Smith to get Bahamas burial

MIAMI – Anna Nicole Smith will be buried next to her son in the Bahamas, but until a DNA test proves who fathered her baby daughter, she cannot truly rest in peace.

The paternity fight moves down the hall to another Broward courtroom Friday morning, when Judge Lawrence Korda weighs attorneys’ requests to order a DNA sample be taken from Smith’s infant daughter, Dannielynn.

Teary and emotional, Judge Larry Seidlin revealed late Thursday afternoon who will bury Smith, but not before turning the courtroom – and by extension the entire nation – into his personal psychiatric couch, musing on his career and his hopes for humanity.

Seidlin ruled that 5-month-old Dannielynn, Smith’s next of kin, will have custody of her mother’s body and that the child’s court-appointed guardian will choose Smith’s final resting place in her stead.

And despite his pronouncement that he was no longer on the job, Seidlin asked the men battling for custody of the baby to settle their dispute, a fight that grew ugly in recent days.

At least four men are claiming to have fathered the child, including Larry Birkhead, Smith’s ex-lover and personal photographer, and Howard K. Stern, her longtime partner and attorney.

“Submit to DNA and find out who the father is,” said Seidlin, raising his voice, then shouting: “It’s enough baloney!”

Richard Milstein, Dannielynn’s guardian ad litem, said he has chosen to bury Smith in the Bahamas next to her son Daniel, who died last fall at age 20 and whom Milstein called the “most important possession in her life.”

In the wake of the ruling, it seemed perhaps Seidlin’s many tangents, asides and off-kilter questions were intended to reveal the flawed character of each party, thereby justifying his decision to put the matter into Milstein’s hands.

Before leaving the court, Seidlin pleaded with the parties to keep the interests of 5-month-old Dannielynn foremost in their hearts and actions.

“I hope to God you guys give this kid the right shot,” he said, stammering through tears.

Stern, Birkhead and Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, seemed to have taken the message to heart, for the moment at least. All three, along with their attorneys, emerged from the courthouse with arms linked.

Despite the week’s legal dogfight – which included accusations of murder, promiscuity and mind control – they said love for Smith and her daughter has united them.

But Arthur’s attorneys also announced they are filing an appeal, and Smith’s body must remain under 24-hour security at the Broward County medical examiner’s office until the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach issues a ruling.

The court must act quickly, as Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper has warned that Smith’s body is rapidly decomposing.

Perper, who will escort the body to the islands when he and Milstein get the go-ahead, has not yet ruled on what caused Smith’s Feb. 8 death.

Perper said the toxicology reports won’t be in for at least nine days; without them, he cannot say what caused her to die suddenly at age 39.