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.

With the McCartney divorce brouhaha, I kind of overlooked that Howard K. Stern testified in the ongoing Daniel Smith inquest.  He told the court that he did not give Daniel drugs, nor did he see Anna Nicole Smith do so:

Stern said he had no idea Daniel was taking any kind of prescription medication, including Methadone. Stern said from September 2005 until June 2006, he wasn’t even around as much because he was working full time on Anna’s fight with Pierce Marshall.

Stern said there was no duffel bag full of medication at the hospital where Daniel died. He said neither he nor Anna brought any medication into the hospital. As for Stern giving Daniel Methadone, he said absolutely not.

Stern said when he first learned that the toxicology report said that Methadone or any other medication was in Daniel’s system, he didn’t believe it.

He also told the court the while he did take a photograph of Daniel after he died, it was not for nefarious purposes:

Stern also talked about the photo he took in the hospital room of Anna with Daniel after he died. He said Anna would not believe Daniel had died and she wanted to bring Daniel home with her. Stern testified Anna wanted him to take a photo because she couldn’t accept Daniel was dead and needed the photo for proof. Stern said he took the photo, never made money off it and would do it again.

Stern testified he was asleep when an agitated Anna said, “Howard, Howard, Daniel’s not breathing.” Stern said he went over and touched Daniel’s neck but found no pulse. They pushed the emergency button, workers came in the room to resuscitate him, to no avail. They tried to physically remove Anna but she would not break away. After the doctors stopped, both Stern and Anna continued resuscitation efforts.

The whole situation is heartbreaking.  If it were my son, I might react in the same way.  Who is to say what is proper behavior when one loses a child?

But it is heartbreaking in another way as well…the argument could be made that while it is sad that Daniel died, it is equally as sad that he never really got the chance to live.  Not live as a normal, anonymous, regular person, that is.  He spent most of his life in the fishbowl of his famous mother’s life, only he tried as best he could to stay hidden in the shadows.  I think it eventually got to him and he acted out in the only way he knew how…by turning to drugs.

Yes, I know that you can do everything right as a parent and your child still go astray, and you can do everything wrong as a parent and somehow your child turns out okay.  But if Anna Nicole seriously thought that her son would grow up to be even relatively normal, she was more deluded than we originally thought.

And say what you will about HKS (and I have), I hope in this case he is telling the truth.  I’m still not quite convinced that he didn’t give Daniel drugs at some point, or at least knew about them, but I’m going to say that he is telling the truth about not bringing a bag of drugs to the hospital (hospitals don’t let you bring in your own medication) and the photograph.

Regardless, it’s a very sad situation all around.

The inquest into the death of Daniel Smith, son of Anna Nicole Smith, continues, and Larry Birkhead gave some pretty incredible testimony yesterday concerning some missing Methadone in Anna’s house:

Birkhead testified that in April 2006, Anna realized some of her Methadone was missing in her Studio City home. Birkhead said Anna had surveillance cameras in the house, checked them and found video proof that Daniel and his buddies were the culprits.

While Birkhead was under oath, he was asked about statements he made to the cops back in 2006, when he was at war with Anna. He had told police he saw Howard K. Stern smoke pot with Anna and Daniel. During his testimony, Birkhead said he was not completely clear on what he saw.

UPDATE: Birkhead also told cops Anna had given Daniel Ecstasy, but on the stand Birkhead said he couldn’t say this actually happened.

Birkhead said Daniel’s personality completely changed between January 2006 and May. He saw Daniel throw a TV through a window. Daniel often stayed out all night long and Anna was worried.

Also, Daniel was admitted to an L.A. hospital for misuse of valium in mid July, 2006.

What, you mean people make up and exaggerate claims to the police when they are angry with someone?  Shocking!

Methadone is often used for people trying to break other drug habits:

This medication is a narcotic pain reliever and is used for severe pain. It is also used in the treatment of narcotic addiction as part of an approved program. Methadone is a potent narcotic substance. It can cause serious side effects and toxic reactions if used by someone other than the person for whom it is prescribed. Do not share this medication with others.

However, in recent years people have become addicted to methadone in place of other drugs, such as heroin:

In North Carolina, deaths caused by methadone increased eightfold, to 58 in 2001 from 7 in 1997 - an “absolutely amazing” jump, said Catherine Sanford, a state epidemiologist. In Maine, methadone was the drug found most frequently in people who died of overdoses from 1997 to 2002. It was found in almost a quarter of the deaths. In the first six months of last year, methadone killed 18 people in Maine, up from 4 in all of 1997. Dr. John H. Burton, medical director for Maine Emergency Medical Services, said hospital emergency rooms were seeing “a tidal wave” of methadone-related cases.

The increase in methadone overdoses and deaths has floored many drug experts because methadone, which does not provide a quick or potent high, has long been considered an unlikely candidate for substance abuse. It can be hours before a user feels any effect, and it works more like a sedative than a stimulant.

And because methadone is considered such an important and affordable tool for treating addiction and pain, health and law enforcement officials are facing a quandary: how to stop methadone abuse without curtailing its valuable uses — and especially without driving addicts back to drugs like heroin. […]

Naïve users might be “people who are just at a party and someone will give them some methadone,” said Dr. Burton, the emergency medicine specialist in Maine. “They might mix it in with a beer or with some other drug. They take it thinking it’s just like any other drug and will give them a buzz, and they end up either dead or deeply unconscious.”

Methadone’s delayed narcotic effect and its lack of a potent high are important reasons the drug can be so dangerous, experts say.

“By the time they’ve actually overdosed, no one is with them to see what’s happening,” said Kimberly Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.

Joseph Haddock, an analyst for the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, said some people, unaware of the drug’s delayed effects, “take methadone, don’t get the effect that they want, take more methadone, still don’t get that reaction, and they take more methadone, so they end up overdosing.”

Since Daniel died in his mother’s hospital room late one night when he was visiting his mother and newborn sister, it could be that he took the drug several hours before even arriving at the hospital, and it was only later that the serious effects of the drug kicked in.  He also had Zoloft and Lexapro in his system at the time of his death.

Yet another example of something that is supposed to be used for good, being perverted and used for harm.  There’s nothing wrong with using medications to treat various disorders, be they an illness or a mental problem or even to break a drug habit (after other options have been exhausted).  However, like anything else, often people use the medications in ways they were never supposed to be used, or mix them with medications they were never meant to be used in conjunction with.  The medications themselves often are not bad, it’s when people use them for reasons they were never intended to be used for that the problems start.

I don’t even want to go into what might have caused Daniel to turn to drugs.  What makes any kid do something like that?  Although, I do have to point out that Anna Nicole certainly did not live what you might call a “normal” lifestyle, and life in a fishbowl might have turned out to be too much for the shy Daniel to cope with.  All you have to do is watch a few episodes of the ANS show to see his weariness with the everpresent cameras in his life.

Howard K. Stern is scheduled to testify today, so that should create some fireworks.

But is there anything to inherit?

Dannielynn was named the sole heir of the estate of Anna Nicole Smith, after her mother’s death left a will that had yet to be revised:

In court papers filed in Superior Court Oct. 18, 2007, Howard K. Stern, the executor of Smith’s estate, sought to clarify Smith’s intentions in her July 2001 will, drafted five years before Dannielynn Hope’s September 2006 birth. (Smith died in February 2007.)

“We and Mr. Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter,”‘ Stern’s lawyer, Bruce S. Ross, said after Tuesday’s hearing. “I’m pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed.”

The toddler could conceivably inherit millions from the fortune of Smith’s late husband, oil man J. Howard Marshall, whose estate is still tied up in litigation in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to confirming Dannielynn as Anna Nicole’s sole heir, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff’s ruling also establishes a trust on her behalf with Stern and Birkhead as its co-trustees, Ross said.

Anna Nicole’s original will had her son Daniel as the sole…wait, did that say Howard and Larry are co-trustees of Dannielynn’s trust?

Hot gravy.  It makes me wonder if Howard is calculating the age difference and counting up to see how old he will be when little Anna Nicole little Dannielynn turns eighteen.  I wanted for a long time to think the best of Howard, but I seriously have my doubts.

Of course it isn’t like anyone who was in Anna Nicole’s life was an upstanding citizen of the community.  She had no choice with the family she got stuck with, but of her own free will she managed to surround herself with friends who were competing with her kin for Biggest Loser prizes (and I ain’t talking poundage here).

It’s a crapshoot on whether J. Howard Marshall’s estate will pony up the dough, but in a way I hope they don’t.  Maybe then little Dannielynn will have a shot at a relatively normal life (if we can just talk her daddy into keeping her away from those ET cameras).

Today marks one year since Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental overdose of prescription medicine. Anna was 39 years old at the time of her death.

A mere six months prior to Anna’s death, the model-turned-reality star was blessed with a joyous occasion, the birth of her second child Dannielynn, only to face the worst moment any parent could ever face a mere three days later, the death of her son, 20-year-old Daniel.

Anna’s never been easy to pigeonhole or analyze as a media figure. She’s either engaged or disengaged. When Anna was engaged with the world, she was vivacious, stunningly beautiful and charismatic. When she was disengaged she seemed confused, unfocused and randomly distracted.

But wait, there’s more…

With 2008 just around the corner, we must find an appropriate way to wrap up 2007’s top celeb stories. Oh boy, and what a year it was. 2007, or “The Year of the Dimwitted Bimbos” as I like to call it, saw the death of one icon, and the re/afterbirth of another icon.

In between Anna Nicole Smith’s death and Britney Spears mental disintegrate we have Paris Hilton going to jail, Lindsay Lohan crashing and burning with dual attempts at rehab, several celeb DUI’s and of course, to round out the year in celebrity nonsensical behavior, we have Britney Spears kid sister Jamie Lynn Spears announcing she is not only pregnant at 16, but she’s keeping her baby!

Papa don’t preach, because that’s my job.

Join Confessions of a Fanboy’s Josh Hathaway, and with any luck, Blogcritics Eric Olsen as we assail, discuss this year’s top celeb stories!

The inquest into the death of Daniel Smith, son of model/actress Anna Nicole Smith, has been postponed until November 19 because of Tropical Storm Noel.  Magistrate William Campbell says that the purpose is to determine the cause of Daniel’s death and nothing else.  In other words, they have no evidence of homicide and the purpose is not to find a suspect.

Members of Anna’s family, including her mother Virgie, were in the Bahamas for the inquest.  Howard K. Stern was not there, however.

Daniel died on September 10, 2006 in a Nassau hospital while visiting his mother shortly after the birth of his sister, Dannielynn.

Too bad…I’m very curious as to what the inquest will find out.  What do you think he died of…an accidental overdose, natural causes, murder?

Batten down the hatches, you Bahamanian readers, and keep safe.

Call me crazy, but I’ve always wanted to believe that, in some weird way, Howard K. Stern was in love with Anna Nicole.  That it was some freakish love, sure, but a love nonetheless.  That he had to stand by awkwardly as Anna slurred and purred and slinked her way through other boytoys, always wanting to be her knight in shining armor but never really getting the chance.  That once he did get the chance, their tragic love was cut short due to Anna’s untimely and strange death in a Florida hotel room.

However, after seeing this footage, I’m not so sure.

A bit of backstory:  Ford Shelley’s daughter (G. Ben Thompson’s son-in-law) had gone to the house his father-in-law had rented to Anna and Howard to drop off his nine-year-old daughter for a “play date” with Anna.  (Apparently she had missed the girl’s birthday and wanted to make it up to her with an afternoon of fun.)  He said that when he dropped off his daughter, Anna was coherent.

However, after he left, things got strange.  The girl told her father that she witnessed Howard give Anna “something from a white bottle with red stripes,” and afterwards Anna became the slurred, logy, sad, doped-up clown we have seen on the previous, shorter video.  (It was Ford’s daughter who applied the clown makeup, apparently as part of a game.)  Her speech was slurred, her eyes were half-closed, and she became incoherent, convinced the doll she and the girl are playing with is her actual baby.

At one point in the video, you can hear the girl whispering to Howard that Anna has “brain trouble.”  Howard even says, “you’re freaking her out now, Anna.”  And the nine-year-old tries her best to persuade Howard to get Anna some help:

“Howard, help!  Howard, seriously, help.  Put the tape off and help. […]

I think we need the hospital.  Howard, seriously, please help!”

But wait, there’s more…

Just like her idol, Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith’s death is shrouded in mystery and suspicions of murder.  On Friday, search warrants were executed at the homes and offices of doctors who had prescribed medication for the former model.  In all, six locations were searched, including the office of Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, who was her psychiatrist, and the home and office of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed the prescription Methadone to Smith shortly before her death:

The [Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office] began investigating in March because “dangerous drugs … were part of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and I learned that these were California doctors and California prescriptions,” Attorney General Jerry Brown said at a news conference.

Brown declined to speculate on what charges the doctors might face if it was determined they improperly prescribed drugs, but indicated they might be serious.

“You don’t go to a judge and get a search warrant for somebody’s home unless you think some rather serious crime has been committed,” Brown said.

According to Eroshevich’s attorney, Gary Lincenberg, the searches had nothing to do with attempting to implicate the psychiatrist in Smith’s death:

[H]e told KNBC-TV that the investigation only concerned whether prescriptions to Smith were proper.

“This has nothing to do with whether or not Dr. Eroshevich in any way contributed to Anna Nicole Smith’s death,” he said.

Which, of course, makes perfect sense.  If the medications were improper for Anna Nicole, there is no way they could have contributed to her death.  If they were proper, Anna Nicole could not have taken too many at one time or mixed them with medication from other doctors.  Of course not.  Anna Nicole was too in control of herself to ever do anything like that.

According to documents, there were 11 prescriptions found in Anna Nicole’s room when she died on February 8, and all were authorized by Eroshevich.  She had also traveled to Florida with Anna Nicole.  Also, more than 600 pills, including more than 450 muscle relaxants, were missing from bottles of medication that were at the most five weeks old.

But wait, there’s more…

Dannielynn’s grandma is a straight up bee-yotch, blocks daddy Larry from leaving paradise. TMZ

Some whackadoo tried to whack Jesses James (not the outlaw, Sandra Bullock’s Hubby) - Guardian Unlimited

Rapper Eve proves she doesn’t know how to drink and drive, which is why you shouldn’t do it - A Socialite’s Life

Hugh Grant is a doofus, gets arrested for throwing beans at photographer - Breitbart

People in India need to lighten the “f” up, for reals. - LSE

Tyra Banks felt up Rosie. Where’s my damn barf bag? - POTP

Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell still dating Kiki Dunst. That guy must own magical beer goggles. - Superstar Couples