We're certainly caught up in the same web...Couple of puns there!!
Seidlin: The rule’s been invoked, that means any witnesses that are in the courtroom can no longer stay in the courtroom and they no longer can discuss this case, till the court come down with…fashions a decision. Let the record reflect no one left the courtroom.
Susan Brown: Your Honor, I just want to make it clear that our client is a party, and he is allowed to remain.
Seidlin: I, also agree with you. Your client can stay here.
KB: Just so the record is clear, your Honor, obviously I object to him as a party here, um…
Seidlin: Well, he’s going to be a party somewhere, somehow….I…I thnk he’s got….I’m a court of equity. I believe as court of equity, probate, I’m going to have him remain here.
KB: Thank you, your Honor.
Seidlin: You’re welcome.
KB: Please state your name for the record.
HKS: Howard Stern.
KB: Mr. Stern, could you tell me what your occupation is?
HKS: I am an attorney.
KB: Where are you licensed Mr. Stern?
HKS: I’m licensed in the State of California.
KB: Are you a member in good standing of the California bar?
HKS: I am.
KB: Did you know the decedent Vickie Lynn Marshall or Anna Nicole Smith?
HKS: I knew her very well. Very well.
KB: Can you tell me how you came to know Miss Smith?
HKS: Originally, um I believe it was back in 1996, she was a client of mine. Um we became friends, we spent a lot of time together. Ultimately we became more than friends, and this was years ago. Uh, we didn’t say anything at the time. She is pretty much my whole world. She’s my best friend, my lover.
John O’Quinn: Objection, your Honor. Non-responsive, the question was when did he come to know her?
Seidlin: I’m going to allow a little more latitude. I want to get moving. I appreciate that, but I’m going to allow a little direct here and there, a little narrative. I want to move.
KB: I could direct him your Honor. Seidlin: Ha ha, please hurry.
KB: If you could describe the nature of your relationship with Miss Smith.
HKS: She was my best friend, my lover, the mother of my daughter. Everything to me. I mean literally everything, my whole world.
KB: If you could, to give the court more of an idea of the kind of time that you spent with Miss Smith.
HKS: Well, hunh….a lot of time. I saw her daily, and in the last four or five months I was with her every day, almost all the time.
KB: But prior to that, since you knew her….the inception…..
HKS: It would…..it would depend on what I was working on at the time. But I pretty much saw her every day and we spent uh a great deal of time together, a great deal of time together through the years.
Seidlin: What state did you meet her in?
HKS: I met her in California.
Seidlin: And what, what, what when you said she was your client, what was she doing?
HKS: I was her personal counsel in the Marshall litigation. I also did um…
Seidlin: In ’96?
HKS: I believe it’s ’96.
Seidlin: What’s Marshall? Is it another matter?
HKS: Yes, it’s a very high profile matter. I was co-counsel in the District Court case in that trial, in the Federal District Court. I was also co-counsel in the Supreme Court case and I am co-counsel currently in the Ninth Circuit case.
Seidlin: Are you still a member of the California bar?
HKS: Yes, I am.
KB: Did you know Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel?
HKS: I knew Daniel very well. Daniel was like a brother to me. We spent, we also spent a great deal of time together, both at Anna’s house, or we’d sometimes go out to dinner or see movies. Daniel, He was a great boy. I mean, he was …just a wonderful, wonderful person.
KB: Did Daniel have a father in his life?
HKS: Daniel, um, no, not really. Not really. He was estranged from his father since, I believe, uh he was an infant at the time.
KB: Can you explain to me the….anything you observed about Anna‘s relationship with her son, Daniel?
HKS: Anna and Daniel were inseparable. Daniel was, without question, the most important person in Anna’s life. Uh.. from the time that I met her, every thing that she was doing was for Daniel. Literally everything.
Seidlin: Step back a minute. When did the relationship between you as an attorney, and then you in a personal relationship what year did that begin?
HKS: Well, we started spending a lot of time together…
Seidlin: What year?
HKS: Probably ’97….’98
Seidlin: ’98…
HKS: We became more than friends….it was after that. It was probably 2000.
Seidlin: In 2000 you started to have a more personal, intimate relationship with her?
HKS: Yes. And it was not, it was not exclusive. Because of my relationship as her attorney. And it’s something that we didn’t disclose to too many people. Uh but, and she had other boyfriends in between. I wanted her to be happy.
Seidlin: When you say, in between, from 2000 till her death?
HKS: Yeah.
Seidlin: Thank you, it’s the prosecutor in me.
KB: You just stated to the court that during your friendship with Anna over the years there were times that you were together in a more intimate way and times that you were just friends, is that correct?
HKS: That’s right. Well, we were, we were intimate sort of consistently throughout. But it would just depend on what the spacing was in between.
KB: I want to direct you back to talking a little bit more about Anna’s relationship with Daniel. And is there anything you can tell the court to give them some indication of just how close she was. Would you describe this as a normal mother/child bond?
HKS: It was….it was a little different because Anna was so young when she had Daniel. In a lot of ways they grew up together. They were friends, as well as a mother/son. I mean, when we would travel for different events, Daniel would always come along with his mom. They were virtually inseparable.
Seidlin: And where did he go to high school?
HKS: Daniel went to ….well he was home school for his last couple years of high school.
Seidlin: In what state?
HKS: In California.
Seidlin: What part?
HKS: In Studio City.
Seidlin: And then, did there come a point where he died?
HKS: [Nods head]
Seidlin: What date was that, approximately?
HKS: It was September tenth. No approximate about it.
Seidlin: Of 2-06?
HKS: Yes.
Seidlin: And do we know what the cause of death was?
HKS: Well, we…we had an independent pathologist who determined that it was a drug interaction…..
JO: Objection, hearsay. I can’t cross…..
Seidlin: Objection sustained. You may proceed.
KB: There came a time when Daniel died, that’s correct?
HKS: Yes.
KB: And that was only days after Anna had given birth to your daughter, Dannielynn, is that correct?
HKS: Yes, Dannielynn was born on September 7th. It was actually the night that Daniel came to the Bahamas to visit to see his baby sister is the night that he passed away.
KB: And how would you describe Anna’s state of mind, after Daniel died?
HKS: Um, from the day that Daniel died, Anna honestly was never the same. I mean I would say that physically she died last week, but in a lot of ways emotionally she died when Daniel died. And she initially would not accept that Daniel was gone and uh this went on for quite some time. It was the reason why she didn’t want to bury him earlier than ultimately she did… the time that we did. And it was just the most difficult thing….the most difficult thing that I’ve ever seen anybody go through.
Seidlin: How old was Danny when he died?
HKS: Daniel was 20, he would have been 21 on ah…..
Seidlin: Where was he living?
HKS: He was actually coming out to the Bahamas to spend ah some time with his mom in the Bahamas. He was still in Studio City, finishing up um a summer school class.
Seidlin: Where..a college?
HKS: A college, yes.
Seidlin: What college was it?
HKS: It was Valley Junior college
Seidlin: And who supported him in California?
HKS: Well, Anna still supported him, but he was staying at a friend’s house.
Seidlin: He lived with a roommate?
HKS: No, it wasn’t a roommate, it was actually somebody who was one of Anna’s friends.
KB: It took Anna quite some time to bury Daniel, is that correct?
HKS: It did, it did. It was um, quite a difficult process. You know, it was hard to talk…., it was hard for her to talk about it, and she went through a lot of thought in…in deciding what his plans would be. And throughout that time, the way that she went about it….it was never ‘where is Daniel going to be’, all of the discussions were always in the context of ‘where are we all going to be.’
KB: Anna was previously married, is that correct?
HKS: She was, she was married to J. Howard Marshall who um…he was truly, truly the love of her life. He was a father-figure and he was a very special man to her.
Seidlin: Is he still alive?
HKS: No, no. That’s what the litigation….has been over.
KB: Mr. Marshall passed away in what year?
HKS: He passed away in 1995.
KB: Was Anna in possession of Mr. Marshall’s remains?
HKS: Uh….its….uh….a long story. Actually I think there is a another court order which prevents me from discussing that.
KB: OK, certainly. The concept in Anna’s mind, if you know, was what….with regard to the burial plot…plots?
HKS: She…
JO: Objection your honor, calls for hearsay. We are talking about the burial plot of Mr. Marshall?
KB: No, we’re not discussing that any more actually just…..
Seidlin: She jumped to the next….to, to Anna Nicole.
JO: We’re off Mr. Marshall’s death?
Seidlin: Yes.
JO: OK, what’s the question on the floor then? The question was Mr. Marshall’s death?
KB: No, the question was…
Seidlin: You can ask it again.
KB: Did Anna speak with you regarding her intentions for the burial plots where Daniel is laid to rest now?
JO: Objection, your Honor, this is irrelevant. The only question before the court is who is the proper representative as to who should have the body….
Seidlin: You can just object and state the word relevancy. It will save us time. Overruled.
JO: Not relevant as to who should get the body.
Seidlin: Overruled. Next. You can answer that.
HKS: We had uh a series of discussions about it.
Seidlin: When did that begin?
HKS: Probably um probably about a week and a half after Daniel died. Before that, um, Anna was inconsolable and really couldn’t talk about much. But it happened uh……you know, it….until the time that Daniel was laid to rest, it those plans sort of dominated all of the conversations, I would say, for the most part. And initially, um Anna had always wanted to be buried near Marilyn Monroe, out in Westwood and we looked into that. And then we also looked into um….
Seidlin: When did you look into that? Time and place. Always time and place.
HKS: I don’t have um I don’t have the exact dates down…
Seidlin: Was it after Danny died?
HKS: Oh, well actually I looked into that years ago, for Anna. And then again after Daniel died.
Seidlin: Did you find it unusual that she would talk about death like this?
HKS: No, because um Anna…..Anna, in a lot of ways, always thought she was going to die young. And she said that. And she thought that she was going to be like Marilynn Monroe. So she thought she was going to die when….at I forget if the age was 36 or 37. So we discussed it, prior to that. And then um, Anna also thought she was going to die when she was giving birth to Dannielynn. So Anna did talk about death. She talked about death um really from the time that I met her.
KB: At some point, did Anna come to some decision regarding what she wanted to do with Daniel…..?
HKS: She did. I mean and can I explain how that process occurred?
JO: Your Honor, I don’t know the proper practice and I don’t want to interrupt, but I have a running objection. All of this is irrelevant to the proper position.
Seidlin: Yes, I understand. You are traveling on the statute. I understand. You may proceed..
JO: We are not trying about consent….but what her intent was.
Seidlin: Yes.
HKS: We looked into plots uh at the cemetery in Westwood. There was an expense issue, frankly. We also looked at other plots in Forest Lawn, I believe in Burbank and the way it worked is that I had um my mother and then also a friend of Anna’s, the same person who Daniel was staying with, they went out there and they took pictures of the plots and emailed them back.
KB: Are you speaking of the plots in the Bahamas?
HKS: No, no right now I’m still talking about in Los Angeles. And then I myself, she asked me to look at places in the Bahamas.
JO: Your Honor, pardon me. Second objection. This is hearsay. What she asked him to do is hearsay.
KB: Well, under the state of mind exception I believe it’s outside the realm of hearsay. We also have declarent unavailable because of death, your Honor.
Seidlin: Dead man statute. We got it everything going on here.
KB: Dead man statute is no longer in existence. So I think he is able to talk about it.
Seidlin: Right, right, I’m just trying to get it under the common law.
KB: So I think he’s able to talk about it.
Seidlin: I’m going to allow it. I’m going to allow it.
JO: May we understand your Honor, for the purposes of the record, that we have two objections to this, what did Anna say…..
Seidlin: You don’t need to recap.
JO: On hearsay and relevance.
Seidlin: Yes, absolutely. The record speaks for itself. Move on.
JO: Thank you.
Seidlin: You’re welcome.