Howard K Stern, the lawyer boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, has been found guilty of providing excessive prescriptions of drugs to the late model and actress. After 58 hours of deliberations over almost two weeks, the jury's split decision came yesterday (28th October 2010), convicting Stern and Smith's psychiatrist KHRISTINE EROSHEVICH, reports the New York Daily News.
Smith's doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, was also on trial , but he was acquitted of all charges. 41-year-old Stern, who was Smith's lawyer, manager, and boyfriend, was convicted of giving false names in order to obtain prescriptions for the model, however, he was cleared of seven other charges against him. After being found guilty, he said, "Everything relating to the appropriateness of the medication I was acquitted of". It is currently unclear how much time Stern and Eroshevich could face in prison.
The defence in the case argued that the model had battled chronic pain and illness and required the drugs for legitimate reason. Smith was found dead in her Florida hotel room in 2007 from an 'accidental overdose'.