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Nancy Grace

Anna Nicole Cause of Death Delayed by New Evidence

Aired March 08, 2007 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, GUEST HOST: Breaking news tonight, autopsy results on hold in the sudden and unexpected death of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith. The chief medical examiner says he knows what caused the death of the superstar model and says there will be surprises -- yes, surprises you might not expect. But the results have been delayed.
Could an ongoing police investigation and new evidence change the medical examiner`s findings? And the big question: Is foul play now suspected? All this as a paternity and custody battle rages on over Anna Nicole Smith`s 6-month-old baby girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit an estimated $475 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: The autopsy was able to exclude any kind of physical injuries, such as blunt force trauma, gunshot wound, stab wounds or asphyxia as a cause of death. What it means is that, most likely, it was an infection, though there are other possibilities. If there was an excessive amount of pills taken, it means that more than required to cause death, and therefore, the number of pills would be present after the death of an individual in the stomach. But it doesn`t exclude the possibility that drugs or medication contributed (INAUDIBLE) the death.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Are you telling me, Dr. Perper, that that -- at this juncture, pneumonia is not the official cause of death?

PERPER: I`m not going to discuss them at all because if I start to discuss them (INAUDIBLE) and I give grounds for additional rumors.

-- a new piece of evidence which has to be obtained and evaluated, and it might change some of my conclusions. And therefore, I decided to wait another week or two until this evidence is going to be available and is going to be evaluated and eventually submitted to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. The Anna Nicole Smith saga taking another sharp and strange turn, as word that the medical examiner knows the cause of death but will not reveal it yet, to give police a chance to finish their investigation, that as the Web site TMZ.com says Anna Nicole`s bodyguard told cops the former Playmate was on heavy doses of prescription drugs and antibiotics the day she died.

Well, what else did the bodyguard purportedly say to the cops? To sort out all the various reports, let`s go straight out to David Caplan, deputy New York bureau chief of "Star" magazine. David, what is, dare I ask, the latest?

DAVID CAPLAN, "STAR" MAGAZINE: The latest is that because of this police investigation, the autopsy results are being postponed a couple of weeks. And interestingly enough, this comes essentially the same day that Seminole police are interviewing Big Moe, who was Anna Nicole`s bodyguard. And as you said, he is telling police that Anna Nicole was in a cloud of drugs, actually for months, plus, more interestingly enough, that he was saying Howard K. Stern was acting very peculiar the day that Anna Nicole Smith died, even the days leading up to her death.

And even today, TMZ.com also issued a report saying that Howard K. Stern`s whereabouts are a little not quite clear right before her death. So everyone right now is thinking foul play, and the -- you know, the results of the autopsy keep getting pushed back. We were expecting them this week, and now it`s another couple weeks.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Out to my dear friend, investigative journalist Pat Lalama. You and I have been tracking this for so long now. What do you make of Big Moe and all these new charges, particularly the strange pattern of behavior allegedly -- and this is allegedly -- by Howard K. Stern on the day of her death?

PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, I wish I could say what I really want to say, but I`d probably get sued by someone. Here`s the deal, Janie (ph). One other thing we`ve got to remember about, the doctor, the controversial doctor right out here at Los Angeles, California, or to be more specific, Studio City, what is it, Sandeep Kapoor -- Dr. Perper said that he got cooperation from everyone in all jurisdictions. Every medical person he needed to speak to was cooperative and helpful.

Dr. Kapoor refused to have anything to do with him, wouldn`t answer his questions, wouldn`t return his calls. This is the doctor who allegedly was sending big, giant, probably flasks of methadone and other drugs under assumed names to Anna Nicole Smith. And if he was not giving her proper checkups and if he is giving them with the wrong names, that`s potentially criminal behavior, and he`s already being investigated by the medical board.

So Jane, a lot of stuff is going to come out, and I will bet you dollars to donuts somebody`s going to face a criminal indictment.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow! Well, OK. We will see. And guess what? We`ve got the man at the center of the storm, one of the men at the center of the storm, anyway. We`re delighted have with us tonight Dr. Joshua Perper of the Broward County medical examiner`s office. Good evening, sir. You have said expect some big surprises when this autopsy report, which includes the toxicology report, finally comes out down the road. Why the delay -- in your own words, sir -- and what can we expect?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: OK. It seems to me that all the thing which you have said so far, it`s a matter of hyperbole what happened was that I delayed my final press conference in which I was to announce the cause and manner of death and the mechanism of death because I received additional information. There`s information which I have to review, some evidence, additional evidence, which we have to review.

So there`s -- from my end, there`s nothing dramatic in this. What I have to do, I want to make sure that all the evidence which is available is reviewed by me.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I -- I...

PERPER: One moment! Either this evidence is going to reinforce my conclusion or to weaken them or to change them. But I don`t know as long as I`m not going to have to review them.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Have you given your information to the police who are investigative Anna Nicole Smith`s death? Have you given the cause of death, a secret, to them?

PERPER: If I discussed -- yes, we have a discussion with the police, and I mentioned to them what are our findings under confidence. And then I found out -- as I said, I became aware there`s additional evidence which I didn`t review, and I`m going to review it. But whether that -- I did not receive any kind of information that there`s an active police investigation directed against anyone specifically. I didn`t receive that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Mike Brooks, former D.C. police, you heard the medical examiner speaking right here on our air himself. He`s, like, kind of, Nothing to see here. This isn`t quite as dramatic as everybody is making it out to be. However, in all your years, have you heard -- and perhaps you have -- of a medical examiner postponing the release of his autopsy report because he`s got new evidence and to give police a chance to do an investigation?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Absolutely. And I think Dr. Perper wants to make sure that all the I`s are dotted and all the T`s are crossed. But I do find it very interesting, Jane, that it was put off. You know, all along, he was saying we would probably have it some time this week. But I think he`s erring on the side of caution, make sure the entire investigation is done, because, as you recall, last week, there were investigators from Seminole in the Bahamas speaking with a doctor there. It was Anna Nicole`s OB-GYN, Dr. Herbert Minnes (ph). You know, was there any information -- I`d like to ask the doctor, was there any information that was gleaned from that part of the investigation that maybe changed his mind?

And also, next week, a source close to the investigation, Jane, has told me that there is a contingent of investigators from the Bahamas that will be traveling to Seminole and comparing notes with investigators there on that particular case and also possibly taking a look at -- we still don`t know the cause of Daniel`s death.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right.

BROOKS: As you recall, there`s also a coroner`s inquest coming up March 26 in the Bahamas. Over 30 witnesses are expected at that hearing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. And one of the things that I`ve been stressing, and I really am happy that you`ve mentioned it, is that all of these things are intertwined. You cannot look at any of these investigations in a vacuum. Everything relates to everything else. It`s like a giant puzzle. And the question is, What is the picture going to reveal at the end of the puzzle?

Let`s bring in the lawyers. We`re talking prosecutor Paul Henderson, San Francisco deputy DA, as well as defense attorney Lauren Lake. OK. Put up your dukes, guys. I want to know, does this mean that the police suspect foul play? When this kind of an investigation happens and then they postpone the release of the autopsy report, what is the significance?

PAUL HENDERSON, SAN FRANCISCO DEP. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, I think the significance is that there is an active investigation that`s going on, especially if they`re talking to Howard Stern and they`re talking to the bodyguard. I think everybody is waiting at the edge of their seats to see if the autopsy results are going to reveal that there was some sort of foreign substance at the time of death. And if so, everybody is going to want to know right away who provided them, and that may implicate -- and I`m sure investigators are going to want to speak to that doctor more carefully in LA, and to Howard Stern, as well.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, Lauren Lake, defense attorney. I mean, it`s what everybody`s saying. Hey, you know, did something fishy go on here? Was she provided drugs? If so, by whom? Was she then left alone? Were these recreational drugs? I mean, how do you defend that as a defense attorney?

LAUREN LAKE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We`re all asking those questions, and they`re all very relevant. I think what it`s important to note is that the fact that we don`t have any conclusions to that yet. We have absolutely no idea. Look at even the medical examiner and how absolutely sure he`s being, dotting his I`s, crossing his T`s, waiting for the investigation. So at this point right now, we really have no suspects. We have no one charged. We really don`t even have the medical examiner ruling that there`s been any foul play. And I think that`s the point we`re at right now, even though, Jane, I have to admit, it does look a little fishy to me, too.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It does look...

HENDERSON: And we do have indications. We`ve got some indications still...

LAKE: I just said it looked a little fishy to me, too, so that would be -- that would be agreeing with you. Take the point while you get it.

(LAUGHTER)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know (INAUDIBLE) if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, what you have in your hand...

LAKE: It looks a little fishy.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... is a duck. And again, there`s so much pouring in. One of the fascinating aspects of this case is that everybody gets to see it. We`re all getting to play detective, Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst. It`s like everybody is playing a part in trying to solve this puzzle, and the puzzle includes what happened to Daniel, her son? What happened to Anna Nicole? Is the baby OK? Is the baby suffering from some kind of medical ailment due to whatever Anna Nicole did or took while she was pregnant?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we -- sometimes it seems like we have more information than the people who are officially in charge of deciding.

MARSHALL: Well, you know, we`re all trying to think about what might have happened. Was there foul play? And what I can add as a mental health professional is trying to think about models for human behavior and what might have happened.

You know, Howard K. Stern really benefited from her -- from Anna Nicole Smith being in a compromised state. I was thinking about Munchhausen syndrome, when the mother poisons the baby because then the baby is more dependent upon her while the baby is sick. The mother gets to have a position of power when she takes the baby to the hospital. She has the secondary gain of getting all the attention from the medical professional.

I`m not trying to say that Howard K. Stern had Munchhausen syndrome, but obviously, the more he supplied her with drugs, the more dependent she was upon him and the more attention he got and the more notoriety. And if you think of that as the model, I don`t know that that`s foul play, but you can begin to sort of put all the pieces together and try to think about what might have happened.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. And there have been so many references to drugs in this case. Howard K. Stern himself testified in court that Anna Nicole Smith took methadone during her pregnancy.

Let`s go to the phone lines. They are lighting up. Brett in Iowa, your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I would just like to know if Howard K. Stern could be ordered to give a polygraph test.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes. That`s a really, really good question. And let`s go to the lawyers for that. Paul Henderson, at a certain point what jurisdiction, if they could do that, would do that?

HENDERSON: Well, it depends. Like I said, that`s a good framework because it is going to depend on the jurisdiction, and a lot of jurisdictions don`t allow polygraphs as admissible evidence in the court of law. But we have to keep in mind this isn`t the United States, so it would depend on where the charges were brought forward and where they try to serve him and have the polygraph taken, I don`t know that he would have to take one in the Bahamas, and even if he did take one in the Bahamas, if it would be relevant or even a part of any case that took place here in the United States.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go back to Dave Caplan and some of the reports that were coming out from TMZ on what happened allegedly or purportedly on the day of Anna Nicole`s death. And one of the things that was so fascinating is, if it`s true, the nurse, who is the wife of Big Moe, said she was tending to Anna Nicole Smith but never actually spoke to her all day, presuming that she was asleep.

Does this raise the possibility that, in fact, what we thought happened didn`t happen, that she may have died much earlier than 1:30 in the afternoon, approximately, when the nurse suddenly finally realizes, Hey, something`s wrong, and takes action?

CAPLAN: Absolutely. This report really threw a wrench into the whole timeline because with the nurse saying this, it`s possible maybe Anna Nicole Smith had been dead for hours, definitely before 1:30 PM.

And of course, it also questions the real whereabouts of Howard K. Stern. We initially heard that he was buying a yacht in nearby Fort Lauderdale right around the time. Again, it`s very suspect because he was in the hotel shortly before she allegedly died, around 1:30. So now, with this new report, it`s really thrown everyone into a tailspin, and everything we initially thought in terms of when she really died at 1:30 -- you know, it`s out the window.

And it`s very interesting that the nurse thought that Anna Nicole was, you know, presumably alive. It also gives, I felt, an insight into what Anna Nicole Smith was doing. It sort of sounds like she was -- I hate to say it -- like, passed out on the bed for just several hours, and that was the norm for Anna Nicole Smith.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Dr. Joshua Perper, doesn`t that make time of death even more crucial? Can you shed any light on that, given this new report that`s coming out, saying that, basically, the woman who was tending to her thought she was asleep, but in fact, who knows what may have happened to her at what time.

PERPER: Well, there is evidence that the body was not only warm, but that the people who gave resuscitation believed there is a chance to resuscitate her. She would have been dead for a number of hours, then there would have been post-mortem evidence of signs, such as lividity, discoloration after death, and stiffness after death, and those were not present.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So essentially, you`re saying that the timeline couldn`t have deviated too much from what we heard, the public, that essentially, it was shortly after 1:30 when the nurse saw her and said, Oh, something`s wrong, that she had died soon before that.

PERPER: That`s true. That`s correct. Most likely, she died a short time before she was found dead.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you, Doctor. Stay right there. We have so many more questions for you.

To tonight`s "Case Alert." Terrible story, really sad. An inferno ravishes an apartment building near New York City. Eight children, including infants as young as 6 months old, dead, a tragic scene as neighbors catch -- catch! -- scared and crying children who were literally thrown to safety out the windows, firefighters and emergency workers on the scene frantically battle one of the worst fires New York City has ever seen. An investigation is under way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lady was screaming and yelling, Please save my baby, save my baby. So me and a friend of mine, we ran, we jumped the gate, and she started tossing the babies out the window. And the first one I caught, and I leaned against my friend, and he sent the baby toward my other friend, David Todd (ph), and David Todd, he took the baby and covered the baby up with some warm blankets and stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So next week, you`re going to have a team of investigators going up to Seminole from the Bahamas, from the Royal Bahamas police force, including possibly the commissioner, to look into this -- look into the death of Anna Nicole, Daniel, and also the breaking into the house. It`s not over with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. So many investigations, you need a scorecard to keep track of them. I mean, now there are twin investigations into the death of both Anna Nicole and her son, Daniel, police in Florida are looking into Anna`s death, and a formal inquest set for Daniel`s death in the Bahamas. The big question in both, of course, Was there any foul play?

Aidan Pickering, investigative journalist -- and I have worked with you in the past out in the field. Good to see you. What can you tell us about this formal inquest coming up in the Bahamas into Daniel`s death? I understand it`s going to be kind of like a mini-trial.

AIDAN PICKERING, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, it is, Jane. This is a very interesting point, that the inquest out there is a quasi-judicial proceeding, where you get live testimony. It`s not like the inquest that you might see here in the United States. It`s going to be like a court of law with a coroner who is acting like a judge. His name is Roger Gomez (ph). He`s already said that he finds the circumstances of Daniel`s death extremely interesting. And he`s also said the fact that Howard K. Stern was present during the death of Daniel and Anna Nicole he finds suspicious.

And the interesting thing about the inquest is Howard K. Stern may well be called to testify, and he will have to testify under oath. And everything that he says could be taken down, as the old phrase goes, and used in evidence in all these other cases that are going on. And the inquest...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me jump in there, yes, with Dick Atkins, international attorney. What if Howard K. Stern takes the 5th? Can he do that in the Bahamas?

DICK ATKINS, INTERNATIONAL ATTORNEY: He can try to do that. He`ll wind up probably losing custody. And they don`t have a 5th Amendment privilege like we do. He can be forced to testify.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Could he be prosecuted criminally? What is the outcome? And again, we`re not -- we don`t want to jump the gun here. Nobody has been charged or accused of anything, but we`re just speaking hypothetically. Could charges, criminal charges, result from this formal inquest down in the Bahamas?

ATKINS: Absolutely they could. The attorney general would probably bring the charges based on the results of the coroner`s inquest. This is something in their law that permits it, and it`s a full-bodied trial type of proceeding. And they will call him as a witness. They will see who was in and out of his room, and they`ll do a lot of things in order to get evidence.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, we`ve got a lot more on that, so stay right there.

To tonight`s "Case Alert." The search goes on in the disappearance of a 19-year-old straight-A Purdue student. Wade Steffey vanished just one block short of the dorm January 13, Steffey returning from an on-campus party at the time, police using a party guest list in the next step of the investigation. If you have any information at all, please, we urge you to call Purdue police, 765-496-3784.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have very slight understanding of what happened, but the things that he left behind indicate that he`s nowhere of his own free choice at this time. And we`re just very concerned and we want to get him back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERPER: ... new piece of evidence which has to be obtained and evaluated. And it might change some of my conclusions, and therefore I decided to wait another week or two until this evidence is going to be available and is going to be evaluated and eventually submitted to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. How do we make sure law enforcement in Florida and the Bahamas both see the big picture as they conduct their respective investigations -- Daniel`s death, Anna Nicole`s death, the paternity of her little girl, the money, the house?

Mike Brooks, you just came back from the Bahamas. Aren`t they all part of the same big puzzle? And how do we make sure that these various jurisdictions and courts don`t operate in a vacuum?

BROOKS: Oh, I guarantee you, Jane, they`re definitely looking at the big picture when it comes to both investigations, and that was the reason why Seminole was in the Bahamas last week, and that`s why the Royal Bahama police force investigators are going to Seminole next week, because they`re looking at the big picture. They`re taking a look at all of the evidence.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So now, do you think that the FBI should get involved, Mike, given the fact that you`ve got the Bahamas and the United States? You have a child who was born in the Bahamas. You have a mother who`s an American citizen, but she`s a resident of the Bahamas when she dies in Florida?

BROOKS: Well, I can tell you that the FBI -- the legal attache in Barbados, which takes in Nassau and the Bahamas, they`re looking at the break-in. Remember, there was a break-in at the Horizons mansion. They have been notified about that and they`re looking into that, but so far, not the homicide or any death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: The autopsy revealed a small amount of blood in the stomach, which is related to her being in terminal shock a short time before she died.

NANCY GRACE, CNN HOST: Reports are out that Anna Nicole Smith actually died of pneumonia, which would largely explain her 105-degree fever just before her death. Is that true?

PERPER: There`s a lot of supposition and wild assertions that don`t rely on anything but imagination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell in tonight for Nancy Grace. So many wild controversies continue to swirl around the late Anna Nicole Smith. Her cause of death, the Florida police investigation, the paternity of her baby girl, a tug-of-war over the mansion where the baby and Howard K. Stern live, attempts to exhume her late son`s body, and an inquest into the son`s death, and so much more.

Let`s talk right now about the paternity issue that`s coming up in court in the Bahamas, as well as drugs and the child`s health, all of those three intertwined. Dave Caplan, deputy New York bureau chief, "Star" magazine, tell us what we can expect. I believe it`s next Friday that this hearing is going to occur in the Bahamas, vis-a-vis paternity.

DAVID CAPLAN, "STAR" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. On March 16th, there will be a hearing in the Bahamas. All the major players will be there, Larry Birkhead, his lawyer, Howard K. Stern, his lawyers.

And the bottom line here -- and Debra Opri has said this, who`s Larry`s lawyer -- has said I expect the judge to order, you know, essentially demand that Howard bring Dannielynn forth to have the DNA taken. At this hearing, that is what the major goal they`ll want, because, of course, that`s where they`re going to solve the whole -- most sort of -- it`s going to solve most of the problems right now.

And once they establish paternity, then they can go forth and submit the will to a probate court and so forth. And, of course, you know, a lot of people during the paternity hearings, a lot of Howard`s sort of behavior with Anna Nicole Smith and Daniel, in terms of providing methadone, and the fact that prescription pill bottles were in Howard K. Stern`s name in Anna`s hotel room, these are going to be brought up again, really, just to knock away at his credibility.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and we`ve got a lot of that video we`re going to show you throughout the course of this segment.

I want to speak to Dick Atkins, international attorney, because Debra Opri, the attorney for Larry Birkhead, is very confident and optimistic that the Bahamian courts are going to order the paternity test. Should she be that confident and optimistic? Because from what I heard, in the Bahamas, if you`re listed on the birth certificate as the daddy, which he is, and you`ve live with the mom, which he did, you are the dad. And it`s very different from America.

DICK ATKINS, INTERNATIONAL ATTORNEY: It`s not that different. People keep saying that, but that`s not what the law is in the Bahamas. There is a presumption, just like there would be here, but that presumption could be overcome.

You have the birth certificate as one, living together, but not being married. That would make it different if they were married, and the custody, all that together can be overcome by a DNA that shows that someone else is the father.

So it`s not true that that is conclusive. It`s just presumptive. And a DNA is vital for this case. And if it is ordered, then it could show who the father really is, and the court could do what it feels is in the best interests of the child and the welfare of the child. And the court would probably go along with the DNA.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, I -- you`re the expert, so what do I know? But I would think, given everything we know about Anna Nicole`s drug use, even from Howard K. Stern`s own mouth, that the courts would be moving faster and not waiting every two weeks or even longer to have hearings when this child`s life, you know, is hanging in the balance, her future.

So a very quick guess, and then we`re going to move on. Dick Atkins, international attorney, will the Bahamian courts order a DNA test, yes or no?

ATKINS: Yes, absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s go to some court testimony related to the whole drug issue that came up in Judge Larry`s court, I believe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anna, Anna, Anna, look at me. Riley thinks you`ve absolutely lost your mind. Riley thinks you`ve lost your mind.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH, FORMER MODEL: I didn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a mushroom trip? Is this a mushroom trip?

SMITH: What do you mean? What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m kidding. This footage is worth money.

SMITH: Why? What footage?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing you`re looking into.

SMITH: It`s a camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was from FOX News Channel, played as evidence inside the courtroom two weeks ago by attorneys attempting to show Anna Nicole Smith`s state of mind. And we have to, after seeing that, go straight to psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall for some analysis.

I mean, here she is, according to reports, she was pregnant when that video took place. She appears very intoxicated. I`ve spoken to two other people who say they`ve seen a video of her even later in her pregnancy where she was also extremely intoxicated.

There are so many reports of her intoxication. Howard K. Stern himself said that she was on methadone while she was pregnant. Why aren`t people more upset, the Bahamian courts acting with more urgency about the health of this child, given all of that? I mean, What could be the impact if you`re eight months or nine months pregnant and you`re that intoxicated on the child in utero?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, it is appalling. It`s neglectful. It`s abusive. And I`ll tell what you the impact is, especially if she drank and used in the first trimester. All the neurons, the cells in the brains are not yet assigned at that point, so this little girl is going to have pervasive learning disorders.

She`s going to have poor social skills. She`s going to have a lack of imagination and curiosity, anxiety, depression, impulsivity, hyperactivity, all those things that kids need a lot of special help for, thing that kids are often yanked out of the classroom for because they cannot sit and concentrate, which could cause problems with her finding friends, bonding with teachers. It`s going to be a problem for her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And, Bethany, I just want to stress, of course, you know, we say she could, because, according to some reports, this child is healthy, and it`s really a big debate, and we have no knowledge for sure. I think there are people who are saying just, hey, err on the side of caution.

Let`s bring her in and have her tested, not just for DNA, but to see what her health is. And, you know, Pat Lalama, investigative reporter, I want you to ask about this report in "People Magazine" that raised concern about this little baby`s weight, because she`s six months, and somebody who was taking care of her said something about her apparent low weight.

PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Well, Jane, there are so many things. And I have just been beside myself with fury over this. Apparently, according to this person, the baby weighs only 10 pounds, hasn`t touched anything solid, sleeps a lot. Now, you know, it is beyond me.

There`s got to be somebody somewhere, a child advocate somewhere, that can take control of this situation and say, "I demand that we be able to at least look at this child." That child is being held hostage.

And, Jane, let me just add one other thing. I think we`re going learn a lot when they start doing the inquest on Daniel, because I don`t care what anyone makes of the relationship between Anna Nicole and Howard K. Stern. He was her crutch, because there was really no one else around. And, well, I know what I believe he was doing in that situation.

But after Daniel`s death -- and I believe there`s going to be a witness who comes forward who says or many witnesses who says, she yelled at him, you did this to my son. I have to believe their relationship changed over time, and it could have gotten nasty. But I`m not accusing him of killing her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, certainly we can`t, because he deserves the presumption of innocence. He hasn`t even been accused of anything. And, you know, he spoke in the funeral and said, "Hey, a lot of lies have been told about me. I was there for her. I know the truth."

So, actually, we`d love to hear his side of the story. I mean, Howard K. Stern, come forth and talk to us...

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... get your side of the story. Now, that being said, there are certainly a lot of suspicious things that raise concerns. Any person who`s been watching this story from the beginning knows that the drug issue is a pervasive issue in all of these cases surrounding Anna Nicole Smith.

Let`s go to the phone lines. Renee in Arizona, you`ve been very patient. Your question, ma`am?

CALLER: Yes. I`d like to know if Howard K. Stern can file a lawsuit against Virgie Arthur for insinuating or basically claiming on television that he murdered Anna Nicole Smith and Daniel?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Paul Henderson, San Francisco deputy district attorney, and Lauren Lake, defense attorney, let`s try to duke it out on this one, because, you know, Howard K. Stern is very mad about how he`s been portrayed. Lauren, let`s start with you.

LAUREN LAKE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Everybody is giving opinions, Jane. Now, whether or not this is, you know, amounting to defamation, libel, slander, you know, I don`t think it`s gotten to that point yet, and I think Howard K. Stern has enough swirling over his head with the fact that he will not show up for a DNA test for a child he claims is his. I don`t think he`s going to be filing lawsuits against Virgie any time soon. He`s got enough to deal with.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lauren, you make a very good point.

To tonight`s Trial 101, paternity suit, a lawsuit to determine the identity of the biological father of a child, generally resulting in financial support for that child. At least three -- count them, three -- have come forward claiming they are the father of Anna Nicole`s 6-month-old daughter, Dannielynn. Two of the men, Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead, facing off at a legal and DNA battle, as you just heard, over custody of the baby girl, and the possible rights to control an estimated $475 million. More on the Anna Nicole saga when we come right back.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, there is Anna Nicole Smith being spontaneous, and wacky, and just one of the reasons why the whole world fell in love with her. She crashed a bar mitzvah way back in 1997. There`s the bar mitzvah boy, very happy that she crashed. That was at a Beverly Hills hotel. He does not seem upset whatsoever. Oh, what a way to enter into manhood with Anna Nicole Smith dancing with you after crashing your bar mitzvah.

All right, that was home video from TMZ.com. I am Jane Velez- Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. The Anna Nicole Smith saga has gotten so strange, it will undoubtedly go down in the history books as one of America`s wildest, most tragedy, also, most bizarre celebrity cases. But we don`t have the final chapter yet, not by a long shot.

We are, again, so pleased to have with us Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner who is making headlines today because he announced that he is going to hold off on releasing his final autopsy report, which includes the toxicology reports, to give the local police in Florida a chance to finish their investigation.

I have a question for you, Doctor. If, when you do release it, somebody, let`s say Howard K. Stern or Virgie Arthur, disagrees with your findings, could they sue and try to exhume Anna Nicole`s body, because, even though she`s resting now, there are some who believe maybe that isn`t even over?

PERPER: Well, I think that you`ll find out when we have our report that our investigation was extremely extensive and in-depth. And it`s well-documented with a large number of tests, so it`s going to be very difficult for any kind of judicial authority to order such exhumation.

In addition to that, there are plenty of samples which can be tested for a variety of tests. And I think that, once we are going to present that, obviously there might be people who may disagree, but they cannot disagree with the fact that it was a very thorough examination, and it`s very well-documented, and that our conclusions are going to be reasonable. So that`s about what we can do.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, Doctor.

Aiden Pickering, investigative journalist, now, what about the efforts to exhume Daniel`s body from the Bahamas by his father, Billy, who sort of appeared out of the woodwork after being sort of off the scene for many years, and said, first, "Yes, I thought Anna Nicole and my son should be buried together, and presumably in the Bahamas." He testified that they wanted to be buried together, and now suddenly he has taken this move.

AIDAN PICKERING, "INSIDE EDITION": We heard that there were some papers filed in court to that end. To be honest with you, I think it`s pretty unlikely that those are going to be successful.

I did want to pick up on one interesting point, though, I think that came out earlier on, which is to do with Howard K. Stern and his ability to remain on the island, to remain in the Bahamas. There`s litigation over the house, the Horizons house, that he`s currently in. The owner, Thompson, says that it`s his house, and Howard K. Stern says, no, it was a gift to Anna Nicole Smith.

The point with that house is, you`ve got to be very careful, because if Howard K. Stern has to give up that house, he may have to give up his residency on the island, because under the law in the Bahamas, you need a $500,000 house or more to be able to stay there, in order to be able to get residence and permanent residence.

So that`s an interesting piece of litigation, and that, too, is coming up next week, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Brooks, investigative journalist, and just man about town, former D.C. police, has been on the FBI terrorism task force, you were doing some work down there in the Bahamas. What can we expect from this battle in court in the Bahamas over Horizons, the mansion?

I don`t understand why Howard K. Stern is even a resident, because was the house in his name? If it was in Anna Nicole Smith`s name, then, when she tragically passed away, doesn`t he sort of become a man without a home?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: Well, we spoke to the attorney who`s representing G. Ben Thompson, Mr. Godfrey "Pro" Pinder, and he basically told us that, apparently, there was a promissory note.

G. Ben Thompson was allowing her to stay in the house. Then, there was a promissory note that his son-in-law, who handles all of his business, took over to Anna Nicole, and she ripped it up in what he called a drunken rage. So then, when she died, that`s when they came over and basically said, "Hey, you`re out of here."

But keep in mind, Jane, Howard K. Stern is also a part of an investigation that the Royal Bahamian Police Department is looking into for corruption and bribery. They`re looking into the fact that there`s a possibility that Howard K. Stern could have given the former immigration and labor minister, Mr. Shane Gibson, a very expensive Rolex watch and a check for a sizable amount of money to fast-track Anna Nicole`s residency application in the Bahamas.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And isn`t it true that the woman who was taking care of little Dannielynn is the mother of that immigration official who was forced to resign?

BROOKS: That`s exactly right. And another cozy fact, the father of Shane Gibson, who they called King Eric Gibson (ph) there on the island, he is also owner of the boat. I spoke with him myself, and he said that he owns the boat that Howard was going to buy there in the Bahamas.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, my head is going to explode with all the complications. It`s just out of control.

Bobby, Arizona. I understand you`ve got a very good question.

CALLER: Yes, Larry Birkhead made a comment in court about Howard Stern bringing in a duffle bag of drugs.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, take it away. I didn`t hear the end of that question, but I guess we`re talking about drugs right now. So let`s go back to David Caplan, deputy New York bureau chief, "Star" magazine.

Give us a sense of how we can put all this drug evidence and testimony into context, because we`ve heard it from Howard K. Stern. We`ve heard it from affidavits. The former nanny claimed that there was rampant drug use. We`ve heard it from so many different sources, but what`s the significance to all these criminal investigations?

CAPLAN: I mean, the significance of the drugs and the common thread that I take away from all this is the bottom line is, it paints Howard K. Stern, first of all, as an enabler. We`ve all been talking about how unreal it is that Anna Nicole Smith was pregnant and taking drugs, that drugs were around her son. So I think, the end of the day -- and this definitely applies to paternity -- is this the type of man that you want to take care of Dannielynn? The answer is no.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Take a look at this. Anna Nicole`s dog, Sugar Pie, and we have a question. If anybody has the answer, tell it to the NANCY GRACE show. Where is Sugar Pie? Nobody seems to know what happened to Sugar Pie. Because you know, if you really care for Anna Nicole, and you know how much she loved that dog, Sugar Pie would be taken care of. Let`s hope that`s the case.

Closing thoughts right now. Let`s go to Paul Henderson, San Francisco deputy D.A. How do you draw the line, when these police are investigating? We`ve heard even the judge say, you know, he was probably an enabler, but where do you cross a line from possibly enabler to something maybe a little more sinister?

PAUL HENDERSON, SAN FRANCISCO DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: You cross the line and you step into the realm of criminal culpability when you`re in a position where you are helping someone to commit a crime or you are contributing to their death or commission of a crime.

I think it`s clear here, especially when the investigation results come out, that we may have a moral implication, but we`re really deeply concerned about seeing what he may have provided her or gotten her or given her, in terms of drugs.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s such a sad case and, yet, sometimes we laugh because her spirit was just so amazing in that bar mitzvah video. That`s why we love her. And, yet, we`re so sad that she never really got the lesson that you really can`t go through life on drugs. And I hope that is a lesson for all of us and a reminder that sobriety is important.

Tonight, we remember Army Sergeant Shawn Duncan, just 25, from Columbia, South Carolina, killed in Iraq on his second tour of duty. Duncan loved to help others. He loved the outdoors, camping, snowboarding, and performing card tricks. A graduate of the Warrior Leader Force, Duncan received multiple service awards, including the Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal. He leaves behind proud parents, a grieving widow, Ashley, his soul mate. Shawn Duncan, an American hero.

Thanks to our all guests tonight for their insight. Thanks to you at home for tracking these important cases with us. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell in for Nancy Grace. Nancy is back tomorrow, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Tune in, and have a terrific and safe evening.

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