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Sunday, September 26, 2010

“Nanny witness in Anna Nicole Smith case testifies she made melted-drug claim based on TV movie - FOX News” plus 2 more

“Nanny witness in Anna Nicole Smith case testifies she made melted-drug claim based on TV movie - FOX News” plus 2 more


Nanny witness in Anna Nicole Smith case testifies she made melted-drug claim based on TV movie - FOX News

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 01:10 PM PDT

A nanny whose credibility has come under defense attack in the Anna Nicole Smith drug trial says she got the idea from a movie to claim she saw two defendants melt pills in a spoon and inject them into the former Playboy model.

Nadine Alexie testified Wednesday she saw a spoon being taken into a bathroom with Smith but did not see any drugs being melted or injected by defendants Howard K. Stern or Khristine Eroshevich.

She was asked by Eroshevich's lawyer, Brad Brunon, if she told police in the Bahamas that she got the idea from a movie. She confirmed she saw it on TV.

Stern, Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor have pleaded not guilty to giving Smith excessive opiates and sedatives.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A defense lawyer angrily accused a prosecutor of encouraging perjury by a key witness at the Anna Nicole Smith drug conspiracy trial.

Attorney Steve Sadow was red-faced as he asked a judge Tuesday to strike the entire testimony of Nadine Alexie, a former nanny for Smith.

"I'm considering it," Superior Court Judge Robert Perry said without making a ruling.

The dispute involved testimony by Nadine Alexie that she had taught her sister-in-law Quethlie Alexie to recognize the name of Smith's boyfriend — defendant Howard K. Stern — on prescription bottles, even though Quethlie Alexie reads no English.

Sadow suggested prosecutor Renee Rose had encouraged Nadine Alexie to fabricate the story to explain her sister-in-law's statements on the witness stand that she had seen Stern's name on the bottles.

When the judge left the bench, Sadow shouted at Rose: "In my whole career I've never seen a prosecutor do a stunt like that. You ought to look in the mirror and think about what you're doing. It's outrageous."

Rose did not respond to the accusation.

Asked later if Rose would have a comment, district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said, "Whatever statement she has she will be making in court."

Before Sadow spoke, Perry dismissed jurors from the courtroom and appeared to predict what Sadow was going to say.

"Let's take a deep breath before we go on," Perry said. "I don't want to say something I will regret, so I'm not saying anything."

He urged Sadow to consider doing the same, but the lawyer said he felt he had to speak.

"That was suborned perjury," Sadow said, using the legal term for encouraging a witness to lie. "The people know this is perjurious testimony."

Stern and two doctors, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, have pleaded not guilty to providing the former Playboy model with excessive opiates and sedatives. They are not charged with causing her overdose death in 2007.

The uproar came after former nanny Quethlie Alexie concluded three days on the witness stand. Under questioning by defense lawyer Brad Brunon about her literacy in English, Quethlie said through a Creole interpreter that she could not read or write English, even though she could speak it.

Brunon took her through an English language affidavit she had signed trying to determine her skill. She said she couldn't read the document but had signed it anyway after it was read to her.

Earlier, she had testified she saw pill bottles of medicine in Smith's home and read Stern's name on many of them.

When Nadine Alexie took the witness stand later, Rose asked how Quethlie was able to read Stern's name on the bottles. Nadine said she began teaching Quethlie how to read and write English after they went to work for Smith.

She said she specifically showed her Stern's name and told her how to read and write it "so if she saw things in his name she would know who they belonged to."

Nadine Alexie said she went through two years of college and reads and writes English perfectly. But she insisted she did not read a one-page legal affidavit attesting to her sister's truthfulness before she signed it.

"I just didn't read it," she said.

"So you're in a lawyer's office with a notary public and they ask you to sign a document and you don't read it?" Brunon asked.

"I didn't read it," Nadine Alexie said with a shrug but no explanation.

There has been confusion about the two women's surnames. Both were originally given as Alexie, but Quethlie later said her surname was Alexis, which is how she signed the affidavit.

The complaint by Sadow capped a day that began with jurors seeing a slide slow of 90 images of Smith appearing healthy, active and involved with her baby during the three months that Quethlie claimed she was drugged and barely able to function.

With jurors dismissed from the courtroom several times, Judge Perry voiced his frustration with the witness and said, "The court sees serious credibility issues."

Perry also reiterated his previous concerns about the case.

"I think this is a very unfocused prosecution," he said. "I have problems with the way the evidence is coming out."

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Never Let Me Go is Top-Notch, but Depressing, Movie Fare with Carrie Mulligan and Keira Knightley - Associated Content

Posted: 17 Sep 2010 03:23 PM PDT

Clone is exactly the correct term for this film, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. The students are told in assembly that "students of Hailsham are special and keeping yourselves well, keeping yourselves healthy,
inside, is of paramount importance." That would be because, as in "Coma," the students' organs are going to be used to extend the life of their DNA donor(s). The NDP (National Donor Programme) is raising the brood to be organ donors, with a few given a special reprieve of a few years if they volunteer to be "carers," as Kathy does. Otherwise, the surgery starts after the walking organ donors leave their original boarding homes at 18. After 3 "donations," they usually "complete," a euphemism for "die." Says one attending nurse to Carrie as she functions as a "carer" for one hapless victim, "As you know, when they want to complete, they usually do."

So, yes, it's a cheery tale of mortality, life and death and, as you can imagine, in the hands of a skillful director, which Romanek is, there are ruminations on wanting more time ("We never feel we've had enough time -- ") and the mysteries of life that afflict us all. But for this trio, things are a bit more brutal than for the rest of the country, leading one of their teachers, near the end of the film, to say, "You poor creatures. I wish I could help."

That, of course, is one of the things that average audiences are going to be wondering about. Why don't these doomed young adults try to make a run for it, as the Replicants did in "Blade Runner?" Why are they so resigned to their fate? Brainwashing is all well and good as an explanation, but when does the survival instinct kick in? As the film opens, in fact, Carrie Mulligan, who has become a "carer" is heard saying, "I've a great sense of pride in what we do. In the end, it wears you down."

Well, no kidding. Not only does it wear you down, it kills you, and most healthy, red-blooded young men and women would not go so gently into that good night, methinks. ("Logan's Run," anyone?)

But nevermind about that for the moment. Let's just enjoy the love triangle that Director Romanek has set up amongst Ruth, Kathy and Tommy. We all know that Tommy should be with Kathy, but, for some also unexplained reason, he lets himself be led around by the nose by the wraith-like Keira Knightley. That is another unexplained phenomenon.

Beyond that, there are lines like, "It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed" and references to the "unseen tides which pull us apart." Mulligan is shown holding a copy of Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" at one point.

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'Bill and Ted 3' Movie Sequel Confirmed - Gather.com

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 01:12 PM PDT

In totally awesome news, a "Bill and Ted 3" movie sequel has been confirmed. The sequel "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" came out in 1991 making it about twenty years into the future that we will see Bill & Ted now.

The star of the first two films, Keanu Reeves, had mentioned it in passing once before, leaving many scratching their heads. Was he joking or serious? Apparently co-star Alex Winter confirmed talks over the third film launching many into a frenzy for the new movie. According to AceShowbiz, screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon are both working on the movie now.

So what's the plot going to be? Well according to Alex Winter it will be "a straight up, what's the funniest and most surprising take on where Bill and Ted would be right now if we stopped back in on them? That's what we're doing." This third movie will be the follow up to "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," and "Bil & Ted's Bogus Journey."

Sounds like a great concept, and while there's been so many reboots, remakes and sequels, this will be a welcome one. However will it flop like other sequel that were years away from the last movie sequel? Examples are "Indiana Jones 4" and "Die Hard 4," both of which were made years after the third. In the Indy film, Harrison Ford was quite aged. Luckily, Reeves and Winter aren't too old so they won't be in rocking chairs or an old folks home. However a trip back in time for history's sake will be quite interesting to see now that they're older!

How do you feel about a third "Bill & Ted" film? Would you go check it out in a theater? The big question is what will they call it with all the fancy slang lingo these days?

 

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