The nutty South Florida judge who presided over the courtroom circus to decide where Anna Nicole Smith's body would be buried is trying to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame yet again with a provocative new book.
Due out tomorrow, "The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith" by Larry Seidlin, has the former Broward judge second-guessing his decision in the overly dramatic case, railing on Smith's hangers-on and questioning why no one has been found guilty of manslaughter in her death.
"I think enablers should be punished," Seidlin writes, referring to former Smith boyfriend Howard K. Stern. "How about keeping her off drugs while she was alive? He was with her every day; how about saying no, and if she kicks your ass out, then goodbye and good luck.
"[Then] we won't have all this celebrity blood on our hands."
Seidlin, 60, shot to fame in the days after Smith's body was found in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood in February 2007, the victim of an apparent accidental overdose.
He insists he had no idea who she was when he inherited the case.
"Who is Anna Nicole Smith?" he claims he asked his wife. "If she played second base for the Yankees," he retorted, "I'd know her."
Local
The judge spent six days deciding where Smith would be buried, before breaking down and sobbing at the end of the ordeal.
Seidlin admits he "got a little hoaky...a little corny during the trial," but insisted that anyone who claims they could have handled it better or in a more timely manner "is a complete idiot."
Though he ruled that Smith should be buried in the Bahamas with her son Daniel, Smith now claims he may have made the wrong decision and that the two should be buried in Texas, where Smith was originally from.
"Her soul and Danny's soul need to be placed on sacred ground in the Lone Star state with people who grew up with her and loved her in her simpler days," he writes.
While nobody has been charged with Smith's death, Stern and two of Smith's doctors have been charged with illegally providing her with drugs.
Seidlin says the deaths of both Smith and her son need to be investigated again, as does Stern, who was present when both died.
Stern "exercised a great amount of control over Anna Nicole by maintaining and reviewing her drug desires and addiction," Seidlin writes.
