Fight For Anna’s Baby In Nassau Court:
By Quincy Parker -
Nassau, Bahamas:

While Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin was delivering a ruling giving custody of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s body to her daughter’s legal representative, Bahamas Supreme Court Justice Stephen Isaacs was dealing with another matter involving five-month-old Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern.

Justice Isaacs met Thursday with lawyers concerning a temporary injunction granted to Ms. Smith’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, which prevents Dannielynn from leaving The Bahamas.

The proceedings were closed to the public. At the end of those proceedings, lawyers for Ms. Smith’s estate, Mrs. Arthur, Ms. Smith’s ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead and her lawyer-turned-lover Howard Stern exited the Supreme Court in Bank Lane.

Wayne Munroe, who represents Ms. Smith’s estate and also represents Mr. Stern in the custody matter, summed up all that the lawyers were permitted, by mutual agreement, to say.

"I cannot tell you what was discussed apart from the fact that there were procedural discussions, the judge adjourned the matter to Monday and the injunction continues to Monday," he said.

"That is all that we can say."

He said he hadn’t heard from Mr. Stern, and did not know whether he would be present in Monday’s proceedings.

There are lawyers representing all the parties that are likely to have a stake in the paternity hearing that will likely result from Mr. Birkhead’s challenge to the Bahamian birth certificate listing Mr. Stern as the child’s father.

Desmar Whitfield-Henfield and Jamal Davis, both of Halsbury Chambers, represent Mrs. Arthur; Anthony McKinney represents Mr. Stern; Godfrey ‘Pro’ Pinder represents South Carolina developer G. Ben Thompson, who is watching the paternity proceedings with interest considering the legal wrangling over the Horizons mansion, and Emerick Knowles of Alexiou, Knowles and Co. represents Mr. Birkhead.

Some of the testimony from the hearing in Florida to determine who should get custody of Ms. Smith’s remains may shed some light on a number of matters playing out on the Bahamian stage.

Mr. Thompson’s son-in-law Ford Shelley, who has admitted to removing items from the house where Ms. Smith lived, "for safekeeping", testified that some of the items he moved were in the possession of the Broward County Sheriff’s office.

Parts of his testimony had to do with a supposed cancelled deed to the residence issued to him by the liquidator who sold Mr. Thompson the Eastern Road home last August.

The Bahamian police are investigating a reported break-in at the Horizons mansion.

23 February 2007