14 DAY TRIAL // Florida officials have decided to take yet another look at the case of Anna Nicole Smith’s death, which occurred in 2007 and was subject to much debate in the media. The decision comes on the heels of the arrest of close associate and partner Howard K. Stern and two doctors, all three being charged this month with “conspiring to furnish drugs” to the late model only weeks before her fatal overdose, CNN informs.
Speculation about Stern fueling Smith's drug habit has run in the media before but, for a long while, it was nothing more than that, meaning, prosecutors were never able to come up with some sort of evidence against him. With his and the two doctors’ arrest, Florida officials have decided that a re-investigation into how the model passed away was warranted.
“Our prosecutors have met with representatives of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the California Department of Justice and discussed the evidence they have turned up in their investigation. We are now examining that evidence to see where it might lead in relation to Ms. Smith’s death here in Broward County in 2007.” Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz, tells CNN.
Anna Nicole Smith died in February 2007 from what the coroner said was “an accidental dose of prescription drugs.” Still, drugs for which she did not have a prescription were found by the police in the hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, near Hollywood, where she was discovered unconscious. Since then, speculation about Stern furnishing drugs for her so as to keep her “under control,” with the aid of certified doctors, has been running rampant.
One of the people to always voice their opinion on Stern’s involvement in Smith’s death was a former boyfriend of the model, Mark “Hollywood” Hatten. In a press statement released just recently to Softpedia, Hatten says he couldn’t be more happy with how the situation has turned for Stern since, now, there will finally be justice done in Anna Nicole Smith’s case.
“I exposed the fact that Howard K. Stern Esq. was obtaining both prescription drugs and illegal drugs for Anna Nicole Smith and she was having drug induced seizures. I informed the officials I feared for her life! I testified at trial, that Anna Nicole Smith would die of a drug overdose like her idol Marilyn Monroe, if someone did not help her! I begged the court and the officials for this help which would have indeed saved Anna Nicole Smith’s life!” Hatten tells us, while also passing along a thank you to the prosecutors who made the arrest possible.