The Inquiry of the Death of Daniel W Smith

By TOSHEENA ROBINSON-BLAIR
March 18th, 2008

DANIEL SMITH INQUEST. Larry Birkhead, the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter, took the witness stand in the Coroner’s Court yesterday and was questioned about the statement he gave to police about Daniel Smith’s alleged illegal drug usage. Mr. Birkhead is shown on his way to court.

A Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Daniel Smith – the son of the late U.S. reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith – yesterday heard how the former Playboy playmate allegedly gave her son illegal drugs.

On the witness stand Monday, Larry Birkhead – the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s 18-month-old daughter, Dannielynnn – was questioned extensively about his January 24, 2007, police statement in which he reported "personally" witnessing Anna Nicole, her attorney turned boyfriend Howard K. Stern and Daniel smoke marijuana.

In that statement, Mr. Birkhead said Anna Nicole was addicted to methadone, and that he had "personally observed" Daniel using the drug Ecstasy.

However, Mr. Stern’s attorney Wayne Munroe argued that Mr. Birkhead’s police statement was given at a time when he was involved in litigation with Anna Nicole. At the time the couple was engaged in a paternity and custody battle over baby Danielynn.

Mr. Birkhead said he was at Anna Nicole’s home in Studio City, California, when he saw her give Daniel a pill that he put into his mouth. Mr. Birkhead said someone told him that the pill was Ecstasy. He was never asked the identity of that "someone."

On the witness stand Monday, Mr. Birkhead said he remembered Anna Nicole telling Daniel that if he were going to experiment with drugs "she would rather him do it in her presence rather than running around experimenting with his friends."

The witness told the court that Anna Nicole, whose real name was Vicky Lynn Marshall, became concerned about her son in early 2006. “She didn’t care for the kids he was hanging out with at the community college he attended," Mr. Birkhead testified.

"He started breaking curfew and the rules of the house, so there was a little tension there…She suspected he was drinking alcohol and possibly doing drugs."

Under questioning by Milton Evans, the attorney representing the interest of Daniel Smith’s father, Jesse, (you mean Billy Wayne?) and his maternal grandmother Virgie Arthur, Mr. Birkhead said he could not recall the year of the marijuana incident. He thought it likely happened in either 2005 or 2006.

While on the witness stand, Mr. Birkhead said he remembered marijuana being there, but could not recall if the three in question – Daniel, Anna Nicole and Stern, actually used it. On another occasion, Mr. Birkhead said he had a back pain and Anna Nicole offered him a pill, which she said was methadone. He said she had also offered him Ecstasy before.

Continuing with his testimony, Mr. Birkhead said in 2006, Daniel had lost about 20 pounds. Concerned over his welfare, Anna Nicole asked him to talk to her son, which Mr. Birkhead said he was reluctant to do.

He said it was a job that Mr. Stern was more likely to take on if he were around, but he was busy dealing with a legal matter. Mr. Birkhead said he finally acquiesced and Daniel told him that he wanted to get his own place, because his mother did not like any of his friends.

The witness also told the court about an occasion where Anna Nicole believed her son had stolen a bottle of her methadone medication.

He said although Daniel had denied taking the bottle sometime in April 2006, his mother did not believe him and checked the home’s security tape where he was shown taking the bottle. There were two friends with him at the time, Mr. Birkhead testified.

Mr. Evans suggested to the witness that Daniel swiped the bottle to prevent his mother from taking the prescription medication, in an action similar to what Birkhead himself had admitted to doing.

Mr. Birkhead also alleged that Anna Nicole was hospitalized in Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles in May 2006 in order to "get off of methadone. "However, Wayne Munroe – the attorney for Mr. Stern – told the court that Anna Nicole was receiving treatment for her migraine headaches.

Mr. Birkhead also testified that he saw a bottle of methadone in a duffle bag in Anna Nicole’s hospital room’s closet. He said at one time he saw Mr. Stern give her that same duffle bag.
South Carolina real estate developer, Ford Shelley, previously told the court that Anna Nicole had the methadone drug in both the tablet and liquid form and that she traveled with a Coach duffle bag filled with her "medication."

Dr Lee Hern of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Miami Dade County also previously testified that methadone likely caused Daniel’s death. He said it was likely an "intentional ingestion" as it was a large dose consumed over a short period of time.

Two toxicology reports – one produced by Dr Hern’s office – indicated that Daniel had a combination of eight drugs in his system – a mixture of anti-depressants and stimulants.
Daniel Smith died in his mother’s Doctors Hospital room on September 10, 2006 – three days after she had given birth to his sister, Dannielynn.

Mr. Birkhead told the court that he was concerned about the amount of prescription drugs that Anna Nicole took because she was pregnant with his baby at the time.

Neil Braithwaite, senior counsel in the Attorney General’s office wants to call two more witnesses to the stand – Melanie Thompson and private investigator Jack Harding – before wrapping up with Mr. Stern.

In court Monday, Mr. Braithwaite said Harding was contacted but did not return the AG’s office calls, while Ms Thompson’s family attorney was advised about the adjourn date.
Since the remaining witnesses are out of the court’s jurisdiction, they cannot be compelled to attend the proceedings.

Magistrate William Campbell has said that Stern – who will be recalled to the witness stand – needs to testify last because he is "the only interested party."
The remaining witnesses are not being called to assist in determining Daniel’s cause of death, but rather the circumstances surrounding his demise.

Bahamas Resumes Daniel Smith Death Probe
By Tosheena Robinson-Blair
Associated Press
March 19, 2008

Anna Nicole Smith was concerned about her adult son's friends and drug use before he died, though she also once apparently gave him an Ecstasy pill, a former boyfriend of the now-deceased Playboy playmate testified Monday.

Larry Birkhead, testifying at an inquest into the September 2006 death of 20-year-old Daniel Smith, said there was "a little tension" between Anna Nicole and her son between January and May of that year while they lived in Los Angeles.

She had concerns about his drinking too much and possibly taking drugs, noting that he had lost about 20 pounds and was breaking curfew, Birkhead told a jury determining the official cause of Daniel Smith's death in a hospital in Nassau, the Bahamian capital…

In response to a question, Birkhead said he did not know if Daniel might have removed the bottle to prevent Anna Nicole from taking the methadone - a drug she had struggled at times to drop.

Wayne Munroe, a lawyer for Stern, noted that Birkhead was embroiled in a custody fight with Stern at the time of the police statement.

The inquest began in November but was delayed while the court tried to secure testimony from witnesses in the U.S. The final witnesses are expected to testify this week.