Daniel Smith Died Of Accidental Overdose
Like mother, like son…a Bahamian jury decided Monday that Daniel Smith, son of Anna Nicole Smith, died of an accidental overdose:
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.
The son of the former Playboy playmate died after coming to the Bahamas to meet his new baby sister on Sept. 10, 2006. His mother died early the next year in Florida from an accidental drug overdose at age 39.
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.
Anna Nicole’s mother, however, is having none of it, and still believes Howard K. Stern had something to do with the death:
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.
What a convoluted tale. Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole’s former boyfriend and babydaddy, testified that Daniel struggled with drugs, alcohol, and depression, but Howard said that he was surprised by the toxicology findings and said in his testimony that he’d never seen Daniel take drugs.
If Daniel did take his mother’s methadone (he had easy access to it, and Anna Nicole caught him on videotape stealing it out of her home), it is a slow-acting drug who’s effect are not felt for a few hours. He could have accidentally taken more than the recommended dose simply by believing that he hadn’t taken enough the first time, when in actuality the drug had not had time to kick in yet.
I’m still not convinced HKS had anything to do with it, simply because I’m not sure what he would have to gain from killing Daniel. He knew that Daniel was Anna Nicole’s life, and to kill him would cause her great grief and sadness…which is exactly what it did. It would have been to Howard’s best interests to have Daniel alive, in fact. He should have done more to make sure that happened.
But there are only three people who know exactly what went on that day, and two of them aren’t talking any more.
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Accidental death, caused by accidental stupidity on the part of Anna’s and Daniel’s handlers and “friends”. I agree, it doesn’t make sense that it was caused intentionally by someone, but overseeing people that you care about living recklessly, has some form of culpability for HKS. He knows what happened and he has to live with it, now that the life that he was accustomed to living is over as well. Very sad for the victims, not so sad for him.
Comment by Capcom — April 2, 2008 @ 11:30 am
I agree. Though it Daniel’s death seemed accidental, Howard and the rest of Anna’s entourage are going to have to live with the fact that even a little intervention on their part could have saved a life. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
Comment by belicoso — April 2, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
HK$ was the keeper of the “DUFFLE BAG” containing Anna’s huge amount of drugs INCLUDING METHADONE! He should be charged with NEGLIGENCE for not having kept these UNDER LOCK AND KEY! He knew that both Anna and Daniel were prone to depression & that Daniel would be jealous of Dannielynn! I despise Mr. “I want 6%”..had he acted like a man I have no doubt that Anna would have kicked him out of her life as she did to anyone and everyone who disagreed with her excessive drug abuse!
Comment by Jill from Western Australia — April 2, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
Well said, Belicoso.
Comment by noodlemonkey — April 3, 2008 @ 1:11 pm