segunda-feira, 18 de outubro de 2010

No verdict yet in Anna Nicole Smith trial


Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Jurors in the drug trial of Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend-lawyer Howard K. Stern and two doctors begin their fifth day of deliberations Monday.
Stern and Drs. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich are charged with conspiring to feed the reality TV star and Playboy model's drug addiction and using false names to obtain the drugs over the last three years of her life.
The three defendants are not charged in Smith's February 2007 death in a Florida hotel, which a medical examiner ruled was an accidental overdose of a sleep aid combined with a viral flu.
The six men and six women on the jury spent more than 20 hours over four days last week considering the two months of testimony in the trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The case raised questions about ethical boundaries in a doctor-patient relationship, the prescribing of painkillers and anti-anxiety medicines and the use of fake names when treating celebrities.
The defense called only one witness -- an expert who concluded that Smith suffered from chronic pain, depression and anxiety, not drug addiction.
Her drug dependency was legal since it was for legitimate medical purposes, including for treatment of her pain and anxiety, defense lawyers argued.
The prosecution said the doctors never said no to Smith's drug seeking because they wanted to be part of her celebrity entourage.
CNN