TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott has declined to appoint the medical examiner who autopsied the body of Anna Nicole Smith in 2007 to another term in office.
Scott said Wednesday he would not reappoint Dr. Joshua Perper, who has been Broward County's chief medical examiner for 17 years, The Miami Herald reported. Scott asked the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, which recommended Perper's reappointment, to forward him more names.
Perper, 78, has handled a number of high-profile cases. He became a celebrity after Smith -- a former Playmate of the Year, model, actress and television personality -- died in Broward County. Perper determined she was killed by an overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate and other medications.
In a high-profile embarrassment in 2009, Perper's office ruled that Bernice Novack, 87, the widow of the owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, had died accidentally in a fall. The death was reclassified as a homicide after Novack's daughter-in-law, Narcy, was charged with killing her husband.
