NEWSHoward K. Stern: "I Never Gave Daniel Drugs"
March 18 2008, Published 2:40 p.m. ET
Howard K. Stern, the lawyer and confidante to the late testified on Tuesday that he was unaware that the playmate's son, Daniel, was taking prescription medication -- including Methadone.
Stern gave his testimony today as part of the ongoing inquest into Daniel's death. The 20-year-old died on Sept.r 10, 2006, three days after his mother gave birth to her daughter and his half sister, Dannielynn Hope, in the Bahamas.
Stern said that from September 2005 until June 2006, he wasn't around as much because he was working on Anna's fight with Pierce Marshall (the late son of her husband, J. Howard Marshall who died in 1995).
Stern also denied bringing a duffel bag full of medication into Anna's hospital room in the Bahamas, where Daniel died. He said that neither he nor Anna brought any medication into the hospital and that he never, under any circumstances, gave Daniel Methadone. He also said that he never saw Anna give Daniel any drugs.
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When asked what his reaction was to Daniel's toxicology report, which showed Methadone and other prescription drugs in his system, Stern said he didn't believe it.
Stern also discussed the famous photo that he took of Anna holding her dead son in the hospital room. Howard said Anna would not believe that Daniel had died and said that she wanted to bring him home with her. Stern testified that Anna asked him to take a photo because she couldn't accept her son's death and needed the picture for proof.
Stern also said that after he took the photo, he never made any money off of it and would do it again.
Stern said that Anna had a prescription for Methadone, but when she discovered that she was pregnant, she reduced her dosage, and was told by doctors that if she quit cold turkey, she would lose the baby.
By the time she gave birth, Stern says, she was off Methadone entirely.
