Ex Marks the Spot

Image credit: Anna Nicole Smith: DeGuire/WireImage.com

ANNA HALLS OF JUSTICE Smith accuses ex of stalking her

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The nice thing about dating octogenarians is that they're not likely to threaten you with a knife. That's what Anna Nicole Smith says ex-boyfriend Peter Hatten (who, like Smith, is 34) did two years ago, prompting her to break up with him. Unfortunately, the new reality-show star claims, Hatten still won't leave her alone. Charged with battery, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorist threats, and stalking, Hatten pleaded not guilty yesterday in Los Angeles County Court, the Associated Press reports.

In a pretrial hearing last month, Smith claimed that their relationship ended in June 2000 when he approached her with a knife at her home, though she never reported that incident to police. Since then, she says, he's continued to call her. In the incident before the court, Smith claims Hatten phoned earlier this year to tell her he was coming over with a gun. Her neighbor, Rene Navarro, went to her house to persuade Hatten to leave but was allegedly punched and kicked by the accused man.

Hatten's lawyer disputes that account. He says the defendant was living in Arizona at the time and was in Los Angeles visiting relatives when he called Smith and said he was dropping by. ''He came over to her house with flowers and a friend,'' the attorney told AP.

Smith wasn't at yesterday's arraignment, though she's spent a lot of time in courtrooms over the last seven years, battling for a piece of the estate of her late husband, 90-year-old Texas tycoon J. Howard Marshall. Earlier this year, a judge awarded her $88 million, but her stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, is appealing that decision, and Smith has yet to see a dime. It's no wonder that she's become such close friends with her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, that he's a regular on her new E! reality series, ''The Anna Nicole Show.'' No word on whether the Hatten dispute will be fodder for her E! escapades.