Smith verdicts likely will resonate

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

During the past few weeks, a beautiful blonde celebrity has been making cameo appearances in a downtown courtroom.

Her image appears on a huge video screen above the heads of three of her friends whose futures are at stake because of their relationships with her.

The woman is Anna Nicole Smith, a one-time Playboy model who died in 2007 of a drug overdose. Those on trial are her former lawyer-boyfriend and two doctors, all charged with conspiring to give her excessive prescription drugs while knowing she was an addict.

The trial’s approaching outcome is sure to reverberate among doctors and pain-management patients whose need for drugs is at the heart of California laws under which the defendants are charged.

Underlying the legal issues is the puzzle of Anna, the busty bombshell who sometimes slurred her words and appeared drugged. Who was she? Was she a drug addict or a woman beset by so much pain that she sought relief in medicine bottles?

Was she a pliant victim drugged into semiconsciousness by others or a strong-willed woman who told people what to do?

The jury of six women and six men will ponder those questions when the case is submitted to them, possibly next week.

Superior Court Judge Robert Perry has harshly criticized the prosecution for “overreaching” and indicated he will bar some charges from going to the jury.

Defendants Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich have pleaded not guilty to an array of charges.

Judge Perry scheduled arguments today on dismissal motions.