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Birkhead Lawyer Released From Baby Battle

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Apr 24, 2007 3:48 pm US/Eastern

Birkhead Lawyer Released From Baby Battle

Judge Inks Order Officially Allowing Attorney Debra Opri To Leave The Case

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A Superior Court judge has signed an order releasing attorney Debra Opri from the battle over Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter.

The order was signed Monday.

Opri was hired last year by Larry Birkhead as part of his effort to prove paternity of now 7-month-old Dannielynn. Smith's boyfriend-attorney Howard K. Stern was listed as the father on the girl's birth certificate.

After months of legal wrangling on Birkhead's behalf, Opri suddenly withdrew from the case in March. Earlier this month, the paternity issue was resolved when DNA tests in the Bahamas showed Birkhead was the girl's father.

Smith, 39, died Feb. 8 from a lethal combination of drugs.

A legal dispute continues over the estate of Smith's late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died in 1995. It remains unclear how much, if any, of Marshall's $500 million estate Dannielynn might inherit and whether her guardian would have access to the money.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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