Anna Nicole's Partner Drops DNA Appeal

Anna Nicole Smith's partner dropped his bid Monday to block the release of DNA test results that could reveal the father of her baby daughter when it appeared a Bahamas court was going to reject his appeal.

An attorney for Howard K. Stern withdrew the challenge in the face of skeptical questioning by the three-judge Court of Appeal.

All three judges noted that Stern had filed his challenge too late and should have raised his objections before the Supreme Court ordered DNA testing in the paternity challenge filed by Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend of Smith who claims to be the father of the infant, Dannielynn.

Justice Emmanuel E. Osadebay noted that Stern himself had agreed to DNA testing and waited until a week after the sample was taken to file the challenge.

Stern is listed on the birth certificate as the father of Dannielynn, who was born in the Bahamas in September. The child's DNA was tested March 21 but the results have not been revealed.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a hearing in the paternity case but the lawyers and officials are prohibited by Bahamian legal rules from discussing the case, even to reveal the nature of the hearing.

The baby, whose full name is Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could inherit millions from the estate of Smith's late husband, J. Howard Marshall II. Smith had been fighting the Texas oil tycoon's family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.