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Jury seated in coroner's inquest into Daniel Smith's death

By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV

NASSAU, Bahamas — A jury of seven Bahamian women was selected Thursday to hear evidence in a coroner's inquest into the mysterious death of Anna Nicole Smith's son.

Daniel Smith, 20, died on Sept. 10, 2006, in the Bahamas hospital where his mother had given birth to his newborn sister three days earlier. A private autopsy concluded that he died from a lethal combination of painkillers and methadone.

The purpose of a coroner's inquest is to determine how, where and when Daniel Smith died. At the end of the proceeding, the panel can make recommendations for criminal charges if they feel someone is criminally responsible for his death.

After two days of legal wrangling over how the panel should be chosen, Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez took less than 10 minutes to pick the names of seven women from a small cardboard box with "Jurors raffle" written on the sides.

Six of the women swore on a Bible, and one raised her hand in affirmation that they would consider the evidence fair and impartially.

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Jury selection proceeded Thursday morning despite requests from a lawyer for Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole Smith's companion, for a delay pending his appeal over the jury selection process.

Stern, who was in the hospital room with Daniel Smith when he died, is expected to be called as a witness.

Bahamian lawyer Anthony McKinney asked Gomez to delay jury selection so that the Supreme Court could consider his application to revise the provisions of the Coroner's Act to allow lawyers to individually question potential jurors for bias.

As an alternative, McKinney asked that Gomez have the potential jurors fill out a questionnaire.

Under the current Coroner's Act, which is based on the British system, the selection of jurors is at the sole discretion of the judge.

Gomez denied McKinney's request to stay jury selection until the Supreme Court considered his application, choosing instead to make additional remarks to the jurors about pre-trial publicity.

"This case has been bombarded with news coverage," Gomez told the panelists before swearing them in. "If you feel your mind is so clogged with prejudice, please disqualify yourself."

None of the panelists responded.

The jury is scheduled to return Thursday afternoon to start hearing testimony. The proceeding could take two to four weeks.

http://www.courttv.com/people/anna-nicole-smith/032907_ctv.html