Attorney Collapses in Smith Court Case
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WENN.com
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
HOLLYWOOD - An attorney for Anna Nicole Smith's estranged mother Virgie Arthur collapsed in court today, reportedly suffering from diabetic shock.
Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin ordered a break in the proceedings after lawyer John O’Quinn fell ill and the incident disrupted the case.
Judge Seidlin has said he will rule on who will receive Smith's remains by Friday, so her embalmed body will not decompose too much for a public viewing.
Smith's mother is seeking to bring her body back to her native Texas, while the late model's companion and attorney Howard K. Stern is fighting to bury her remains in the Bahamas, next to her deceased son Daniel.
Earlier in today's court proceedings, Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead testified that he attempted to curb the former Playboy Playmate's use of prescription drugs. Birkhead said when he visited Smith in the Bahamas at the home she shared with Stern last year he became increasingly concerned about her drug use.
He said Stern told him Smith needed the prescriptions to live and when Birkhead suggested she enter a drug rehabilitation program, Smith told him, "I'm not a drug addict and quit calling me one."
The court also heard testimony from Troy Hollier, an ex-security employee and driver for Smith, but Judge Seidlin discredited Hollier's testimony, saying that he wasn't convincing and told attorneys for Stern, who called him as a witness, that he wasn't believable. He then dismissed him from the witness stand.
Smith died in a Hollywood, Florida, hotel suite on Feb. 8 at the age of 39.
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