Posted on 09/14/2006 9:22:01 AM PDT by Semus Dynnen
Anna Nicole 'memory loss' over son's sudden death...
Anna Nicole Smith frantically tried to revive her stricken son and had to be sedated after he died, her attorney said Wednesday. Authorities termed the death "suspicious" and said criminal charges could be filed. Daniel Smith died Sunday while visiting his mother, a reality TV star and former Playboy playmate, in her hospital room three days after she gave birth to a baby girl.
"The devastation and grief over Daniel's sudden death coupled with the sedation has been so extreme that Anna Nicole experienced memory loss of the event," attorney Michael Scott said.
The chief inspector of the Bahamas coroner's office on Wednesday called the death of the 20-year-old Smith "suspicious" and a formal inquiry that could lead to criminal charges was scheduled for next month.
Police also revealed that a third person was in the hospital room at the time of the death.
But Scott said that the third person was another one of Anna Nicole Smith's attorneys, Howard K. Stern.
He said Anna Nicole Smith and Stern continued efforts to revive Smith even after he had been proclaimed dead by staff at Doctors Hospital in Nassau.
"Anna Nicole was so distraught at the loss of Daniel that she refused to leave his side and it was necessary to sedate her in order to check her out of the hospital," Scott read from a prepared statement.
He said she suffered memory loss and that it "was necessary for Howard to tell Anna again that Daniel had passed away," he added.
Authorities said they believe they know what killed Smith but were waiting for a toxicology report to confirm the findings.
Anna Nicole Smith, who went to the U.S. Supreme Court this year to sue for an inheritance, was in seclusion in the Bahamas with family and friends, Scott said. The identity of the newborn girl's father has not been publicly disclosed.
"You would expect any parent who sustained this kind of loss" to seek seclusion, Scott said.
A jury inquest, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to start Oct. 23, and Anna Nicole Smith will be required to attend, coroner Linda P. Virgill said.
"Whenever there is a suspicious death we would have an inquest to determine how the person died," Bradley Neely, chief inspector of the coroner's office, told Associated Press Television News.
The autopsy and toxicology reports will not be made public until the inquest is held, to avoid prejudicing the jury, Virgill said.
Jurors will meet in a courtroom inside a weathered, pink-pastel judicial building in the seaside capital, Nassau. If the inquest, which will be open to the public, determines a crime was committed, the case would be sent to the attorney general's office.
Virgill said there was no sign of physical injury to Smith, who was seen helping make his 38-year-old mother comfortable before he died. Anna Nicole Smith noticed him slumped in a chair Sunday morning and called for help. Hospital staff unsuccessfully tried CPR and other measures to revive him.
Scott dismissed media reports that Anna Nicole Smith's son had antidepressants or other drugs in his system.
"It's sheer speculation. It's irresponsible speculation, may I point out," he told reporters.
Ferguson, the assistant police commissioner, told the AP that no drug paraphernalia or traces of illegal drugs were found on Daniel Smith, in the hospital room or near the room.
Police believe Daniel Smith went directly to Doctors Hospital in Nassau after arriving in the Bahamas by plane, Ferguson said.
Daniel Smith was the son of Anna Nicole and Bill Smith, who married in 1985 and divorced two years later. The son had small roles in her movies "Skyscraper" and "To the Limit." He also appeared on the E! reality series "The Anna Nicole Show."
Anna Nicole Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year.
She then feuded with Marshall's son, Pierce Marshall, over her entitlement to the tycoon's estate before he died in June at age 67.
Smith won a $474 million judgment, which was cut to about $89 million, and eventually reduced to zero. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Smith could continue to pursue her claim in federal courts in California, despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall's youngest son was the sole heir.
I once traveled all the way from the Abacos in the northern Bahamas to a hospital in No. Virginia for treatment rather than be taken to a hospital in Nassau. I was seriously injured, too.
I am still very happy with that decision.
and with Howard "K" Stern as her attorney, anticipate plenty of breast jokes in front of the Grand Jury. I quess things aren't going well for Howard on that satellite network.
The name of her attorney is Howard Stern? Beautiful.
Say what you will about Ms. Smith, but this is a horrible thing to have happened. My prayers are with her.
You have to ask yourself....the 20 year-old son shows up at Mom's hospital after she gives birth...and the lawyer is there...so what was the meeting about? Junior...my bet...was going to have his allowance cut by a huge amount....and had known this for weeks. If you've been living quiet well for several years off $100k a year...and you've been told to get ready for a $20k allowance...he probably spent what he had left on drugs...and just died quietly in the chair. Its just another chapter in Anna Nicole's life...and its far from being over.
You might be wrong about that. So far, almost everyone who knows him said he was the "sane" one in the family, and didn't use drugs. We'll see what the autopsy uncovers.
Howard K Stern is always at Anna's side. He is a close friend of hers who happens to be a lawyer and he is her lawyer due to their relationship together.
According to the police in the Bahamas, the autopsy report will not be released.
Really? I hadn't heard that. Earlier today, they were saying it hadn't been released "yet"--this is very odd.
That should go unsaid. A horrible thing to have happen to anyone. I hope fellow freepers will pause on this, and not attempt to make lame jokes. We can show some class.
I heard it from the Bahamian woman last night on one of the news shows. But who's to say it won't be leaked.
Memory loss could have been the result of heavy sedation.
I wonder if Stern is the father?
I was about to post that these "comments" sound more like the DU kiddies. Which ARE here in numbers - easy to spot.
They won't release it due to the investigation. They will have a hearing in October. So everyone will have to wait until after they have their hearing in October.
Ditto that.
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