-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- dallasnews.com: Texas/Southwest[Two things will happen here. 1) It may be the most-watched trial on T.V. since the O.J. criminal trial; 2) Bill Clinton will comfort the winner and loser. "Judge Mike Wood is allowing a single television camera capable of gavel-to-gavel coverage inside the courtroom." "I want there to be free coverage,'' he said." But he said he also plans to try to prevent a circuslike atmosphere by shutting off the camera at sensitive times and limiting lawyers' conversations with the media." http://dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/21391_annanicole23.html Battle of wills Widowed ex-Playmate, tycoon's sons head for court in inheritance feud 01/23/2000 By Bruce Nichols / The Dallas Morning News HOUSTON - As Anna Nicole Smith, she was the 1993 Playmate of the Year, a top model for Guess? jeans and a bit player in movies. But, it's under her real name that Vickie Lynn Marshall goes to court in Houston next month to fight for millions. The 32-year-old former topless dancer was married to oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II for the last 14 months of his life, and she wants a share of the fortune he left when he died in 1995 at age 90. You've heard the story before. Shapely young blonde marries rich old man, his family disapproves and, when he dies, there's a fight over his money. Estimates of Mr. Marshall's fortune range as high as $1.6 billion. This case is more complicated. The will under contest leaves everything to one son, E. Pierce Marshall of Dallas. The other son, J. Howard Marshall III of Los Angeles, gets nothing, so he's fighting for a share, too. It's a trial that features a Hollywood sex symbol, big Texas money and a long, bitter rivalry between aging siblings. Both Marshall sons are in their 60s and financially comfortable, lawyers say. "It has all the elements of great drama, along with a lot of boring legal, trust and estate-planning stuff,'' said Richard Zook, a lawyer for Ms. Marshall. A settlement before trial appears unlikely, said attorneys for the sons, who don't talk to reporters. Ms. Marshall could not be reached for comment. Judge Mike Wood is allowing a single television camera capable of gavel-to-gavel coverage inside the courtroom. "I want there to be free coverage,'' he said. But he said he also plans to try to prevent a circuslike atmosphere by shutting off the camera at sensitive times and limiting lawyers' conversations with the media. News media around the world have found Ms. Marshall irresistible since Mr. Marshall married her in 1994, after meeting her in a topless club in Houston, then died 14 months later. Her legal battles with Pierce Marshall began even before her husband died, when the son established a guardianship to control his father's money and she went to court demanding financial support. Legal division The fight has intensified since, crossed state lines and set up a potentially precedent-setting legal conflict between a federal bankruptcy court in California and probate court in Texas, lawyers say. Pierce Marshall sued Ms. Marshall and one of her lawyers, Diana Marshall, no relation, for libel over comments they made in the media. He won an an $8.5 million judgment. The lawyer settled for $800,000, but Vickie Marshall filed for bankruptcy in California in 1996, and Mr. Marshall lodged a claim in that case. Vickie Marshall counterclaimed that Pierce Marshall cheated her. Her lawyers accused Pierce Marshall of refusing to supply evidence and give a deposition, so Bankruptcy Judge Samuel Bufford sanctioned him. A final ruling is pending, but in a rare move, Judge Bufford said last May that Ms. Marshall appears entitled to damages from Pierce Marshall equal to as much as half of the estate. Judge Wood contends that he, not a bankruptcy judge in California, has authority to dispose of the estate. If California and Texas rulings end up in conflict, "I think there's a very significant jurisdictional issue,'' said Don Jackson, a lawyer for Pierce Marshall. Some of the evidence in the multistate legal war has been lurid. Judge Bufford in Los Angeles excluded a man's affidavit that he regularly had sex with Ms. Marshall before and after she was married to Mr. Marshall, in a house Mr. Marshall had bought for her. One of the claimants in the bankruptcy case was a female housekeeper who accused Ms. Marshall of sexual assault and won a default judgment. Ms. Marshall has always denied misconduct and said she was faithful to her husband. She has adopted modest dress and demeanor for deposition testimony, and probably will avoid the racy appearance she adopted in photographs and posters she has made, lawyers said. "She has her hair up. She wears a conservative blue pantsuit, modest jewelry and she tries to be very soft- spoken,'' said Lee Ware, a lawyer for Pierce Marshall. "She tries to appear to be . . . a besieged young lady.'' Her credibility is important because her claim is based largely on her recollection of promises by her late husband to give her half of his fortune. She charges there was a conspiracy to deprive her of her entitlement. "He . . . promised me half of everything because he loved me and he wanted to make me happy,'' she testified in the California case. Promises and the law Under Texas law, she's entitled to half of the property accumulated during the marriage, but lawyers for Pierce Marshall argue that gifts she received while her husband was alive - estimated at $8 million - cover that. "He bought me just about anything I wanted. He loved to surprise me,'' she testified in the California case. Lawyers for Pierce Marshall argue that she can't inherit any of the estate because she's not mentioned in any wills. Besides, they say, her husband put almost everything in trust to avoid taxes and had little when he died. In the other half of the case coming to trial in Houston, excluded elder son J. Howard Marshall III has a similar problem. He's left out of wills and codicils filed from 1982 forward. But he says his father promised him half the estate in 1980, during a battle for control of Koch Industries. A minority holding in the Kansas-based energy and agriculture giant is the bulk of the Marshall fortune. Years earlier, J. Howard Marshall II had given his sons some of his holdings in Koch. When a fight erupted among Koch heirs for control, each of Mr. Marshall's sons had enough shares to swing the outcome. When J. Howard Marshall III said he planned to side with dissidents against current Koch management, his father threatened to disinherit him unless he sold the shares back for $8 million. J. Howard Marshall III says he agreed to sell and his father then withdrew the threat of disinheritance, promising he'd share equally in the estate. That promise amounted to a contract that should be enforced, he says. Lawyers for Pierce Marshall say he feels obligated to honor his father's wishes, as expressed repeatedly in wills since 1982, to disinherit his brother. Family fights The family had been through ups and downs even before Vickie Lynn Smith, or Anna Nicole, came on the scene, evidence shows. J. Howard Marshall II divorced the boys' mother in 1960 and married his assistant. He later began an affair with another woman before his second wife died in 1991. His gifts to the mistress triggered court battles. J. Howard Marshall III's attitude toward Ms. Marshall has mellowed since they ended up with a common adversary, Pierce Marshall. "I don't think she's guilty of all the nefarious things that people are saying,'' he has testified. Judge Wood plans to begin working on jury selection with the lawyers in Houston on Feb. 11 and to start questioning a pool of jury candidates on Feb. 14. The trial is expected to last eight or 10 weeks and involve 40 or 50 witnesses and a lot of documentary evidence, most of which will be presented to the jury using computerized video equipment, lawyers said. Pierce Marshall "wants to do what his father wanted done. He very strongly feels that it is his obligation,'' Mr. Ware said. As for Howard Marshall, his lawyer declined comment. "My client prefers this matter not be tried in the press,'' said attorney Jim Hartnett Jr. of Dallas. "They're all hard-headed,'' said Gregg Laswell, another attorney in the case. [ Texas & Southwest | Dallasnews.com ] 1999 The Dallas Morning News ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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