Levi Johnston’s Mother Pleads Guilty To Drug Offense

Aug. 19 2009, Published 7:26 a.m. ET

Sherry Johnston, the mother of Bristol Palin’s baby daddy Levi Johnston, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the prescription painkiller oxycodone. She will be sentenced in November under a pre-approved deal that has her serving five years in prison, with two years suspended.

Levi and Bristol, the daughter of former Alaska governor and Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, have had an acrimonious break-up pitting the Johnston and Palin families against each other – with their infant son Tripp, in the middle.

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Sherry was convicted of a Class A felony, which normally comes with a five to eight year sentence but her attorney Rex Butler was able to argue it down because his client had no previous convictions and the amount of the drug involved was small.

In an exclusive interview, Butler told RadarOnline.com that he’d hoped Mrs. Johnston could serve her sentence at home with ankle bracelet monitoring. “Her celebrity is a Catch-22,” he said. “The state doesn’t want to be seen as being too lenient or too hard.