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Los Angeles - A final chapter in Anna Nicole Smith's made-for-tabloids life story has ended with a jury absolving her doctor of prescribing excessive drugs and convicting a psychiatrist and Smith's lawyer-boyfriend of conspiring to fake names on prescriptions.
The nine-week trial brought the aura of glamour surrounding the late Playboy model to the courtroom through photos and videos of the beautiful blond who starred in her own reality TV show.
In death, she still managed to be the star of the high profile trial.
Howard K Stern, who was Smith's manager, lawyer and lover, was acquitted on Thursday of seven of the 11 charges originally lodged against him. Superior Court Judge Robert Perry had already dismissed two charges against Stern. The jury found him guilty of two conspiracy counts and specified they were for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and giving a false name for a prescription.
Dr Khristine Eroshevich was convicted of conspiring with Stern on the fraud and false name allegations and was convicted on two separate counts of unlawfully prescribing and obtaining Vicodin through fraud and use of a false name.
Dr Sandeep Kapoor, 42, who prescribed an array of sedatives and opiates to Smith, was acquitted of prescribing excessive drugs and prescribing to an addict. He hailed his acquittal as a triumph for the medical field of pain management.
"This is not just a victory for me, but for patients everywhere who suffer chronic pain," an emotional Kapoor said outside court.
His lawyer Ellyn Garofalo said it also was a victory for Smith.
"The jury found she was not an addict," Garofalo said.
The 39-year-old Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in Florida in 2007, but the defendants were not charged in her death.
The nine-week trial brought the aura of glamour surrounding the late Playboy model to the courtroom through photos and videos of the beautiful blond who starred in her own reality TV show.
In death, she still managed to be the star of the high profile trial.
Howard K Stern, who was Smith's manager, lawyer and lover, was acquitted on Thursday of seven of the 11 charges originally lodged against him. Superior Court Judge Robert Perry had already dismissed two charges against Stern. The jury found him guilty of two conspiracy counts and specified they were for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and giving a false name for a prescription.
Dr Khristine Eroshevich was convicted of conspiring with Stern on the fraud and false name allegations and was convicted on two separate counts of unlawfully prescribing and obtaining Vicodin through fraud and use of a false name.
Dr Sandeep Kapoor, 42, who prescribed an array of sedatives and opiates to Smith, was acquitted of prescribing excessive drugs and prescribing to an addict. He hailed his acquittal as a triumph for the medical field of pain management.
"This is not just a victory for me, but for patients everywhere who suffer chronic pain," an emotional Kapoor said outside court.
His lawyer Ellyn Garofalo said it also was a victory for Smith.
"The jury found she was not an addict," Garofalo said.
The 39-year-old Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in Florida in 2007, but the defendants were not charged in her death.
