FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The judge preceding over the drawn-out court battle over what to do with Anna Nicole Smith's body indicated Wednesday he was seeking a compromise to appease both the starlet's boyfriend and her estranged mother.
"When you walked into the court, you hope to get everything," Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin said as the dispute marked a full week before him. "We will try to fashion a remedy where not everyone gets everything they want."
Seidlin said his decision would come by Friday morning, more than two weeks after Smith died.
His comments came as the medical examiner again warned Smith's body was further decomposing and as the Playboy Playmate's mother, Virgie Arthur, tearfully fought to not only bury her daughter in her native Texas but to exhume her grandson and bring him there as well.
Boyfriend Howard K. Stern wants Smith to be buried next to her son Daniel in the Bahamas, where he died from apparent drug-related causes last year. Smith and Stern lived at a mansion in the island chain.
Without written proof of Smith's wishes, Seidlin was forced to hear testimony from those who claim to know what she wanted.
In her second day on the stand, Arthur testified that although she had not seen her daughter since about 1996, they spoke on the phone more frequently. She cried as she spoke about her relationship with Smith and her grandson's death.
She also disputed Stern's testimony that Smith always spoke about death.
"You can't make me believe that. She was too full of life. She loved life," she said.
Also at issue in a California court is who fathered Smith's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions of dollars depending on how Smith's estate is broken up. Stern is listed as the father on the birth certificate, but a photographer who once dated Smith says the girl is his.
On Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Stern testified Smith never recovered from her son's death. He said a grief-stricken Smith threw herself over his body as he lay in a coffin in the Bahamas, wailing, "If Daniel has to be buried, I want to buried with him."
Stern attorney Krista Barth said she had bank documentation proving Smith had agreed to pay for two cemetery plots in Nassau. She showed an "Entertainment Tonight" interview in which Smith expressed hatred for her estranged mother.
Arthur's lawyer said Smith's son was buried illegally in the Bahamas, and he blamed Stern.
Stern testified the couple considered each other husband and wife and had celebrated a commitment ceremony, though it was not legal. Stern said they had planned to legally wed this week. He conceded, however, that Smith had other lovers.
He also said he isn't looking for any money from her estate and would waive his fee as the executor of her will. "I do not intend to get one penny," Stern said.
Still, the issue of who is Dannielynn's father was inescapable. A California judge on Tuesday refused to give up the paternity case involving the girl but suggested there were still questions to be resolved before the courts can determine which state has jurisdiction.
Attorneys for Arthur and the other man who claims to be the father, Larry Birkhead, sought to discredit Stern. Outside the courtroom, Debra Opri, who represents Birkhead, said Stern's claim of a romantic relationship with Smith wasn't even true.
Smith was the widow of Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. The two married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26. She had been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.
