This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," October 12, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Will Friday's search warrants be followed by arrest warrants? Let's bring in our legal panel. Paul, of course, is still with us in San Francisco, and joining us there is former assistant DA Jim Hammer, Washington defense attorney Ted Williams, and in Southfield, Michigan, is defense attorney Geoff Fieger. Geoff, who should be nervous tonight?
GEOFFREY FIEGER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All of the above, including Howard K. Smith, which is...
VAN SUSTEREN: Stern.
FIEGER: ... going to — Stern. Excuse me. He's not the newscaster. You're right. It's not going to assist his claim against Rita Cosby that he was in the house that was raided. He is an essential figure in that drug investigation. He's the one who supplied the drugs. He's even admitted purchasing a number of drugs. Even if he's not eventually indicted, Greta, his involvement in that cannot help him and would be this (ph) — in a libel and slander case, which we'll talk about a little later, his involvement in that drug investigation is going to become facts that are relevant against him.
VAN SUSTEREN: Jim, one of the most stunning little pieces of information that the attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, said — I don't know if you picked it up, but the law enforcement agencies that are involved, the DEA — that means the feds are involved in this. But he also said the Seminole tribal law enforcement, which to me is giant because now we're talking — although that's — that's where she died. She died in a casino within their jurisdiction, or a hotel there. Any of your thoughts as you listened to Brown?
JIM HAMMER, FORMER ASST. SAN FRANCISCO DA: Well, I think Geoff Fieger is a very smart defense lawyer to say everybody's in trouble. I mean, listen, the fact of the matter is that she died from these drugs. We all know that. The point is there are many causes leading up to that — the doctors who prescribed it unlawfully, apparently, the people who gave it to her, people who didn't say no.
The question is, Do any of them rise to the level of proximate cause, so you get a homicide charge out of it? And I think nobody is out of the woods yet. I want to say Amen that finally, these doctors are, hopefully, going to be brought to account because leading back to Elvis up until now, celebrities like this are — frankly, fall victims to people sucking up to them and giving them stuff that kills them.
VAN SUSTEREN: And what you didn't hear — that viewers didn't hear in this presidents conference is they've gone through something like 100,000 documents, or something extraordinary, since the March...
HAMMER: And that's why it took so long.
VAN SUSTEREN: That's why it's been going on, and it's still going on. Ted, your thoughts on that.
HAMMER: Exactly.
TED WILLIAMS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I believe everybody certainly is being looked at, but I do not believe they're being looked at as a homicide. I think they're probably looking at overprescribing. But one of the problems they have...
VAN SUSTEREN: Which can lead to a homicide, assuming there is — and assuming that the medical diagnosis — and of course (INAUDIBLE) question what Perper said and what — that's a whole 'nother discussion.
WILLIAMS: But again, it'll be very difficult, I think, to prove, in light of the fact that Dr. Perper out there in Florida has already said it was an accidental death. But I do believe that one of the things that they are looking at is the license of both of these doctors, and that also could be in serious jeopardy. So — but I do believe also, Greta, this is eight months late. A lot of evidence perhaps by now has been destroyed. This — I mean, you know, it's...
FIEGER: No, it hasn't.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: No, it hasn't, Ted...
FIEGER: No, Ted, it hasn't because all the records...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What would not be destroyed is the paper trail. That paper trail will always be there...
VAN SUSTEREN: Hard drive, the computer hard drive.
WILLIAMS: ... and they can follow up on that.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, we're going to take a quick break. Panel, st and by. We're going to have more with you later.
And the nanny speaks out right here. Did Anna Nicole's Bahamian nannies really see a video of sex acts between Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead? One of the nannies will join us. You will hear from her ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAN SUSTEREN: Two of Anna Nicole Smith's doctors may be in hot water tonight. Their homes and offices were among the six places raided by California authorities today.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden joins us by phone. Our legal panel is also still here, as is AP reporter Paul Elias. Dr. Baden, I just (INAUDIBLE)
DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Hi, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: ... one quick question with you. In terms of Dr. Perper's autopsy and his conclusions as to why and how Anna Nicole Smith died, is there any question in your mind that he was right?
BADEN: Well, there are two things. One is, even though it's called an accident, if, in fact, the drugs given to Anna Nicole were given improperly or illegally, if she were given drugs illegally, it really can be converted to a homicide. So I think there are two things here. One is a homicide possibility if the drugs were illicitly given to Anna Nicole improperly, illegally. Also, that whole business you talked about, remember, about the hair, the only reason to exhume her body which was mentioned in some of the reports is to get hair out to see how long she'd been taking these drugs, to get a timeline as to when she started taking these massive amounts of drugs and which doctor was supplying her at that time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you, Dr. Baden.
Let me go back to Paul, our AP reporter. Paul, it struck me — and maybe I'm wrong about this — but the fact that the attorney general of the state of California, Jerry Brown, is the one who conducted this press conference, that this is a, certainly, you know, far more serious investigation than simply a routine one to close up the books.
ELIAS: Well, I mean, I suppose it cuts to the heart of — I mean, one of the things that Attorney General Brown I think has been hammering away at in his brief time in office is prescription drug abuse. And this is probably a high-profile case to use that, to say, Hey, you know, prescription drug abuse is as much of a problem, if not more of a problem in this country than, say, you know, cocaine abuse or heroin abuse.
And so is it unusual? Yes. But is it — is it — is it crazy? I don't think so, especially given this multi-district — I mean, you know, you have houses in Los Angeles and Orange County, and this is where the attorney general steps in, when jurisdictions cross county boundaries. So it's unusual, but I don't think it's crazy.
VAN SUSTEREN: Geoff, in terms of the investigation — it started March 30, over 100,000 documents, the multi-jurisdiction certainly is a question, but what questions would you have tonight for Dr. Perper, Howard K. Stern, Mo, who was there when she died, Dr. Eroshevich, left 24 hours later — what are the questions you're interested in?
FIEGER: One of the things you didn't ask me but I just think is — he's almost unrecognizable, Jerry Brown, from the presidential candidate, the Buddhist...
(LAUGHTER)
FIEGER: ... to what we just saw.
VAN SUSTEREN: That was Ted's...
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: That was Ted's question for you, or Jim's, I guess.
(LAUGHTER)
FIEGER: He literally — he's unrecognizable. I'm not just saying physically. Just as — I mean, he was a different guy when he was California governor and running for president and going out with Linda Ronstadt.
Listen, the issue is, why is this woman being prescribed these drugs in the first place in these amounts? I understand that all of the prescriptions may not have even been in her name. Who were they given to? Was Howard Stern picking them up? Was he delivering them to her? Obviously, they had a close relationship. He's in the house right now while they're raiding the doctor's house. I mean, there is something going on here.
They're not talking about murder, though. They're talking about criminal negligence. That's enough to take these doctors' licenses away and get everybody in a lot of trouble. Nobody is talking about murder, and they're not going to go after that. They're going to go after criminal negligence.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, 10 seconds, Jim, and I've got to take a break.
HAMMER: I think Geoff's right, manslaughter ought to be looked at in this case. And for doctors to give these quantity of drugs, they ought to seriously be looked at for prosecution for manslaughter.
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