Sherry Johnston hopefully headed home for the holidays, and my afternoon with "Team Levi".

Today was Sherry Johnstons's sentencing. And I decided that since no other media in town seemed interested in covering it, that I should go and report back what I witnessed.

I left my house at 9:00 A.M. to make the hour long drive to the Palmer Courthouse, in order to be there in time for the 10:30 sentencing.

I have to say that Alaska was really putting on a quite a show today, with a brilliant blue sky and frosted trees along the road that were quite breathtaking. With such scenery to keep my eyes entertained it seemed that I was at the courthouse in no time.

I drove up and took a seat inside courtroom number 7, at about 10:15 and waited for the proceedings to begin.

The room had only a few people inside. I saw my friend Dennis Zaki setting up his video camera and waved hello to him, saw a print journalist from, I think CBS, and the rest were just looky loo's who were there to get a look at Team Levi.

A few minutes later the door opened up and the massive Tank Jones stepped into the room. He was quickly followed by the rest of the team, Rex Butler, Mercede Johnston, a young man whose name I did not catch, and Levi himself.

The whole group was dressed in expensive clothes and looked like they could have stepped right off the pages of GQ magazine. (Of course with cameras on them all of the time now they have learned not to go out looking shabby, because guaranteed THAT is the one picture that will show up in a tabloid.)

As the rest of the gang sat down, Tank walked over to shake my hand, and to give me hard time about being a "pretend journalist". We bantered back and forth for a few minutes and then he went back and sat with the kids.

A little after ten thirty a door at the side of the courtroom opened up and Sherry Johnston was escorted in wearing handcuffs. I immediately noticed how thin she looked in her yellow prison outfit, and wondered if her health had taken a turn for the worse.

Sherry looked up, and seeing her children immediately caused her eyes to well up with tears. As she took her seat next to attorney Rex Butler, I noticed as she reached up to wipe a tear away and suddenly realized just how hard it must have been for her to be separated from her family for these last three months.

We all stood up for the entrance of Judge Eric Smith. Then the prosecutor read the charges that Sherry had plead guilty to, Rex Butler spoke a few words about Sherry's medical situation and some special conditions that they previously worked out, and then Judge Smith was ready to read the sentence.

The Judge seemed very sympathetic to Sherry's plight and made mention of the fact that this was a very unusual case. (Gee, ya think?) Still, he said, she had broken the law, and selling prescription medication was a serious crime in the Valley. He wanted to make sure that she understood how serious it was and that other potential drug dealers did as well. Still, he said, she had a very clean record up to this point, and had sold her Oxycontin to just ONE person, a total of only three times. And he did not anticipate her making this mistake again.

Then the judge delivered his sentence; 3 years in prison, a $2,400.00 fine, and three years of probation, (She should be able to serve her three years in her home with an ankle monitor, once the state checks and makes sure her home is compliant with the regulations). He further stated that he did not expect to see her in his courtroom ever again under similar circumstances, but hoped that someday she might return to serve on one of his juries. Rex Butler told the judge not to worry, that Sherry would NEVER be back in front of him again. And then Sherry thanked the judge for his kind words.

Sherry was then led away in handcuffs as her family stood by and waved to her as she passed. (It will take a few days to process, but there is some hope she will be home in time for Thanksgiving.)

(I had hoped to get some pictures, or video, to post with this story. But Dennis made a deal to sell what he filmed to another media outlet so I have to wait, and link to them when they post it, or borrow it and embed it here once its online. Either way, I will make sure you all get a chance to see some video.)

With the sentencing over we were asked to clear the courtroom for the next trial, so we all poured out into the hallway.

Once there Tank called me over and introduced me to Levi. I had never met young Mr. Johnston before and found him to be a very typical nineteen year old, with a good sense of humor and pleasant demeanor.

I spent about an hour talking to Levi and Mercede in the hallway as Tank and Rex made business calls. We spoke about Levi's adventures, and how happy he was to be back. I listened as Mercede engaged in some good natured teasing of Levi about his clothes, and we both gave him kind of a hard time about a laptop carrying case that looked suspiciously like a "man purse". (Later when they went outside for some photographs I suggested that Levi give the bag to somebody else to hold, just to give his detractors one less thing to give him crap about.)

I know you are all wondering if I asked about "babygate" or Levi's book, and to be honest, no I did not. We were in a fairly crowded hallway and I did not want to talk about those sensitive topics with so many ears close by. We DID talk about a number of things, but I cannot share too much with you here because, in order to put them at ease, I told them our conversation would be off the record.

I can share with you that Levi has NO idea what Sarah is building on her property however. He also shared some of his feelings about Sarah, but I will not repeat them here. He also misses his son and hopes to be with him soon. Beyond that I need to honor my promise.

I will tell you that I was again struck by how attractive and well spoken Mercede is in person, and impressed with how natural she is in front of the camera. Even though she says she wants to pursue a medical or law degree, I think she could have a future in broadcasting. I am just saying.

All in all I really enjoyed meeting Levi and was very impressed with his dedication to his family. (He interrupted his publicity tour for Playgirl and flew back into town just to support his mom) It is easy to ridicule Levi for being a fame junkie, or for chasing after attention ala Sarah Palin, but that is missing the point entirely.

Levi is doing the only thing he can to pay the bills. He has a son that he loves, a sister that is just now finishing school, and a mother who has been locked away from her family for three months! Who else is there to bring home the bacon? Levi is the only person with the means to support this family. Who do you think is going to pay that $2,400 fine? Or the house payment? Or the utilities?

I know what you are going to say, "Then why doesn't he just write the book?'

And my answer, "Who says he isn't?"