Anna Nicole Smith’s ex cleared by U.S. justice

This unexpected reversal of the Superior Court of Los Angeles is the final rebound in a trial that lasted several weeks, and whose verdict was delivered on October 28 after 13 days of deliberations.

Judge Robert J. Perry, who was to pronounce the sentences on Wednesday for Howard K. Stern and psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich, said the evidence against them were “insufficient”.

He nevertheless maintained one charge against the psychiatrist, convicted of obtaining drugs under false names. Eroshevich was sentenced to a one year probation and given a $ 100 fine.

“This case should never have been brought,” Stern’s lawyer Steve Sadow said outside the court. “It was a waste of time and a waste of effort. And it impacted people’s lives in a horrible way.”

Eroshevich, 63, was relieved. “I’m very happy. I can live with the misdemeanor,” she said.

The former playmate died at the age of 39 after a drug overdose in a hotel room in Florida, on February 8, 2007.

The autopsy had determined that Anna Nicole Smith died from a cocktail of antidepressants, methadone, antibiotics, diet pills and anti pain.

Smith, a Playboy model and TV star who also was famous for marrying a 89-year-old oil tycoon who was 63 years her senior, died a few months after her son’s fatal overdose and the birth of her daughter.