LA "Yes", Florida "No" and Bahamas "Stay"... Oh Dear!!!

Judges on both coasts weighed in Wednesday on what to do with Anna Nicole Smith's body amid the custody dispute over her infant daughter, moving closer to releasing the former Playboy Playmate's body for burial.

A Florida judge, citing a California court's order last week for DNA testing on Smith's body, ordered a morgue not to release it.

A Los Angeles judge, however, quickly lifted a request that the body be held.

"California has no need for the body of Anna Nicole," said James Neavitt, an attorney for Howard K. Stern, one of several men claiming paternity of 5-month-old Dannielynn.

Birkhead asked the Florida court Tuesday to enforce the California court order for DNA testing filed Friday, the day after Smith died. Nancy Hass, an attorney for Birkhead, said the Birkhead camp feared that accurate DNA testing would not be possible if the body were released and moved out of state.

Smith's mother, Vergie Arthur, and Stern had been opposing last week's decision by the Los Angeles judge, fearing that if the body is not embalmed, even though it is refrigerated, it will not be suitable for viewing or funeral purposes.

"We would just want ... to proceed with a proper burial," Ron Rale, the attorney who had represented Smith in the California paternity battle, said before the hearing in Los Angeles.

"No one should go about touching Anna Nicole," Rale said.

Krista Barth, another lawyer for Stern, said Smith made it clear she wanted to be buried in the Bahamas, where her son is buried, and condemned what she said were Arthur's efforts to bury her daughter's body in Texas.

"I think we all know Anna wants to be next to Daniel, and anything else is a tragedy," Barth said.

A Bahamian judge issued an injunction Tuesday preventing the baby from being taken out of the country until the custody case is resolved. Arthur wants to be named guardian of her granddaughter and sought the order because she feared Stern would take the child from the Bahamas, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Arthur has said she fears for the baby's safety, noting Stern was present when Smith died and when Smith's son died in the Bahamas in September, three days after Dannielynn was born. Stern has said Smith hated her mother.

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