CALIFORNIA BRIEFING

A Bahamian nanny who cared for Anna Nicole Smith’s newborn daughter says the model’s boyfriend cajoled Smith into taking prescription drugs that left her slurring her words and confined to bed for days at a time, according to court testimony Thursday.

A state narcotics investigator told a judge weighing evidence against Smith’s longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, that nanny Nadine Alexie recounted multiple instances when the onetime Playboy playmate refused pills and injections but Stern would “talk her into it.” The agent testified at a preliminary hearing to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to try Stern and two physicians on charges of illegally providing prescription medication to Smith, who died from an overdose in 2007 at the age of 39.

-- Harriet Ryan