Howard K. Stern's "Living Hell" Over

Anna Nicole Smith's lover speaks out after the bombshell news today that his conviction following her death has been dismissed.

"These last four years have just, there's no way to put it into words how difficult they've been," said Howard K. Stern.

Stern was convicted in October 2010 of conspiring to obtain prescription drugs for the former model using his name and others.

He could have faced more than three years in jail. But a judge threw out the conviction. He also reduced the conviction of Smith's psychiatrist, Khristine Eroshevich, to a misdemeanor.

INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret spoke to Stern minutes after the stunning turn of events.

"Do you feel overwhelming relief and shock?" Moret asked him.

"Not shock, it's gone on so long, it's a hard feeling to describe. It's a vindication, it's a relief, but at the same time it's something that should have never happened," Stern said.

Smith died from a drug overdose in a Florida hotel room in 2007.

"She was in incredible depression and in incredible pain," Stern told reporters.

Her death triggered a long-running feud between Stern, who was her one-time lawyer, and photographer Larry Birkhead over custody of her daughter. Birkhead won.