Shepersky pleads not guilty

PALMER — A Wasilla man pleaded not guilty in Palmer court Thursday to charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, third-degree assault, and driving under the influence.

Trenton Shepersky, 22, posted $5,000 cash toward a $50,000 unsecured bond and left the courtroom on bail after the out-of-custody arraignment. Shepersky will be subjected to three random urinalysis tests per week as a bail condition. The DUI charge added Thursday is the result of nearly 200 used inhalant containers found inside Shepersky’s car, as well as evidence of recent cocaine and marijuana use, assistant district attorney Shawn Traini told the court and Debra Shepersky, Trenton’s mother and employer.

“Specifically, the concern in this case is: it’s alleged your son was under the influence of marijuana, cocaine, at least recent cocaine use, cocaine metabolite in his system,” Traini said. “And then something called whippets: 199 empty whippet containers in the vehicle with the means to use those.”

“Whippets” refers to nitrous oxide canisters used commercially as a propellant for whipped cream dispensers.

Debra Shepersky also will serve as a court-appointed third-party custodian for her son, and told presiding judge Kari Kristiansen she would not hesitate to turn her son in, should he stray.

“Your honor, I’m going to do everything I can to help Trent, as long as he is helping himself and doing everything that he’s supposed to,” she said. “If he’s not going to follow the rules, I can’t help him, because I’m not going to, for lack of a better term, go with somebody that’s not gonna do what they’re supposed to. So I would have to call them (the police).”

“Would you hesitate?” defense attorney Gregory Parvin asked.

“No,” Debra Shepersky said, without hesitation. “No. I’m not gonna get caught up in that kind of a game.”

Debra Shepersky works as a commercial painting contractor and employs her son. Their work drew several pointed questions from Traini on the nature of the paints used in her profession. Debra Shepersky told the court that most residential and commercial paint jobs today involve liquid paint without the use of propellants or solvents, and that Trenton Shepersky would not have access to pressurized, propellant-driven paints commonly associated with inhalant abuse through their work.

Trenton, 22, was indicted Monday for what authorities say was his role in a March 12 Glenn Highway wreck that killed one person and injured four others. Camille J. Plancher, 26, of France, died in the crash, which injured three other foreign nationals on vacation: Alex Violet, 27, of France; Misa Shimiza, 25, of Japan; and Beryl Vignery, 30, of British Columbia, Canada.

Shepersky attended his out-of-custody arraignment Thursday morning, and spoke only in answer to yes or no questions asked by Kristiansen.

Manslaughter is a class-A felony, with a maximum potential sentence of 20 years imprisonment on conviction. Criminally negligent homicide is a class-B felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. Third-degree assault is a class-C felony, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. Driving under the influence is a misdemeanor offense.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.