Anna Nicole Smith Son Daniel's Case Hits a Bahamas Kangaroo Court?
By Jess Snow
Mar 31, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith was with her son Daniel Wayne Smith when he died suddenly in a hospital in the Bahamas. CNN reports that seemingly out of nowhere, the inquest that was supposed to start in the Bahamas was put on hold. And that happened after a jury was already picked, a jury made up of seven women and no men. CNN correspondent Rusty Dornin told 'Showbiz Tonight' that judge Roger Gomez had high hopes that this was going to go forward, and he empanelled a jury.
Anna Nicole Smith Son Daniel's Case Hits a Bahamas Kangaroo Court?
Dornin: "It was to go forward with seven women; it was luck of a draw. He had a cardboard box that said jury raffle on it and he picked the first seven names that came. He asked them as a group if they were impartial, if they had any connections to Anna Nicole Smith or her son. They said no. They sat down."
But Howard K. Stern's attorney argued there's no way the judge is not allowed to question jurors. That's against their constitution. So now they have turned it over to the Supreme Court for a hearing, so he had to excuse those jurors and tell them that they would be contacted again in a couple of weeks. So it's on hold at least until April 11.
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Stern wants a questionnaire for the jurors and remember - he has not been charged with anything. Chief Magistrate Gomez had previously rejected the motion for a jury questionnaire, saying there was no provision for one in the Bahamian legal code. He also questioned its value.
"In my opinion, no matter how many questions you put to a potential juror it boils down to the integrity of the individual juror," Gomez said. "I don't see how you are going to find a juror anywhere in the world that has not heard about this case." But the judge rolled over for Stern, in what many now believe is nothing more than a kangaroo court.
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Now Stern won out and no one is looking into if there was any foul play in the death of Anna's son. Daniel Smith died September 10 as he visited his mother three days after she gave birth in a Nassau hospital to her daughter, Dannielynn.
Authorities say he died from a lethal combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants, but an inquest was convened to determine whether the death was accidental, suicide or perhaps even a homicide. But we'll likely never know.
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272612443.shtml
Published Saturday, March 31, 2007
PORT CANAVERAL
Cruise Ship Bomb Threat Was a Hoax
A phony bomb threat forced nearly 3,000 passengers and crew members to evacuate a Carnival Cruise Lines ship shortly before it was scheduled to leave Florida for the Bahamas.
Coast Guard and Brevard County sheriff's officers spent two hours searching the ship Thursday before determining the threat was a hoax.
"We did a sweep in accordance with security procedure," said Coast Guard Lt. Carol Swinson.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/NEWS/703310525/1004