Courtesy of Entertainment Tonight

By Art Harris, (c)www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Flanked by her defamation lawyer and her chief private investigator, Virgie Arthur told reporters Tuesday sheā€™d flown into the Bahamas for the coronerā€™s inquest into the death of her grandson, in the hope it would jumpstart the ā€œprocess of justiceā€

While Anna Nicole Smithā€™s estranged mother has been unrelenting in trying to tar executor Howard K. Stern with suspicion, even suing him for defaming her, magistrate William Campbell made it clear to the seven member fact-finding jury police had no evidence the death of Daniel Smith, 20, was a homicide, according to those who attended the first day of the coronerā€™s inquest.

If they had, my guest correspondents report, the judge said there would have been suspects arrested, and no need for an inquest. Read the rest of this entry »

By Art Harris, (c)www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

In another world wide web exclusive, The Bald Truth has obtained the first round of fiery motions in the $60 million libel suit suit Howard K. Stern filed against author Rita Cosby and her publisher over salacious gay sex charges in her book about Anna Nicole Smith, “Blonde Ambition.”

Stern has accused Cosby of trying to “influence the testimony of two witnesses in this case,” nannies who worked for the late Playboy centerfold, and cites his fears other witnesses may be tampered with unless depositions are taken fast. But the author’s lawyer dismisses the need for speedy discovery.

It’s all in motions filed last week in New York’s U.S. District Court (hot links on next page) and obtained exclusively by The Bald Truth.

In her opposition, respected attorney Elizabeth McNamara argues Stern “fails to articulate good cause for this court to deviate from” standard rules of discovery, thus no need for speed.

But Stern’s aggressive lawyer, Lin Wood, in a motion filed Friday, insists audiotapes made of Cosby discussing payments to the nannies offer “good cause for … limited expedited discovery” of her “attempts to interfere with potential witnesses” in the libel case. Read the rest of this entry »

By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

In a world wide web exclusive, The Bald Truth has learned Larry Birkhead has once again won another round against his fired attorney Debra Opri to have their $620,000 fee dispute settled in front of a jury, not binding arbitration.

The judge who earlier rejected Opri’s petition to force arbitration with her ex-client in order to recoup what she says is $620,000 in unpaid legal fees said he was right the first time when he ruled against her. On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles C. Lee upheld his earlier ruling, rejecting her argument there was new evidence to consider.

“There are no new facts, circumstances or law,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles C. Lee wrote in a two-page opinion. “The declarations provided by [Opri] could have been supplied earlier in a timely fashion, but were not.” On Sept. 6, he ruled binding arbitration was not mandatory in Opri’s contract with Birkhead.

“In layman’s terms,” Birkhead attorney Michael A. Trope told me in an exclusive interview Thursday morning after beating back Opri’s lawyers in Los Angeles Superior Court , “we asked for a jury trial. There was a hearing on that and the judge ruled that was the proper thing to do. Opri didn’t like that decision, so they filed a motion to ask the court to think about their previous ruling again, and today the court denied their request.”

Trope argued why Opri’s motion should be shot down in papers filed October 12 we’ve obtained exclusively and post here trope-10-12-2007-birkhead-opposition-opri.pdf for the first time.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

We’ve obtained, in another Bald Truth Exclusive, motions filed by Debra Opri against Larry Birkhead that lay out her strategy in court today, when she’s expected to ask the judge to take back what he already granted her–a speedy court date–and to reconsider her plea for arbitration, not hammering out her fee deal at some nasty trial.

Also, the second motion has Birkhead’s interrogatories attached, along with admissions, production of documents and deposition. We’re betting Birkhead attorney Michael Trope has a few tricks up his sleeve, and will keep you posted how he responds.

Opri’s moves are, as usual, as fascinating as a filibuster, and sketched out in our court docs below. Read on and let us know what you think.

More to come.

ah-opri-opri-motio-reconsideration-9-14.pdf

opr-motion-protective-9-26-07-ah.pdf

Dr. Kris Eroshevich, courtesy The Insider

By Art Harris, Ā© www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

She was a doctor without a bag, a psychiatrist invited to examine a cardboard box of items seized by California drug agents investigating how sheā€™d dispensed prescription meds to the late Playboy centerfold, and possibly others, and whether any wrongdoing was involved.

Only when Kristine Eroshevich Tuesday walked into the empty Los Angeles courtroom of Judge Larry Paul Fidler, she was surprised by what she saw: a prosecutor with an investigator eager to supervise her and her attorney, Steve Yoda, as they eyeballed property taken in the raid on her Studio City Home.

ā€œThat wasnā€™t part of the deal,ā€ she told me in an exclusive interview about her five minutes in court. “What if I pulled out letters or files and they accidentally saw someone not involved in the case? I didn’t want to put other patients’ privacy at risk.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Bald Truth Staff (c)www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

In a Bald Truth exclusive, weā€™ve learned the powerhouse New York law firm defending Rita Cosbyā€™s publisher in a $60 million libel suit today won a brief extension to respond to Howard K. Sternā€™s request for an order banning Cosby, or anyone else, from trying to influence any witness or tamper with any evidence.

It must have been the eloquent, Oct. 22nd letter from attorney Doug Maynard, a former federal prosecutor now with Akin Gump– and obtained by The Bald Truth cosby-publisher-10-23-ltr-to-judge.pdf — that persuaded U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to grant the defendants’ lawyers until November 13 to respond to Sternā€™s complaint. In it, Maynard complains Stern lawyer Lin Wood has been kind of like Waldo, MIA and impossible to reach.

Hey, we totally understand, since Wood hasnā€™t had time to call us back either. We hope it’s nothing personal.

But we DO know he was in court last Thursday when the judge indicated he was troubled by transcripts of Cosby allegedly trying to pay two Haitian nannies for an affidavit. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bald Truth Staff, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

During the Waffle House melee early Sunday morning that saw Kid Rock, aka Robert (Bob) Ritchie, jailed for 12 hours on assault charges after a rock concert, The Bald Truth has learned someone in the entourage allegedly used a chair to smash a window and beat a man who exchanged words with a woman in the rock star’s 5 am breakfast party.

It’s all in the Dekalb County Georgia police report kidrock.pdf we’ve obtained exclusively on The Bald Truth.

Walter Alexander on Larry King Live, with attorney Robert Renzler before plea.

By Art Harris, www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

O.J. Simpson asked friends to bring ā€œsome heatā€ and carry guns to back him up in a showdown with two sports collectors in a Las Vegas hotel, says co- defendant Walter Alexander.

According to a 45 page police interview with Alexander I obtained today, ā€œO.J. said, ā€˜Hey, just bring some firearmsā€¦..ā€

In an exclusive phone interview before he negotiated his plea, Alexander told The Bald Truth that he was ā€œdisgustedā€ Simpson had put him at risk, and angry at himself for allowing his 12-year friendship to overrule good judgment.

ā€œItā€™s a hard lesson to learn, but OJ is out for OJ, heā€™s a fair weather friend,ā€ Alexander told me. When we spoke Wednesday, he said he couldnā€™t make any more statements until after he pleads guilty Oct. 23.

See excerpts from the police statement. alexander-police-report-pages-1-3.pdf

Read the rest of this entry »

Ca. Attorney General Jerry Brown presser on raid.

By Art Harris, (c)www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

The Insideronline has just broken exclusive new information I’ve learned that lawyers for Anna Nicole Smith’s personal psychiatrist Thursday went into Los Angeles Superior court to challenge the search warrant used in last Friday’s raid on the home of Dr. Kristine Erosovich.

Her lawyers, along with a half dozen agents from the California Department of Justice appeared in court in downtown Los Angeles for a brief hearing, but Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler continued the proceeeding until Dec. 5.

Sources close to the case tell The Bald Truth the doctor’s lawyers aim to challenge the state’s search warrant as “overly broad” and request agents return personal items including cds and dvds seized in the 6:30 am raid last Friday, claiming they are protected under the privilege of doctor-patient relationship. A Special Master was appointed to review the items.

Lawyers for Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, whose home and office were raided as well, are expected to challenge the search warrant on the same grounds, but were not in court Wednesday.

Kapoor prescribed the late Playboy centerfold methadone for pain; “Dr. Kris,” as Anna Nicole called her, prescribed her extensive pain killers and the sleeping aid chloral hydrate, which was ruled as the main culprit in her accidental overdose in February. Read the rest of this entry »

Stern motion includes U-tube video-link as part of exhibit.

By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Lawyers for Howard K. Stern will ask a federal judge Thursday to order author Rita Cosby to stop trying to influence witnesses and “destroying or altering evidence” related to the $60 million libel suit filed against her, according to a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York City.

At the center of the motion for a preliminary injunction lin-wood-motion-10-16-for-pi.pdf, Stern lawyer Lin Wood details Cosby’s alleged attempts to pay off two Haitian nannies who worked for the late Anna Nicole Smith who say she never interviewed them for her book. Cosby has been seeking their cooperation to confirm a gay tryst she writes they witnessed between Stern and Larry Birkhead that the women say never happened.

Both Stern and Birkhead call the charges “ridiculous.”

In the 24 page motion lin-wood-mot-in-supp-of-pi-with-exhibit-a.pdf, Stern accuses Cosby of trying to pay the nannies between $3,000 to $15,000 for a bogus affadavit to back accounts in her book, Blonde Ambition, detailing what the author says she was told by a private investigator. Read the rest of this entry »