By BIANCA SYMONETTE, NG Staff Reporter, bianca@nasguard.com

After months of adjournments the inquest into the death of Daniel Smith, the son of the late model and actress Anna Nicole Smith, could come to a close this week as the final witness in the inquest, Anna Nicole's attorney and companion Howard Stern testified yesterday.

Coroner William Campbell instructed the jury to return to court on Thursday at 11 a.m., when the attorneys are expected to give brief submissions before the coroner makes his summary to the jury.

Stern's testimony on Tuesday brought Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur to tears as he recounted what transpired before Daniel's death on September 10, 2006.

According to Stern, he had no knowledge of the 20-year-old ever taking any illicit drugs. He also stated that he had only seen Daniel drink on three occasions.

Stern also denied claims made during the testimony of Ford Shelley and Ben Thompson, in which they claimed that Stern had flushed two pills down the toilet that had fallen out of a pair of Daniel's pants pocket.

The California attorney said that incident had never happened. He also refuted claims made by Anna Nicole's ex-lover and father of her daughter Larry Birkhead, stating that he never saw Anna Nicole offering Daniel any drugs. He added that he would be surprised if she did offered him drugs.

Stern said while Birkhead had raised concerns about the amount of pills Anna Nicole took, he said he was not concerned, because he knew they were prescribed by a doctor. He said that Anna Nicole would take one to two methadone pills at a time and up to six supplements.

During questioning by the prosecutor Neil Braithwaite, Stern gave details on how he made reservations for Daniel to come to The Bahamas on September 9. He added that he picked up Daniel from the airport and went directly to Doctors Hospital so that Daniel could visit his mom and baby sister.

"He seemed to be in a good mood. Daniel kept saying, I don't believe I have a baby sister ," Stern said.

The California attorney said Daniel looked thin and pale, and added that Daniel told him he was depressed about his breakup with girlfriend Mya. In addition, he was suffering from severe back pains.

When Stern and Daniel arrived at the hospital, they met with Anna Nicole and the baby and also Thompson. He said a short while later Thompson indicated that he was tired and had offered to take Daniel back to the Horizons home on the Eastern Road as he was leaving, but Daniel chose to stay in the hospital room with his mother.

Stern said awhile after Thompson left, Daniel indicated that he was hungry, got some food from On the Run on East Bay Street. At one point in his testimony after Daniel had died, Stern said he requested that the food be tested for poison because he could not determine what could have caused Daniel's death.

"I would never believe that it was drug related. I never thought that Daniel died from drugs, even when the toxicology report came out," Stern said.

According to him, there was no methadone in the Doctors Hospital room. He said that Anna Nicole was prescribed methadone for pain for a number of years, and the doctors indicated that she would not be able to stop right away, because her body would go through withdrawals and that would be harmful for the baby. Therefore, Anna Nicole's dosage was reduced and before giving birth she was prescribed liquid methadone, which was to be taken in less than five milligrams to avoid her body going into withdrawals. Before giving birth, Anna Nicole was off the methadone, Stern said.

After eating, Stern stated that they decided to go to bed, but Daniel indicated he was not tired, so he stayed up and watched TV on his mother's bed. Stern said he awoke a few times to help assist Anna Nicole to the bathroom, and did not wake up again until 9:30 the next morning, when Anna Nicole shouted to him that Daniel was not breathing. On one occasion, while assisting Anna Nicole to the bathroom, Stern said that Daniel stated that he did not know why he was so tired. Stern said he wished he had paid attention when Daniel said that.

" I touched his back to see if I could feel anything, I saw no movement from Daniel. I was really scared because he did not look good so I pushed the emergency button and in a matter of seconds doctors and nurses came in the room," Stern said.

At this point, Stern said that Anna Nicole was screaming and crying to Jesus not to take her son, but to take her instead.

As Stern continued his testimony, his voice started to crack as he testified how Anna Nicole had to be pulled away from her son, who she was hugging tightly. He said that after the doctors stopped working on him, Anna Nicole started to push on Daniel's chest stating that he was not dead.

"I could not believe it, she was inconsolable. She was wearing a cross necklace and she pulled it off and threw it against the wall and said 'no no..' Anna did not believe that Daniel was dead, so I took one picture of him to prove to her that Daniel was dead," Stern said.

He said he had nothing to gain by taking the picture and only used it to show Anna Nicole, after she asked for Daniel when she came home from the hospital. At Daniel's funeral, Stern said that the grieving mother was still in denial and had requested that the coffin be opened, stating that Daniel was only sleeping.

An autopsy concluded that Daniel died from a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants.