rose told a jury at Los Angeles Superior Court that Stern and Kapoor put Smith back on the same level of medication even after she had emerged from a 2006 detox plan while pregnant with her daughter Danielynn.

But lawyers for Stern said Smith was not an addict but had dealt with chronic pain since 2000, and that she used other names to keep her medical issues private from the media.

"He (Stern) cared for her, he cherished her, he loved her," said Stern's defense lawyer Steven Sadow. "He relied in good faith on the medical judgment of doctors."

Eroshevich, a psychiatrist who at one time lived next door to Smith, flew to the Bahamas on several occasions to deliver muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety, sleep aids and anti-depressants, prosecutor Rose said.

But a lawyer for Eroshevich said she was "not a pill-mill" and that the prescriptions she wrote were not illegal.

Kapoor's attorney said there was a legitimate medical purpose for the drugs Kapoor prescribed.

Stern, Kapoor and Eroshevich were charged after a criminal investigation ordered by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has vowed to crack down on prescription drug abuse in the state.

Brown has ordered probes into the drug-related deaths of more than 200 people in recent years. His officials also helped with the investigation of Michael Jackson's death last year which led to involuntary manslaughter charges against the singer's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.

The trial of Anna Nicole Smith's two doctors and Stern is expected to last several weeks.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Celebrities, Courts and Crime Beat - Lindsay Lohan was sprung from jail in Los Angeles and the Anna Nicole Smith trial begins with jury questioning slated to begin Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom in the drug conspiracy trial of Anna Nicole Smith's doctors and her lawyer-boyfriend.

The Desert Sun reports "Howard K. Stern and doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich, are accused of conspiring to prescribe, administer and dispense controlled substances to an addict from June 2004 until Feb. 8, 2007 -- the day the 39-year-old model died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in a Florida hotel room."
More details.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan has been released from Lynwood Correctional Facility after serving 14 days of a 90 day sentence behind bars.
An earlier report revealed that Lindsay wanted to spend some time with her family when her jail sentence ends.

According to GossipCop.com, Lohan's lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley has said that the former Mean Girls star would like the court to allow her more than 24 hours between ending her time behind bars and starting her 90 day stint in rehab.
TMZ reveals her next stop is the UCLA Medical Center.
The website reveals on Monday: "TMZ has learned Judge Marsha Revel had a change of heart after TMZ's story about Lindsay's rehab -- and now she is headed for treatment at UCLA Medical Center ... exactly what her doctors wanted in the first place."
(Image: Splash News)

Celebrity Court Watch - A Los Angeles court denied a defense motion to dismiss two charges against a doctor accused of illegally funneling prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith.

More LA law, Lindsay Lohan is back in court and now headed for jail.  She has a hidden message for the judge.
Follow both items below.

One - Dr. Sandeep Kapoor will face charges in court as an LA judge denied the defense team motion to have them dismissed.  
Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Smith’s former lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to illegally providing sedatives and opiates to the former Playboy model, reports the Boston Herald.

Two - Mean Girls star Lindsay Lohan had a special message for her prosecutors during her court hearing, according to reports.
The 24-year-old actress was recently sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating her probation and wept as she was given the news. She was seen in the courtroom with the words “F*** U” painted onto her middle fingernail.
The star has been on probation since August 2007, when she pleaded guilty to misdemeanour drug charges and also pleaded no contest to three drink-driving charges. She was also told to take part in alcohol-education courses, but has reportedly not attended all of them.
(Image: Splash News)

The doctor of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith lost a dismissal motion in a hearing in Los Angeles, California. According to the Associated Press, Superior Court Judge David Wesley rejected the motion by Dr. Sandeep Kapoor.
His attorneys had sought to have a "drug conspiracy charge dropped along with one count of unlawfully obtaining a prescription by a false name," the report reveals.

The ruling means the judge has sent the case back for trial to Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry, who determined last October that there was enough evidence to allow the case against Kapoor.
Kapoor, 42, is charged along with conspiracy and other counts stemming from the onetime Playboy Playmate's death on Feb. 8, 2007, reports the Daily Breeze.
The paper adds that Smith's longtime companion and attorney, Howard K. Stern, 41, and another doctor, Khristine Eroshevich, 62, are also named in the charges.

Did he manipulate, drug and cut off his client from the real world? Was she really the problem, and did she make all this stuff up?

We're, of course, talking about "Britneygate" -- the entertaining dispute between Britney Spears' ex-manager and Britney Spears' mother that's now landed on the doorstep of a California appeals court.

In 2008, ex-manager Sam Lutfi filed a defamation lawsuit against Lynne Spears for things she wrote about him in her memoir, "Through the Storm."

Last August, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge refused to dismiss the case. A few weeks ago, Lynne Spears appealed that decision, and on Monday, Lutfi filed papers, presenting his argument why the case should continue.

Now the Court of Appeal of the State of California gets to hear "Britneygate" and the two widely different tales of who is responsible for the singer's collapse.

Lynne Spears claims that Lufti was a master manipulator who secretly drugged her daughter, cut off her communications and mobility, and set himself up as "gatekeeper" before he was fired.

In contrast, Lutfi says Britney's life was already in turmoil before he got involved. His proof: Two failed marriages, losing custody of her child, shaving her head, a reckless driving arrest, drug rehab, etc.

That aspect of the case is really a sideshow, though, to the interesting legal questions.

In pressing her appeal, Lynne argues that Lutfi's reputation was so low at the time the book was published, he's "libel-proof" as his reputation couldn't possibly be damaged further.

Au contraire, says Lutfi's lawyer.

In his brief to the appeals court, Lutfi points out he's never been convicted of anything and if his reputation was so badly injured based on a series of tabloid articles, it's a decision that can only be made by a jury. In addition, he points to the case of Howard K. Stern, who sued for defamation after being accused of having a hand in Anna Nicole Smith's death. A judge ruled in that case that just because Stern might have been falsely accused doesn't mean he could not be further injured from false accusations again.

The entire brief is pretty entertaining. For instance, there's a discussion about whether accusing someone of being "evil," a "predator," a "fake" and a "shifty man" are "opinions" or descriptive of "acts of misconduct" that are actionable as libel. There's also an argument submitted by Lutfi that Lynne Spears is engaging in bigotry because of his ethnicity.

Anna Nicole Smith's dresses, costumes, artworks and furniture are going under the hammer. The former Playboy model's possessions will be auctioned off in Las Vegas in June. Items being sold include a 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster given to her by her late husband, oilman J. Howard Marshall, which may sell for $15,000.

A pair of velour sofas and a gilded coffee table designed by Bobby Trendy is expected to sell for $6,000. A pop art portrait of Smith could sell for $600, while a string of bronze statues could sell for $3,000.

A Pietro Psaier Chanel No. 5 De Lux client silkscreen on canvas, could fetch $2,000. Smith's personalised pink golf bag and 13-club set with head covers may fetch $250. A set of purple leopard upholstered sofa and chairs could make $4,000, while her Honda Shadow motorbike may sell for $8,000.
The auction, being run by Julien's Auctions, will take place at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas between June 24 and June 27. Money from the sale will benefit charity and Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn.
(Image: Splash News)

When Larry Birkhead took his 3 year-old daughter Dannielynn to the Kentucky Derby this year, it was life coming full circle because in 2004 he met the toddler's mother, Anna Nicole Smith, at the famous horse race.

Now, as he prepares to sell her memorabilia at an upcoming auction in Las Vegas, Birkhead hopes he can begin to put some of the past behind him and move forward with his life.

"When Anna first passed away, I had to take every single thing out of the house and put it away in storage," he told Reuters. "It was too hard emotionally for me to be around those memories."

At first, when Smith died in 2007 of an accidental drug overdose, Birkhead said he never thought he could sell her things, but as storage fees and his own home came to look like something of memorabilia museum, he decided to let go.

"I don't know that my daughter is going to need every single thing that was her mothers. Maybe it's right to share some of Anna's legacy with her fans."

The items will be sold by Julien's Auctions at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on June 26 in Las Vegas. Going under the hammer will be much of Smith's furniture, wardrobe, artwork and even a car.

What he refused to sell were two Kentucky Derby dresses she wore when they met -- he has since loaned them to the Kentucky Derby Museum -- photo albums, diaries and a Swarovski crystal encrusted gown Smith wore to mimic her idol, Marilyn Monroe.

"I kept that for my daughter because I know it was really special to Anna -- she would never part with it," said Birkhead. "I also kept Anna's jewelry because every little girl likes jewelry."

LIFE AFTER ANNA NICOLE

For Birkhead, life is still very much about Smith, making it difficult to move forward personally and professionally.

"Not a day goes by where don't I get a call from a publicist or a fan or there's some court case," said Birkhead. "So it's been hard to go and do my own thing."

Though he worked steadily as a celebrity photographer when he met Smith, he gets few assignments now because his former contacts only want pictures of Dannielynn.

His photography is now private work and he has been investing in real estate. He's also had offers to star in reality TV shows, but producers "want conflict and chaos," which he refuses to engage in.

Birkhead said he is protective of Dannielynn, and that means having to hire security. Between curious on-lookers and paparazzi, going to the playground means "you've got ten camera phones in your face and your every move is on Twitter."

His one-time nemesis, Smith's lawyer and former boyfriend Howard K. Stern whom he battled in court over paternity and guardianship of Dannielynn, is now a regular in his life.

"At one time he and I were not so friendly," Birkhead admits, rather wryly. "But now we get along. Howard is the executor of Anna's estate so we spend a lot of time talking about estate business."

Despite their past differences, Birkhead believes, "Howard truly does want what's best for Dannielynn...And there's not too many of those people floating around."

Birkhead hopes to soon begin to focus a little on himself. As a single father without any nannies, he said he has never spent a day away from his daughter except one night when he was in the hospital for kidney stones. Dating hasn't even been an option.

Birkhead said it is "heartbreaking" to watch Dannielynn see other kids with their moms. "She wants to know; she asks quite a bit" about Anna Nicole, said Birkhead.

He said he has told her "the basics."

"Dannielynn says her mom is a pretty lady who is very tall and is in heaven right now and that one day she'll get to play with her," said Birkhead.

For the future, he only wants a little "normalcy" but realizes it may never completely come his way because his daughter is the only surviving heir to a woman whose life was as unbelievable as a soap opera.

"It's been tough," he said, of the last three years. "But you know what? I've learned that in Anna Nicole's world, you never try to predict the future."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Larry Birkhead, partner of Anna Nicole Smith and the father of her daughter, Dannielynn, is selling some of the former model's memorabilia at an upcoming auction for charity and his daughter's future.

Birkhead, a photographer who became a key figure in the media circus surrounding Smith's tragic death in 2007, said he doesn't need the money, but his daughter, now 3 years-old, does have "different needs" such as security and private schools.

"It's like, do I want to hold on to one of Anna's dresses, or do I want to try to help Dannielynn's future?" he told Reuters.

Birkhead said he has spent the last three or four months "buried in storage bins, archiving and cataloging" Smith's possessions. He created piles of items to be sold, and piles to be held for Dannielynn as keepsakes of her mom.

Up for bid at the event, held by Julien's Auctions on June 26 in Las Vegas, are big-ticket items such as a 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster and several bronze statues, both given to Smith during her marriage to oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall.

Also on the auction block is Smith's furniture, as seen on her former E! network reality series, "The Anna Nicole Show."

Smith's Marilyn Monroe memorabilia -- items such as a Marilyn cookie jar -- many gowns she wore at red carpet events, and several of her own paintings also go under the hammer.

"You'll see Anna's love for the finer things, but you'll also see the down home girl that would paint pictures and carry little, fun purses," said Birkhead.

Even a dog bed and bowls belonging to her miniature poodle, Sugar Pie, are up for sale, and a dress worn by Smith in a PETA ad will earn proceeds for the animal rights group she helped.

DANNIELYNN, DIFFERENT NEEDS

With the exception of the PETA gown, sales from the items will be tallied and a flat fee will go to the Anna Nicole and Daniel Wayne Smith Foundation.

The foundation, which helps underprivileged children, was founded by Smith after her son Daniel's death of an accidental drug overdose at age 20, days after Dannielynn's birth. The rest of the money will go to in to a trust for Dannielynn.

Smith, a former Playboy model and TV celebrity, died in February 2007 in Florida of an accidental drug overdose. At the time, Smith was in a legal battle over proceeds from the estate of her dead husband, Texas billionaire Marshall, and Dannielynn stood to be the key beneficiary.

But just this past March, a federal appeals court ruled Smith's estate was not entitled to any of the $300 million she sought from Marshall's estate, and last week, an appeals court denied a request to reconsider the decision.

"We have money," said Birkhead. "We have more than enough to survive on. (Auction proceeds) would just supplement that."

Birkhead, who waged a paternity battle for custody of his daughter, said he still occasionally does photography work, but life after Smith's death has become a circus of paparazzi, fans and court battles "fighting to protect my daughter."

"Dannielynn has different needs than other kids," he said. "She has to have security because we have a lot of curious people and it creates a bit of a problem. And now that she's starting school, she'll need to go to a private school."

Birkhead said he raises her as a single father without any outside help or nannies. They divide their time between homes in Kentucky and Los Angeles.

With the auction, "I have come to the realization that you don't have to have something in your hands for it to be a memory," said Birkhead. "I think Anna would appreciate that these items are going to help Dannielynn thrive and flourish and continue being the great kid that she is."

Julien's Auctions will conduct the auction on Saturday, June 26th at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Lindsay Lohan on Thursday defended as "art" a photo of herself holding a gun to her mouth that sparked alarm about the former A-list actress whose life and career have spiraled downward in recent years.

Lohan, 23, said the photo that she posted on Twitter was from a shoot for a book about the dark side of glamour by celebrity photographer Tyler Shields.

Other photos on Shields' website show Lohan in high heels and underwear, smothered in fake blood and brandishing guns.

"It's not softcore porn hunny, it's called ART," the "Mean Girls" actress said on Twitter, responding to criticism on the micro-blogging website.

Lohan, who is currently on probation for 2007 drinking and drugs offenses, has been setting celebrity websites abuzz in recent weeks with stories and pictures of hard partying and erratic behavior.

The gun photos came a week after reports that Lohan was dropped from the movie "The Other Side" because producers were reluctant to finance the film with her in a lead role.

Last week, her estranged father brought police to her Los Angeles apartment and threatened to seek a court protection order like the one that handed control of pop star Britney Spears' personal and business affairs to her father in 2008, after Spears' was hospitalized when her life seemed to be near disaster.

Michael Lohan issued a statement earlier this week saying he "intends to do everything in his power to prevent Lindsay from becoming another Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson or Heath Ledger" -- all of whom died in tragic circumstances.

Lohan has fired back in a series of angry tweets, calling her father "the devil's advocate."

Still, her nights of clubbing have attracted the attention of producers on the TV show "Celebrity Rehab" which, according to celebrity website TMZ.com, offered her $1 million to enter treatment and be filmed undergoing counseling. Lohan refused.

"I don't know why I am such a target, but I think there's a big misconception of who I am as a person," Lohan told a Los Angeles radio station in an interview on Wednesday.

"I am doing a clothing line, I am starting a movie soon, I'm producing some shows. I've just been working a lot, and it's not a crime to go out and have fun with your friends."

Lohan shot to fame in 1998 as a cute, freckle-faced 11-year-old in the Disney movie "The Parent Trap". As a teenager, she scored a hit with 2004's "Mean Girls" and won fans among critics in 2006's "A Prairie Home Companion."

But her last movie, "Labor Pains," went straight to television in 2009, and she won a Golden Raspberry award for worst actress for playing a stripper in the 2007 low budget thriller "I Know Who Killed Me".

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Tragic model Anna Nicole Smith's young daughter will reportedly not get a cent of the $300 million she sought from the estate of her billionaire oil baron husband. 

A federal appeals court panel ruled that Smith's estate is not entitled to any of the fortune left by her late oil magnate husband, J Howard Marshall.
The decision comes as another blow to the main beneficiary of Smith's estate - her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Dannielynn Birkhead.

"It's been a very sad story - so many people involved in this case have died," said Kent Richland, the appellate lawyer for the model's estate.
According to People.com, he vowed that the move was "not the final step" in the long-running legal battle.
(Image: Splash News)