Jury: Smith son died of drug overdose

Upper Right: All that is left of Daniel Wayne Smith

Lower Right: Stern with blood on his hands



This is the last post I will ever make on these people. I don't know
when I have ever been so sickened over a miscarriage of justice.
May the Sterns and the Bahamas all burn in hell.

3/31/2008, 2:09 p.m. EDT
By TOSHEENA ROBINSON-BLAIR The Associated Press

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A Bahamas jury ruled Monday that Anna Nicole Smith's son died from an accidental drug overdose, just like his mother.

The seven-member jury, which deliberated for less than two hours, recommended no criminal charges in the September 2006 death of 20-year-old Daniel Smith...


Police had said there was no evidence of homicide, and autopsies found that Daniel died from a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants. But Bahamian authorities ordered the inquest amid widespread speculation over the circumstances surrounding his death.

In its ruling, the jury said the cause of death was "nondependent use of drugs," meaning that Daniel Smith was not addicted and was not aware the drugs in his system would kill him.

Neil McCabe, an attorney for Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur, said she was disappointed in the ruling because she suspected foul play was involved. Arthur has claimed previously that Anna Nicole's boyfriend and attorney Howard K. Stern played a role in both deaths, but she did not provide evidence.

"We don't think it makes any sense," McCabe said. "The boy was not a drug user, the judge said so. Why would he all of a sudden take a massive dose of methadone?"

Stern, who has denied giving Daniel any drugs, said outside court that he was not sure whether the jury's decision would bring an end to the case.

"I have no control over them," he said of Arthur and her attorneys.

Magistrate William Campbell said the jury's decision ended the case as far the courts in the Bahamas were concerned.

The inquest began in November and heard from more than two dozen witnesses. Anna Nicole's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, testified that Daniel was a troubled young man who struggled with drugs and alcohol. But Stern said he was surprised at the autopsy report and said he had never seen Daniel using drugs.

Stern, who came to the Bahamas with Anna Nicole during her pregnancy in 2006, initially claimed he was the father of her infant daughter, Dannielynn. He gave up custody last spring after DNA tests proved Birkhead was the father...