Two of Anna Nicole Smith’s former doctors who are on trial for drug conspiracy are free to practise medicine after a Los Angeles judge refused to suspend their medical licenses.

Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, and the late Playboy model’s former lawyer/boyfriend Howard K. Stern stand accused of illegally providing Smith with controlled substances and supplying drugs to an addict.

They were re-arraigned on Friday (11Dec09) after a two-week preliminary hearing, and renewed their not guilty pleas on a total of 23 charges.

Superior Court Judge David Wesley rejected an effort by the attorney general’s office to immediately suspend Kapoor and Eroshevich’s licenses, pending the outcome of the trial – allowing the pair to continue to practise medicine and write prescriptions for controlled substances.

Smith died in 2007 following an accidental overdose at a Florida hotel.

If convicted, Kapoor, Eroshevich and Stern could face five years in prison.

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