Johnston expected to plead guilty to one drug charge

PALMER — Sherry Johnston is set to enter into a plea agreement with prosecutors in her Oxycontin sales case.

Johnston, 46, is the mother of Levi Johnston, who fathered a son with Gov. Palin’s daughter Bristol.

According to Rex Butler, Johnston’s attorney, the deal as outlined in court Thursday, involves a guilty plea on one felony count of second-degree drug misconduct. In return, prosecutors will dismiss the remaining five counts of drug misconduct.

“She’s going to have to do some mandatory jail time. I’m just going to request that the court reduce as much as the court can reduce,” Butler said.

The minimum term, he said, is five years. But another portion of the plea deal is that prosecutors will agree to what’s called a “mitigator,” in this case that the amount of drugs involved was small.

“With the mitigator the judge can reduce it by 50 percent if the judge so chooses,” Butler said. Or, he said, Superior Court Judge Eric Smith could choose to reduce it a month or, “he can decline to reduce it at all.”

Johnston’s home was searched Dec. 18 and soon after she was arrested. The affidavit filed with her case by Alaska State Trooper Investigator Donna Anthony said troopers had been watching Johnston at around the time that her son’s girlfriend’s mother was running for vice president of the United States, but arrested her after Palin and her running mate, John McCain, lost the election.

The string of events started in the second week of September when drug investigators intercepted a package containing 179 Oxycontin pills. They allowed the pills to be delivered, then moved in to bust the recipients.

But the suspects agreed to cooperate, and worked with investigators to make drug buys from Johnston, Anthony wrote.

Three drug buys later and troopers were ready to arrest Johnston.

Butler said that he plans to request that Johnston serve as much of her time as possible on an ankle monitor, rather than in a prison cell.

“She has some complicated medical issues. And so I really would like to have her spend as much of that time as possible at home,” Butler said.

Johnston is next due in court July 31 at 11 a.m., at which time she is expected to formally enter her guilty plea. At that hearing, a sentencing date will be agreed upon.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.