Levi Johnston's mom sentenced to 3 years in drug case

By GottaLaff

Bad news for the Johnston family:

Sherry Johnston was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for dealing OxyContin. [...]

Johnston, who lives in Wasilla, made a deal with prosecutors in August to plead to a single felony count in exchange for dropping the other five felony drug dealing charges against her. The deal called for her to be sentenced to three years of prison time plus three years of probation, which is what the judge gave her.

Johnston will serve her sentence at Alaska's only female prison, Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River.

Now Sarah Palin's ghost writer has something to add to the paperback version.

UPDATE: Go here for details that aren't included in this post. Gryphen has the scoop.

Levi Johnston's mom cops plea: addiction blamed on no health insurance

By GottaLaff

Hey Chuck Grassley, et al. Look what a health care crisis can do:

The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case.

Sherry Johnston pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin. Five other felony counts were dropped.

I feel sorry for her, and I hope she gets treatment for her problem. However, I can't help but point and laugh a teeny tiny bit at this next part:

"That's pretty," Johnston said as a state trooper's pink handcuffs were placed around her wrists.

Okay, fun time over. Let's get to something that will most likely get overlooked elsewhere:

Although Johnston could receive 20 years in prison, her attorney and prosecutors agreed to a five-year sentence, with two years suspended, Butler said, considering the small quantities of drugs involved. [...]

Sherry Johnston has two pain pumps implanted in her body to deliver medication because she suffers a rare condition involving scurvy and chronic pelvic pain from prior medical surgeries, Butler said. She was receiving professional pain relief treatment but the problems arose when her insurer refused to pay for the medication, Butler said.

I'm sorry, what? Her insurer wouldn't pay for prescribed medication that her own doctor ordered for her? So they got between her and her physician? Isn't that called "rationing"? Was Ms. Johnston held hostage by her insurance company?

Would, say-y-y...a public option have helped prevent her drug abuse problems?

Nah, a government run program have just gotten in the way of her privately uninsured addiction, what with the Feds sticking their medical noses where they didn't belong and all.

Yeah, better to force someone to resort to committing felonies than to allow proper care.

"People want to think she was just a drug addict," he said. "She made a poor judgment choice. But what do you do?"

Why, you run a lying, corporate smear campaign to prevent Americans from getting the care they need, that's what! Silly question.

Assistant District Attorney Richard K. Allen said prosecutors considered Johnston's criminal-free background as well as her physical problems in agreeing to the mitigated sentence.

Levi didn't attend the hearing.

She really does need rehab. Let's hope she recovers and has no further drug issues... and that she has access to health care sooner than later... public health insurance... that she can afford.

Sarah the Quitter pressured prosecutors in Johnston case

By GottaLaff

Via The Mudflats, we discover that, while another Palin scandal may interest us on a slow news day, the real story is this one (original post on this here):

And what, in the long run, may be the most important story revealed today is this from The Immoral Minority:

As some of you may know Sherry [Johnston's} court date was moved from yesterday to August 19. The reason for this is that until just now the prosecutors REFUSED to make any kind of a deal, because of pressure they were receiving from the Governor. For some reason Palin was pushing for Sherry to receive the maximum sentence. [snip]

I cannot talk about what kind of deal Sherry may get, but the prosecution has become much more reasonable now that Sean Parnell is our Governor.

Okay, so maybe I should have ignored rumors of a Sarah/Todd split (it was irresistible, widely reported, and I'm only human), but we cannot ignore S the Q pressuring the courts for what appears to be personal reasons.

She just can't stay out of the news, now can she? Maybe she'll Tweet about it.

VIDEO: Levi Johnston has a lawyer

By GottaLaff



And now we return to today's episode of "As the Stomach Turns". We last saw our young lad Levi Johnston, new father, son of Sherry, on the Larry King Show, putting up his dukes in preparation for a legal battle over Baby Tripp:

Teen father Levi Johnston dropped a bombshell into the middle of the escalating family feud between Johnston’s family and the family of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose eldest daughter is the mother of Johnston’s infant son.

In an interview with CNN’s Larry King, Johnston, his mother, and his sister acknowledged that they have a lawyer and are contemplating taking legal action to protect Johnston’s parental rights.

“That is what we’re going to have to do next,” Johnston’s mother, Sherry, said Wednesday on Larry King Live. “We were just hoping that we wouldn’t have to,” Sherry Johnston also said.

But “that is the step we’re going to have to go,” Johnston’s mother said later in the interview.

And who wouldn't listen to the advice a drug pusher?

While the young father and his mother at times appeared hesitant about the prospect of taking formal legal action, Mercede Johnston, Levi Johnston’s younger sister, seemed anxious to get the brewing custody battle in front a judge.

“I hope it happens soon, to be honest” Mercede Johnston said. “I want that baby in my life just as much as he does.”

Levi Johnston also told King that he is not paying any child support to Bristol Palin right now. “I got everything my boy needs back home – diapers, toys, everything. Once we go to court, we’ll deal with that.” [...]

Johnston and his family told King that Johnston is permitted to visit with his son at the Palin home but is not permitted to take the child away from the home.

Will Levi get joint custody long enough to take little Tripp on a rip-roaring snow mobile joy ride? Will Mama Sherry spike Sarah Palin's moose juice with enough Oxycontin to achieve compliance and avoid a nasty court battle? Will the judge order that the Palin family stop choosing oddball names for their babies?

All these questions-- and more-- will be addressed on the next episode of... "As the Stomach Turns".

Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law has a fancy new lawyer

By GottaLaff

I wonder who's paying for Lawbooks McHotshot... Sarah Palin maybe? Or perhaps Sherry sold enough Oxycontin to Rush Limbaugh to be able to save up:

Sherry Johnston came to court Friday morning with an entourage -- son Levi, daughter Mercedes, and her new attorney, prominent Anchorage defense lawyer Rex Butler.

Johnston left with a new trial date: May instead of March.

The 42-year-old pleaded not guilty last month to six felony counts of possessing and selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin. [...]

Her arrest received national attention because her son, Levi Johnston, 18, is the father of Gov. Sarah Palin's grandson, Tripp, born in December. [...]

With the presidential election over and the national media long gone, no one paid special attention to the group, though Superior Court Judge Eric Smith did ask one of the young men to remove his ball cap.

Butler told Smith that he filed notice Friday morning that he was taking over as Johnston's lawyer, replacing a state-funded attorney from the Office of Public Advocacy. He asked Smith to push back the trial to allow him to get up to speed on the case.

Smith set a new trial date of May 18.

Butler [is]one of the busiest defense attorneys in Anchorage...

Now Sherry can say the Butler did it.

Grandma Palin Says Levi Johnston Is Not a High School Dropout

By GottaLaff

I wonder if Levi and Bristol will take correspondence courses in birth control:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, says her future son-in-law is not a high school dropout as the press is reporting.

Palin told The Associated Press on Wednesday that 18-year-old Levi Johnston is enrolled in high school through a correspondence program.

Palin said some media outlets also are erroneously reporting that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is a high school dropout. The governor said her daughter is enrolled in regular high school and also has taken correspondence courses.

I'm sure the press is Tripping all over themselves to make the correction: Levi is not a high school dropout. Nosireebob.

He's just a hormone-laden jock and the very high school-educated son of a drug dealer, who got his equally overzealous, high school-educated girlfriend/daughter of a phony family values, inarticulate vice presidential candidate, pregnant out of wedlock.

The perfect role models. Especially now that we know they are not high school dropouts. That would have been a deal-breaker.

Bristol Palin's Baby Daddy's Mommy's drug bust nugget

By GottaLaff

From the Celtic Diva, a juicy detail that slipped right by me:

It turns out that the "controlled substance" Grandma number two was busted for is Oxycontin.

This tidbit was in the article:

Kalytiak said the standard protocol for drug arrests is that law enforcement officials observe one drug buy, then get a warrant that permits them to record conversations and document more buys.

"I'd imagine standard protocol was followed," the district attorney said.

How badly do you imagine the Palins are sweating right now?

Well, now, what do we have here? On the BlagoMeter of Taped Convos, this could rate a bleeping 10.