Anna Nicole Smith went to work in a Houston strip club and wound up as the trophy wife of an aging multimillionaire, setting up an 11-year-long legal war over his estate that now has traveled all the way to the highest court in the land.
The fight over the fortune of oil entrepreneur J. Howard Marshall II between the one-time Playboy Playmate of the Year and Marshall's youngest son, 67-year-old E. Pierce Marshall, goes before the
U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The case is remarkable in part because of the number of zeros involved — the estate has been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion in 2000. But Smith has added colorful and sometimes raw speech and some unusual fashion statements for a grieving widow, including a T-shirt with "Spoiled" spelled out in rhinestones across her ample chest.
"I have to smile with fondness for our system, that says that our highest court will look at legal issues no matter who the sponsor is," said Rusty Hardin, one of Pierce Marshall's attorneys.
Smith and Marshall married in 1994 in Houston. The bride was 26; the groom was 89 and died just 14 months later.
Since then, the case has been through a succession of courtrooms, starting with a state probate court jury in Houston, which ruled in 2001 that Marshall did not leave any of his estate to Smith. A federal bankruptcy judge sided with Smith, another federal judge reduced the award and a federal appeals court ruled that federal courts should never have gotten involved.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday focused solely on the narrow question of whether federal courts can decide cases involving state probate proceedings. The Bush administration has filed briefs favoring federal court jurisdiction.
Smith, born 38 years ago as Vickie Lynn Hogan, grew up in Mexia, Texas, a town of about 7,000 people located 86 miles south of Dallas. She married at 17, had a son, divorced her husband and moved to Houston.
Smith met her wealthy husband-to-be in 1991 at Rick's Cabaret, an upscale strip club.
"She was a good dancer. She was a really friendly person," said Eric Langan, chief executive of Rick's. "That's part of the emphasis at Rick's, having entertainers who really engage their customers in conversation. She took it to a whole new level."
Marshall had built his fortune on 40 years in the oil business. He divorced his first wife, and outlived both his second wife and a mistress, who also was a stripper.
Marshall showered Smith with $6.6 million in gifts that included two homes, $2.8 million in jewelry and $700,000 in clothes, and she contends that he also promised her half his estate.
However, Pierce Marshall said various wills and trusts his father had prepared over the years named him sole heir.
"For Anna Nicole Smith, it's pure simple greed," said Pierce Marshall's spokesman, David Margulies. "I don't think anybody thinks she was in love with J. Howard."
Smith's appellate attorney, Kent Richland, said his client was the victim.
Even in a city that practically invented the notion of trophy wives for aging oilmen, the probate trial had entertainment value.
Smith accused Pierce Marshall of killing his father and attempting to kill her. One of her husband's nurses testified that Smith bared her breasts to the bedridden old man as part of her effort to get an inheritance.
She and attorney Hardin bickered bitterly when Smith testified. When he questioned her about the nurse's allegation, she retorted in a Texas ladylike twang: "Mr. Hardin, you're a pervert."
But when Hardin accused her of acting on the witness stand, all vestiges of the demure Southern belle disappeared as she fired back with a vulgar epithet. The phrase became so iconic in Houston that Hardin said people have shouted it to him as a greeting.
"It never occurred to me to get offended by anything that came from her. I think of her as a woman of excess who gave me a trial that was a hell of a lot of fun," he said.
If the Supreme Court doesn't help Smith, she is always welcome back at Rick's, said Langan.
"Who knows," he said, "she might meet her next husband."
- posted on 02/26/2006
基督教会嫌人口不够了。禁止堕胎了。
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South Dakota nears abortion ban
Friday, February 24, 2006; Posted: 3:35 p.m. EST (20:35 GMT)
PIERRE, South Dakota (AP) -- State lawmakers voted Friday to ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota and sent the measure to the governor, who said he is inclined to sign it.
Under the legislation, doctors in South Dakota would face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life.
The bill directly targets Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. State lawmakers believe the nation's highest court is now more likely to reverse itself on the abortion issue because of the recent appointments of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the only clinic performing abortions in South Dakota, has pledged to challenge the measure in court if Gov. Mike Rounds signs it into law.
"I've indicated I'm pro-life, and I do believe abortion is wrong and that we should do everything we can to save lives," Rounds said before the vote Friday in the House. "If this bill accomplishes that, then I am inclined to sign the bill into law."
The bill passed both houses of the Legislature earlier in the session, but the House had to agree to a Senate amendment. It passed 50-18.
The new restriction would become law July 1.
Opponents of the bill argued that abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a women's health.
If a woman who is raped becomes pregnant, the rapist would have the same rights to the child as the mother, said Krista Heeren-Graber, executive director of the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
"The idea the rapist could be in the child's life ... makes the woman very, very fearful. Sometimes they need to have choice," Heeren-Graber said.
Kathi Di Nicola, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa in Sioux City, said her clinic already serves some South Dakotans and is ready to assist others if needed. The Planned Parenthood clinic in South Dakota has performed about 800 abortions a year. - Re: Anna Nicole Smith's case went to U.S. Supreme Courtposted on 02/26/2006
一个低俗的女子把案子打到了最高法院 - 这难道是对美国司法的最好讽刺?
玛雅 wrote:
美国花边几则。这个女人虽粗俗,倒是蛮顽强的,11年的官司,不容易。一个低俗的女子,一个前花花公子封面女郎居然把案子打到了最高法院,这本身就是对美国司法的最好讽刺。这个女子要讨回青春费,那些道貌岸然的大法官们该如何处置呢,好戏开场了。哈哈,美国的司法啊。
- posted on 02/27/2006
qls wrote:
一个低俗的女子把案子打到了最高法院 - 这难道是对美国司法的最好讽刺?
一个脱衣舞娘出身的女子把美国最高法院变成了肥皂剧场,而且让联邦法法庭与德州法庭的判决自相矛盾,漏洞百出,一个没有受过多少教育的女子把好几个伪君子大法官们折腾得团团乱转,难道不滑稽不讽刺吗? 也许我没有把这个意思表达清楚。
玛雅 wrote:
美国花边几则。这个女人虽粗俗,倒是蛮顽强的,11年的官司,不容易。一个低俗的女子,一个前花花公子封面女郎居然把案子打到了最高法院,这本身就是对美国司法的最好讽刺。这个女子要讨回青春费,那些道貌岸然的大法官们该如何处置呢,好戏开场了。哈哈,美国的司法啊。
- Re: 这是讽刺吗?我怎么看不出来?posted on 02/27/2006
说实话,这种事情,只有美国的司法制度来处理,才叫人从心底里服。
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