Her Majesty's Coroner Linda P. Virgill announced on September 12 that "The cause of death is not natural. However, we wish to reserve the cause of death at this time pending the toxicologist examination and report for confirmation of cause of death. Friday is the likely release date for the autopsy and toxicology report" Virgill announced that an inquest would take place. "The inquest would happen late October or early November to determine how, when and by what manner Daniel came to his death." "All persons who are relevant witnesses, like his mother and hospital staff and airline personnel who had contact with him, would have to testify"
The following day, Bradley Neely, the chief inspector of the coroner's office, told the Associated Press that death seemed "suspicious." "Whenever there is a suspicious death we would have an inquest to determine how the person died," Coroner Linda Virgill held a September 13 news conference and said a coroner's inquest would begin October 23 She described the death as "suspicious" because it was sudden and because of Daniel's age, clarifying earlier statements by saying that it was "unnatural" for a man of 20 to die suddenly. She cautioned that the scheduling of an inquest did not necessarily mean foul play was suspected."Whenever we have sudden deaths, and we term them 'suspicious deaths,' it is usual to have this type of procedure," The death would be considered suspicious until jurors determine otherwise according to Virgill.
On September 14 an attorney, Michael Scott, read a prepared statement. "The devastation and grief over Daniel's sudden death coupled with the sedation has been so extreme that Anna Nicole experienced memory loss of the event," "Anna Nicole was so distraught at the loss of Daniel that she refused to leave his side and it was necessary to sedate her in order to check her out of the hospital," Scott said that the third person in the room at the time of the death was another one of Anna Nicole Smith's attorneys, Howard K. Stern. It "was necessary for Howard to tell Anna again that Daniel had passed away" Mr. Scott was a partner in the law firm Callenders and Co. and would latter reveal that he had been asked by the real estate developer G. Ben Thompson and an associate, whom he said were friends of Ms. Smith, to act on her behalf after the tragic sudden death of her 20-year-old son Daniel. Scott, Callenders and Co., and G. Ben Thompson were to figure prominently as Anna Nicole Smith's adversaries in the highly politicized Bahamian residency scandal surrounding her disputed home ownership.
On September 20 authorities issued a death certificate for the son of Anna Nicole Smith but left the cause of death undetermined pending toxicology tests. Scot was severely critical of Coroner Linda P. Virgill press statements. "Unless she's psychic or God, unless the pathologists know the cause of death, how does she?" He said that Bahamians worried the highly publicized case was affecting the island chain's image."We are all aware of what happened in Aruba. We are all aware of what happened to Natalee Holloway," "We don't want that to happen in this jurisdiction."
The Bahama Journal revealed on the 20th that Bahamas Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall had issued a Supreme Court Memorandum, stripping Magistrate Linda Virgill of the exclusive designation of coroner and abolished the special 'Coroner’s Court'. "In the extraordinary cases in which it is necessary to hold an inquest, the facilities now available to accommodate a jury will be accessible to any magistrate" The chief justice did not provide a reason for his decision.
Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez confirmed that Mrs. Virgill would not preside over an inquest into Daniel Smith’s death on the 20th. According to Gomez, it was not a vote of "no confidence" in Mrs. Virgill’s abilities, she will still be a magistrate, and still be able to hear inquests but "Because of the remarks she made, She won’t be hearing that one"
The memo provided that the office of the Chief Magistrate will receive all reports of completed investigations by the police into those deaths with which the Coroner’s Act is concerned, and the Chief Magistrate will assign particular matters to any magistrate. Chief Magistrate Gomez said that an inquest might not be needed in the Daniel Smith case. Once the awaited toxicological reports come in, they would be forwarded to the police and the Office of the Attorney General. If the Attorney General feels an inquest is called for, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson would send the file to his office to assign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Wayne_Smith#Coroner_removed_from_case
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERN: At one point, Daniel said to me "How come I'm so tired?" And, in hindsight I wish that I had seen that as some sort of a signal and seen that something wasn't right.
KING: So, what happened did he just close -- did he close his eyes or what?
STERN: Well, I mean the next thing that I remember that happened from my perspective is that in the morning Anna said "Howard, Howard, Daniel's not breathing."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Dr. Wecht, how did he die? DR. CYRIL WECHT, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST AND ATTORNEY: Good evening, Larry.
He died tragically and I believe quite accidentally as a result of the cumulative effect of three brain depressant drugs, methadone, which is an analgesic, a painkiller; Zoloft, an antidepressant; and Lexapro, an antidepressant.
We knew about Lexapro, Larry, as you will recall from the first battery of tests performed on a specimen submitted, taken during resuscitation at Doctor's Hospital, so that came as no surprise.
Methadone and Zoloft come as a big surprise to Anna Nicole, to Howard Stern, to the attorneys, to everybody. And, at this point, I do not know the source. I do not know which physicians prescribed these drugs, when, and for what conditions.
They are both drugs that are perfectly licit, licit, legal. These are drugs that can be obtained through prescriptions. Why they would have been prescribed I do not know. When he got them and exactly when he took them, these are things we're still tracing.
Thanks for all the info! ;)