Saturday 30 January 2010

A tale of two familes: the Johnstons and the Palins - Sentencing of Diana Palin

December 18, 2008

Sherry L. Johnston was arrested by Alaska State Troopers at her Wasilla home Thursday December 18, 2008 and charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.

November 20, 2009

Sherry Johnston was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for dealing the prescription painkiller OxyContin.

Johnston received less time than the normal five to eight years for a second-degree felony drug charge because the amount she was dealing was so small.

Johnston is slated to serve her sentence at Alaska's only female prison, Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River. She has been at Hiland since she pleaded guilty in August.

Her attorney, Rex Butler, has filed paperwork with the state Department of Corrections to get Johnston out of prison and on an ankle-monitoring program for her three-year sentence. If she qualifies, Johnston could serve her time at her home in Wasilla.

With a criminal history of only one misdemeanor DUI charge in 1993, Corrections officials say she is a good candidate for the program.

Butler said his client was selling some of the drugs to get money to pay for other pain medications that her insurance company was cutting her off from.

April 13, 2009

Jailed at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility since Wasilla police arrested her April 2, Diana Palin pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance in Palmer Superior Court this morning.

Police say she broke into a home on West Mill Site Circle owned by Theodore Turcott to steal cash. Turcott told investigators he'd lost nearly $2,600 in two prior burglaries, so when he saw an unfamiliar car pull into his driveway, he waited in a bathroom for Palin and confronted her after she headed straight for a cabinet where he kept his money, according to a police affidavit filed by Officer Jentry Crain. Palin's 4-year-old daughter came into the home as her mother was being detained by Turcott, who was armed, police and prosecutors say.

On April 2, police arrested Palin for that day's break-in and also for a burglary March 31 in which nearly $400 was taken from Turcott's home.

The grand jury on Friday indicted Palin for those break-ins, and also for one March 26 in which $2,200 was stolen, according to court documents.

January 29, 2010

Palin received SIS (Suspended Imposition of Sentence) and therefore will serve no more jail time.

She WILL continue her substance abuse treatment at Akeela House, where she will receive services on an outpatient basis.

These two women broke the law. Both crimes involved drugs - one crime was small time drug dealing with mitigating circumstances and the other was burglary to finance the purchase of drugs, where the woman took her 4 year old daughter with her.

Sherry Johnston belongs to a family at odds with the Palins and was sentenced to three years in jail.

The Johnstons: Levi, Sherry and Mercede

Diana Palin is... a Palin (!) and was sentenced to nothing, apart from some rehab program as an outpatient at an expensive facility.

Diana with some of the Palins

Is anybody surprised?

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Explanation of the above pictures, showing Diana Palin with other family members:

1. Screenshot of Diana Palin's myspace account before it was made private.

2. Photo of Diana Palin holding Trig at the pool of the Biltmore Hotel Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, most likely taken on November 5, 2008. In the background Sarah Palin's sister Molly with one of her sons.

Please also read our extensive report about Diana Palin with more details about the background of her case and her family HERE.

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