Anna Nicole Clips

Author: Traci Love

Howard K. Stern and two doctors Khristine Eroshevich (a personal friend of Anna’s) and Sandeep Kapoor, plead “not guilty” on May 13th to a slew of charges (11 to be exact) in the Anna Nicole Smith drug case. The case where Howard K. Stern is accused of conspiring with two above mentioned doctors to give “known addict” Anna Nicole Smith hundreds of prescription drugs in the months before her fatal 2007 overdose.

“These individuals repeatedly and excessively furnished thousands of prescription pills to Anna Nicole Smith, often for no legitimate medical purpose,” California Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a statement earlier this month. “This case is not a minor league case. Thousands of pills were put into the body of Anna Nicole Smith. The maximum sentence is several years, one count could be as high as three years, and there are 11 counts.”

The three were charged last month, following a raid on Dr. Kapoor’s Studio City, CA, office. Of note is the fact that this was not the only raid done.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office confirmed that authorities raided six locations previously, including the offices and residences of two of Smith’s former doctors, psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and physician Dr. Sandeep Kapoor. All 11 prescriptions found in Anna’s Florida hotel room after her accidental overdose were written by Dr. Eroshevich, 8 of which were in Howard K. Stern’s name.

Howard K. Stern, Dr. Kapoor and Dr. Eroshevich face a potential of 33 years behind bars, according to Brown.

So try to pretend you are surprised and didn’t see that plea coming.

Apparently Howard and one of his attorneys, Steven Sadow, feel that the charges don’t really apply to him because he is not a health care provider. Stern’s attorney previously said he will “ultimately be exonerated.”

“He’s not a doctor,” Sadow said. “He’s not signing prescriptions. That’s the nature of the charge, and we’re debating it.” “We have nothing to hide,” Sadow said. “We have no problem whatsoever giving them all the handwriting they want.”

So the prescriptions themselves will be analyzed for all parties to determine who wrote what, when and to whom. This will aid the judge in determining whether to proceed or not. It will also aid in determining if all three accused are equally responsible or if they will have different sentences.

Howard will return to court on June 8 to challenge the charges filed against him. If the case moves forward, the judge will set a date for a preliminary hearing, which attorneys expect to last more than two weeks.

We will have to wait this one out for now. If it does go to court it should prove to be a very interesting and informative case.