It's been nearly 3 years and finally Howard K. Stern's case involving Anna Nicole Smith's death seems to have reached a final verdict.
This morning, a judge dismissed two drug conspiracy charges against Stern, who was convicted on both counts last fall.
After the hearing Stern told E! News, "I'm ecstatic". Howard's sister Bonnie Stern was also heard rejoicing in court, exclaiming "Yay! My brother just got off".
In the ruling, Judge Robert Perry found that while obtaining prescriptions under multiple names for Smith, Stern never had the intent to defraud the system. He was merely doing that to protect her privacy.
"I think a lot of this was done for publicity", Stern told E! News. "And they didn't care whose life they harmed. At this point, I will start grieving over what has happened."
"I'm just very grateful...I had great lawyers. If other people were in that situation, the D.A. could have gotten away for it. I'm grateful to [Judge Perry]. I'm going to pick up the pieces."
The District Attorney, Steve Cooley, had other things to say as he was not quite on board with the decision.
"We will immediately pursue all appellate remedies to overturn Judge Perry's decision. A decision on whether we will seek a retrial on the hung counts will be announced later".
Let's just hope all of this gets laid to rest at the earliest.
