ca criminal case

[cee cee]

Court Actions wrote:

Just by doing a search for Moe, I saw quotes from Turner...without ever going within a 10 mile reach of her abominable site, that assure the cretins that it is Tasmin and Moe who should be charged with murder.
How could anyone with any sort of reasoning powers arrive at such an impossible conclusion when Miss Anna Nicole Smith was dead as a doornail when the two women Stern conned into the room arrived? As confirmed by all present including EMT employees.

Who would do CPR on a dead body that is purple splotched with blue lips in a room where the fecal stench was so bad? No one. Zip!

Help her to the bathroom? Like she was capable of walking when she is using a baby bottle for nourishment.

Hope HKS got the bill for remodeling that room...
Pity they did not use the free housekeeping service the hotel offers...

[Sara]

One thing is very clear to me. I used to know Howard Stern personally and he is not a likeable person. He is rude and extremely obnoxious. He treats people like sh-t just because he has a degree in law. I would not be surprised if he gets convicted considering that he had little respect for women in general.

[sugarpie]

Hi Sara, can you elaborate on this please. You would be the first person besides Ron Rale thats ever admitted to knowing Howard personally.When did you know him and in what capacity? Details please. Thanks so much.

[Makes u go hmmm]

Sara wrote:

One thing is very clear to me. I used to know Howard Stern personally and he is not a likeable person. He is rude and extremely obnoxious. He treats people like sh-t just because he has a degree in law. I would not be surprised if he gets convicted considering that he had little respect for women in general.

Do tell.

[Grow up]

Sara wrote:

One thing is very clear to me. I used to know Howard Stern personally and he is not a likeable person. He is rude and extremely obnoxious. He treats people like sh-t just because he has a degree in law. I would not be surprised if he gets convicted considering that he had little respect for women in general.

You personally knew him? Uh-huh, sure you did.

[Testimony]

Testimony in Anna Nicole Smith hearing to resume
By LINDA DEUTSCH (AP)– 3 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday in the hearing to determine whether Anna Nicole Smith's doctors and boyfriend should stand trial on charges they illegally funneled drugs to the Playboy model.

Testimony Tuesday focused on Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who is charged along with psychiatrist Kristine Eroshevich and Smith's boyfriend-lawyer Howard K. Stern.

All have pleaded not guilty. Smith died of an accidental overdose of at least nine medications at a Florida hotel in February 2007.

Pain management doctor James Gagne said Kapoor was feeding Smith's addiction to prescription medications by excessively prescribing opiates, including methadone and Dilaudid, which is nicknamed "hospital heroin," and sedatives known as benzodiazopines.

Gagne said Kapoor began treating Smith when he took over the practice of another doctor in April 2004. Kapoor took up the same regimen as his predecessor, who was treating Smith for pain but felt she "had a predominantly psychiatric illness and was trying to keep a lid on it with methadone," Gagne said.

When Smith fell and fractured two ribs, "Dr. Kapoor prescribed large amounts of Dilaudid, the strongest opiate available," said Gagne.

Smith had requested Dilaudid before and failed to get it, Gagne said.

By the end of September, Kapoor wrote that he was "tapering off" Smith's Dilaudid, but the dosages he prescribed actually increased, Gagne testified.

Kapoor eventually had a 45-minute meeting with Smith and Stern and tried to refer her to an addiction specialist, but she refused, Gagne said.

In 2005, Gagne said, Kapoor prescribed numerous sedatives for Smith in substantial amounts. She was under his care when she checked into a hospital to withdraw from the sedatives during her pregnancy in 2006.

However, the day she was released, Kapoor began writing her prescriptions again for sedatives, Gagne said.

"They're excessive. They're without medical basis, and they fly in the face of treatments" received at the hospital, he said.

[Testimony]

Doctor continued prescribing addictive drugs even after Anna-Nicole Smith refused rehab, witness says [Updated]
October 27, 2009 | 2:15 pm
Anna Nicole Smith’s internist prescribed dangerous amounts of addictive opiates and sedatives even after the model refused his recommendation of substance abuse counseling and stopped coming to his office for appointments, an expert told a judge today

The expert, a physician specializing in the treatment of chronic pain patients, testified that Dr. Sandeep Kapoor provided excessive amounts of the medications without obtaining a complete medical history, sending out for lab tests or even trying to determine whether anything was actually wrong with Smith.

“I saw no meaningful work-up,” expert witness Dr. James Gagne told a judge, who will determine whether there was sufficient evidence to try Kapoor; Smith’s psychiatrist and her boyfriend on charges of illegally furnishing her with prescription medication.

Gagne’s testimony came a day after another physician expert criticized the prescribing practices of Kapoor’s co-defendant, psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich, as excessive and without a legitimate medical purpose. Both doctors as well as Howard K. Stern, Smith’s confidant and lover, have pleaded not guilty.

Gagne, who reviewed Kapoor’s conduct for the state medical board, said there were repeated instances of excessive prescribing in the three years leading up to the Playboy playmate’s 2007 fatal overdose at the age of 39.

When she fractured two ribs in 2004, he wrote a prescription for Dilaudid, a powerful and highly addictive opiate nicknamed “hospital heroin.” Her injuries, Gagne said, necessitated only “a low level opiate for a week or two.”

Instead, Smith remained on Dilaudid for six months, coming off only after Kapoor saw her on a televised awards show looking stoned and slurring her words, Gagne said.

He said Kapoor’s medical records indicate he met with Smith and Stern and she agreed to stop taking Dilaudid, but refused drug counseling.

Sixteen months later, a pregnant Smith was hospitalized for acute drug withdrawal. The treating psychiatrist at the hospital previously testified that she called Kapoor and told him that Smith was being weaned off methadone and sedatives, which posed grave dangers for her baby.

But on the day she was released, Kapoor prescribed her additional sedatives and over the next two months, wrote prescriptions for at least 540 sedative tablets as well as methadone.

He said he was also troubled by what he described as a fall-off in the doctor-patient relationship that made the prescriptions seem to “appear out of thin air,” he said. After her hospitalization, Kapoor saw her only one time – a meeting at a hair salon – and she subsequently decamped to the Bahamas.

The prescriptions for methadone and other drugs continued, Gagne said.

An attorney for Kapoor is to cross-examine the expert this afternoon.

[Updated at 6:32 P.M.

On cross-examination, a defense attorney implied that Kapoor deserved credit for raising the issue of drug use after the awards show and suggested the doctor was reassured Smith’s behavior was the result of a seizure, not too much medication.

"He took some action to address the possibility drugs were being abused," Ellyn Garofalo asked. The witness agreed.]

-- Harriet Ryan

[Testimony]

by Steven Mikulan Published: October 27, 2009
You’ve got to give co-prosecutor Renee Rose credit – she certainly tries. A while back it seemed as though she was going to run to the bench and arm-wrestle Judge Robert Perry for the right to introduce the evidence-that-dare-not-speak-i ts-name – that Smith and defendant Dr. Khristine Eroshevich were lovers.
And Tuesday her attempts to publicly introduce photographs reportedly showing the two nude in a bathtub together were firmly shot down by Perry.
The hearing began promisingly enough two weeks ago, with Smith’s former bodyguard Mo-Mo Brighthaupt and ex-lover Larry Birkhead offering inside glimpses into the topsy-turvy life chez Smith.
But then came the expert witnesses. Last week, prosecutor Rose brought out Kenneth Krause, a Homeland Security special agent who droned on for much of Friday morning, establishing the dates on which members of Smith’s posse flew from the U.S. to her home in the Bahamas.
Krause was followed by Jennifer Doss of the California Department of Justice, who spent the rest of that morning detailing all the times members of that same entourage picked up prescriptions -- under their names and the names of others -- that allegedly were intended for Smith.
Rose’s purpose was clear, as the dates of those pharmacy pickups often neatly coincided with the errand runners’ departures to Nassau International Airport.
Rite-Aid, Ralphs, Sav-On, Key and AMC – this was the roll call of family pharmacies from which Smith’s enablers allegedly scooped up supplies for her pantry of Demerol, Dilaudid, Methadone and other sedatives and painkillers.
“Just make sure you get the Dem for two months ... and put it in Howard’s name,” read a jaunty email allegedly sent from Smith in the Bahamas to defendant Howard K. Stern’s sister, Bonnie.
Tuesday’s testimony began with deputy district attorney Sean Carney taking over for Rose by examining Dr. James Gagne, a seen-it-all addiction pro who’s affiliated with a wide spectrum of local hospitals, and visits patients at Malibu’s Canyon at Peace Park (not to be confused with Anna Nicole Smith’s Valley of the Dolls.)
Dr. Gagne, who acknowledged that he was getting paid for 40-50 hours of review work for the D.A., at $150 an hour, with an extra $200 an hour for testifying, was somewhat formal in the witness chair and at times swiveled from side to side.
He appears far more laid back on his website, where he’s “Jim” and takes time out to let readers know how to pronounce his name.“’Say Gone-YAY!’(rhymes with ‘Monet’),” suggests Gagne.“I kid people that the easiest way to remember my name is you're happy when I leave (‘Yay! he's gone.’).
Dr. Gagne hadn’t exactly worn out his welcome by the time he began testifying about Smith, but it had certainly taken a while for Carney to stop asking him questions about the care and handling of addicts in general and to get to Smith in particular.(“Really, Mr. Carney, we have to move along,” an impatient Judge Perry urged.)
Gagne was specifically asked about his evaluation of the care given to Smith by Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, the case’s third co-defendant (pictured above).
Gagne definitely found that treatment wanting. The portrait of Kapoor that emerged today was one of a physician who wouldn’t or couldn’t stand up to a strong addictive personality.
Kapoor, when he tried to wean Smith off Dilaudid, which Gagne described as “hospital heroin,” had prescribed that she seek addiction counseling. Her refusal, coupled with Kapoor’s acquiescence, was a sign of negligent care, Gagne said.
Moreover, Gagne claimed, Kapoor continued Smith’s old Methadone prescription, even though, Gagne said, Kapoor was not authorized to do so. Kapoor even prescribed large amounts of Dilaudid for a simple rib fracture Smith suffered from a slip-and-fall. Another no-no, according to Dr. Jim.
Meanwhile, Kapoor, who has sat perfectly composed during these hearings, spent the morning furiously taking notes.

[Prosecutor Compelling]

Prosecutors lose bid to show Smith photos in court
By LINDA DEUTSCH (AP)– 1 day ago

LOS ANGELES — A judge has denied a request from prosecutors in the Anna Nicole Smith case to show in court three photographs of the late celebrity model and her psychiatrist, saying the images would further sensationalize a hearing and appear on television and the internet if they were presented as evidence.

The pictures were not described in court, but a search warrant affidavit refers to a scene of Smith and her psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich naked in a bathtub.

"I don't want to sensationalize this hearing any more than it has already been sensationalized," Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry said Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose, who argued for admission of the photos, said that they would illustrate the lack of professionalism in Eroshevich's doctor-patient relationship with Smith.

"We are not trying to be salacious," Rose said. "We did not create these photographs."

Perry said he already understood the prosecution's argument about a doctor-patient relationship being "blurred," and he suggested prosecutors did not need the pictures to bolster their case.

Eroshevich and co-defendants, Dr. Sandkeep Kapoor and Howard K. Stern, Smith's former lawyer-boyfriend, are charged with conspiring to illegally provide Smith with controlled substances.

A preliminary hearing is being held to determine whether there is enough evidence to order the defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, to stand trial. The three are not charged in the death of Smith who succumbed to an overdose of at least nine different medications on Feb. 8, 2007.

The judge said prosecutors have "put on a rather compelling case of excessive prescribing" by Eroshevich.

Her attorney, Adam Braun, objected to showing the photos, saying the publicity would prejudice potential jury members for an eventual trial.

Proceedings were set to resume Tuesday when focus is expected to shift to Kapoor, Smith's personal physician who prescribed medication to her for pain. An expert in pain management was scheduled as the next witness.

Dr. Timothy Botello, an expert in psychiatry, testified Monday that he concluded from reviewing records in the case that Smith was addicted to prescription drugs and Eroshevich should have known it. He said he could find no legitimate medical reason for the dosages she was prescribing for Smith toward the end of her life.

"Given the history of substance abuse, you would be careful to give the lowest amount" of drugs, he said.

Testimony indicated Eroshevich began her relationship with Smith as a friend and neighbor. Botello said that made it doubly important that she separate the personal and medical relationships while prescribing drugs.

Testimony suggested that Eroshevich was trying to help Smith recover from the 2006 death of her son, Daniel, when she began prescribing sedatives.

Braun has said that Eroshevich acted with good intentions.

[Faye]

Pretty clear that Dr.E and Kapoor and Stern were wrong but what about others-Kimmie and Ron Rale knew what was happening as well as this was a deliberate conspiracy not something that just happened.A lot of money changed hands and an accounting needs to happen as well-which I have yet to see.People talk about a trust fund but never saw any proof of one.Well it certainly time for justice and looks like that time has arrived.

[Mrs Marple]

Testimony wrote:

Doctor continued prescribing addictive drugs even after Anna-Nicole Smith refused rehab, witness says [Updated]
October 27, 2009 | 2:15 pm
Anna Nicole Smith’s internist prescribed dangerous amounts of addictive opiates and sedatives even after the model refused his recommendation of substance abuse counseling and stopped coming to his office for appointments, an expert told a judge today
The expert, a physician specializing in the treatment of chronic pain patients, testified that Dr. Sandeep Kapoor provided excessive amounts of the medications without obtaining a complete medical history, sending out for lab tests or even trying to determine whether anything was actually wrong with Smith.
“I saw no meaningful work-up,” expert witness Dr. James Gagne told a judge, who will determine whether there was sufficient evidence to try Kapoor; Smith’s psychiatrist and her boyfriend on charges of illegally furnishing her with prescription medication.
Gagne’s testimony came a day after another physician expert criticized the prescribing practices of Kapoor’s co-defendant, psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich, as excessive and without a legitimate medical purpose. Both doctors as well as Howard K. Stern, Smith’s confidant and lover, have pleaded not guilty.
Gagne, who reviewed Kapoor’s conduct for the state medical board, said there were repeated instances of excessive prescribing in the three years leading up to the Playboy playmate’s 2007 fatal overdose at the age of 39.
When she fractured two ribs in 2004, he wrote a prescription for Dilaudid, a powerful and highly addictive opiate nicknamed “hospital heroin.” Her injuries, Gagne said, necessitated only “a low level opiate for a week or two.”
Instead, Smith remained on Dilaudid for six months, coming off only after Kapoor saw her on a televised awards show looking stoned and slurring her words, Gagne said.
He said Kapoor’s medical records indicate he met with Smith and Stern and she agreed to stop taking Dilaudid, but refused drug counseling.
Sixteen months later, a pregnant Smith was hospitalized for acute drug withdrawal. The treating psychiatrist at the hospital previously testified that she called Kapoor and told him that Smith was being weaned off methadone and sedatives, which posed grave dangers for her baby.
But on the day she was released, Kapoor prescribed her additional sedatives and over the next two months, wrote prescriptions for at least 540 sedative tablets as well as methadone.
He said he was also troubled by what he described as a fall-off in the doctor-patient relationship that made the prescriptions seem to “appear out of thin air,” he said. After her hospitalization, Kapoor saw her only one time – a meeting at a hair salon – and she subsequently decamped to the Bahamas.
The prescriptions for methadone and other drugs continued, Gagne said.
An attorney for Kapoor is to cross-examine the expert this afternoon.
[Updated at 6:32 P.M.
On cross-examination, a defense attorney implied that Kapoor deserved credit for raising the issue of drug use after the awards show and suggested the doctor was reassured Smith’s behavior was the result of a seizure, not too much medication.
"He took some action to address the possibility drugs were being abused," Ellyn Garofalo asked. The witness agreed.]
-- Harriet Ryan

--------

“Just make sure you get the Dem for two months ... and put it in Howard’s name,” read a jaunty email allegedly sent from Smith in the Bahamas to defendant Howard K. Stern’s sister, Bonnie.

Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie! Seems she is more involved than I realized!

[Mrs Marple]

Faye wrote:

Pretty clear that Dr.E and Kapoor and Stern were wrong but what about others-Kimmie and Ron Rale knew what was happening as well as this was a deliberate conspiracy not something that just happened.A lot of money changed hands and an accounting needs to happen as well-which I have yet to see.People talk about a trust fund but never saw any proof of one.Well it certainly time for justice and looks like that time has arrived.

-------
Hello Faye; Seems Kimmie has disappeared into the woodwork. Haven't heard from her in a long time. I wonder if she is a witness.

[Larry]

They are going to jail.