Palin pleads guilty to misdemeanor charge

ANCHORAGE — The son of a former Wasilla mayor, Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate has pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing in the first degree.

Track Palin, son of Sarah Palin, was scheduled to make an appearance at the Anchorage Veterans Court for the second straight day Tuesday. Palin was not in the courtroom, but made his plea by phone.

The plea agreement includes 10 days of jail time.

Palin was originally charged with burglary in the first degree, assault in the fourth degree and criminal mischief in the fourth degree. The charges stem from an incident Dec. 16, 2017, when Palin, now 29, was arrested after a domestic incident at his parents’ home in Wasilla.

“Obviously something happened here. Police were called, investigation was done,” Anchorage Judge David Wallace said.

Palin is accused of assaulting his father, Todd while reportedly intoxicated from the use of both alcohol and prescription medication.

“Basically what happened is Mr. Palin had been told that he wasn’t allowed to enter the residence, he entered by force and was soon arrested upon police arrival,” Anchorage District Attorney Rick Allen said.

Palin’s case was moved from Palmer to Anchorage, after a motion was filed by his attorney, Patrick Bergt, and is now in a veteran’s court that focuses on therapeutic rehabilitation.

Allen explained that in Veteran’s court, there’s is a “good offer” and a “bad offer” and if Palin completes his requirements, his “sort of reward” will be a further reduction down to a class B misdemeanor.

“A normal sentence would be for 30 days in jail for a class A misdemeanor but because of this nature of this offense being a class B felony, you as well as your attorney and the district attorney’s office have agreed by clearing convincing evidence that the most serious aggravator is going to be admitted to,” Wallace said.

Palin has to comply with the court’s requirements that include drug and alcohol rehabilitation and mandatory, weekly urine analysis, making daily calls to his parole officer to see if he needs to provide a sample. If Palin completes the court’s requirements, he will serve 10 days in jail. If Palin does not, he could serve a year in jail.

“The easiest thing for him to have done would have just been to have pleaded guilty, done a little bit of jail time and moved on with his life,” Allen said.

Palin is an Army veteran and he was deployed in Iraq where he served with the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He was in service for a year.

“He got a deal that is very much in line with what these folks get,” Allen said.

According to charging documents, on the night of Palin’s arrest, Sarah Palin called the police saying her son was “freaking out” and on some type of medication.

As police pulled up to the residence at 8:37 p.m. they reported two vehicles were pulling away, and one of them contained Todd Palin, who appeared to have injuries to his face. Sarah Palin was in the other vehicle, and according to reports, she told police Track was still inside the residence.

Track, police said, yelled back at them as they asked him to come off the porch, but Track reportedly called the police ‘peasants’ and told them to lay their guns on the ground.

After 10 to 15 minutes, communication with Track was resumed, police say, and Track was handcuffed without incident. His father was reportedly left beaten and bloody.

“Track stated he then went through the broken window and disarmed Todd and put him on the ground,” officer Adam LaPointe wrote in his report. “While Track had Todd on the ground he started hitting Todd in the head. Todd was able to get away from Track and get out of the residence.”

Palin was scheduled to change his plea on Monday, wearing a gray jacket, sunglasses and a ball cap, ducking through the cameras and even reportedly hiding in the men’s bathroom for a moment but his plea change moved to Tuesday.

Palin, who initially pleaded not guilty, was one of several veterans who appeared in court Monday morning. Wallace spoke to Palin during the proceedings. Wallace reminded Palin that he needed to be on time for his urine analysis’ and asked him how everything else has been going.

“Kinda bored, learning,” Palin said.

Wallace asked Palin what was learning and he replied, “patience.”

“That’s the number one kind of thing when you come to this kind of court; you gotta’ start with that,” Wallace said. “So otherwise mister Palin, it seems like you’re doing great so keep up the hard work, get here on time.”

Wallace told Palin to return to court on Monday, June 25.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at Jacob.mann@frontiersman.com.