An attorney for Howard K. Stern explains the longtime boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith will confront conspiracy charges made public on Thursday.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown described Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-turned-boyfriend as her “principal enabler” on Friday, referring to a conspiracy he had organized with two doctors in order to endow the “known addict” with thousands of prescription pills just a few months before the former Playboy playmate died of an overdose.

Howard K. Stern’s attorney, Krista Barth, informed Lisa Bloom of “In Session” and Joy Behar during Friday night’s “Larry King Live” on CNN that she and her client had never expected to encounter such a difficult situation, despite the raid that had taken place at one of the other defendants’ office.

Howard K. Stern, Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor were charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors after a two-year probe by the attorney general, state medical and insurance officials and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In addition to conspiracy, the charges filed on Thursday also encompass unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict. Howard Stern is facing six felony counts, while the two doctors are facing seven counts each. According to district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons, each defendant might serve up to five years and eight months behind bars.

Krista Barth said her client would plead not guilty “because he is not guilty.”

Anna Nicole Smith’s life was the main act of tabloids when she died on February 8, 2007, in Florida. Knotted in a fight to inherit millions of dollars from her late billionaire spouse’s assets, the sex symbol’s own son had passed away soon after she gave birth to a baby girl.