Deceased
Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith's partner and lawyer Howard K Stern has retained the services of Powell Goldstein LLP lawyer L Lin Wood, who most famously acted as the legal counsel for John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of six-year-old JonBenet who was murdered in 1996, to protect himself from allegations that he had a hand in the deaths of Smith and her son Daniel.
Thirty-nine-year-old Smith passed away in February this year due to an accidental overdose of drugs, while her 20-year-old son Daniel died in September last year because of cocktail of drugs in his system. The
Playboy model's seven-month-old daughter Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern is at the center of a custody battle, with Stern, Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead and her mother Virgie Arthur all fighting for her custody.
Also in question is the baby's paternity, with both Stern and photographer Birkhead claiming to be the father. The results of a DNA test are pending. Several other men, including Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt and Smith's ex-bodyguard Alexander Denk, have claimed to have had affairs with the model and speculated that the Dannielynn could be their offspring.
Meanwhile, Stern has hired Wood mainly to curb an internet and media trial that allegedly holds him guilty of wrongdoings. “My representation of Stern will focus on individuals and entities guilty of making false accusations of criminal conduct against him related to the tragic deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son, Daniel,” Wood said in a statement, adding that he would also look into 'the theft of personal property of Smith and/or its unlawful use, sale or other misappropriation in the media'.
Wood, who specializes in cases where the media trial has often affected the judicial process, held that Stern has a clean track record but 'finds himself on trial in the media'. “The media trial of Stern has been based on constant shouts of guilty from a barrage of uninformed commentators based on totally inaccurate and often manufactured 'facts'. The nightly television, tabloid and internet trial of Stern in the court of public opinion based on sensational lies, speculation, rumor and gossip is over,” he said.
Wood asserted that the deaths of both Smith and Daniel were ruled accidental and there was no evidence of foul play that implicated his client. “The accusations that Stern is guilty of murder have been recklessly and maliciously invented and published by individuals and entities to advance their personal agendas with the complicity of a ratings-driven media,” he said, warning any internet, radio or print entity or non-member of the 'traditional media' from making any allegations against the 38-year-old lawyer.
Though locked in a battle for Dannielynn, one thing that both Stern and Birkhead agree on is that they wouldn't let Smith's mother Virgie gain custody of the child. “Howard will do whatever is necessary to assist Larry Birkhead to defeat any effort by Virgie Arthur to obtain custody of Dannielynn. He is well aware of how Anna Nicole felt about 'Mommy Dearest' and Anna's feelings were clear regarding Virgie Arthur being anywhere near Dannielynn,” a source was quoted as saying.
The lawyer, who has been listed as the baby's father on her birth certificate, is also ready to allow Birkhead to gain her custody if a DNA test proves the photographer is the biological father, the source added.
The results of the DNA test are expected to be revealed at a hearing in a Bahamas court on Tuesday.
