PALMER, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin’s oldest son pleaded not guilty Monday to a felony charge in the case accusing him of assaulting his father at the family’s Alaska home last month.
This Sept. 3, 2008, file photo shows Track Palin, son of Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Palin, is set to appear in court Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, on charges he assaulted his father at the family’s Alaska home. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Track Palin’s lawyer entered the plea to a burglary charge on his behalf at his arraignment. The 28-year-old did not attend the hearing in person, but participated by phone. His parents also did not attend.
During the brief proceeding, Palin said only, “Yes, ma’am,” when the judge asked if he was on the telephone line.
The judge set Palin’s trial for the week of Feb. 26.
Palin was arrested in December after Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a former Alaska governor, told authorities her son was on some kind of medication and “freaking out.”
A police affidavit said father Todd Palin was bleeding from cuts on his head. He told police the dispute began when his son called to pick up his truck from the Palins’ home in Wasilla.
Track Palin last month also not guilty to misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief. He is out on bail with electronic monitoring.
According to the affidavit, Todd Palin said he told Track Palin not to come to the house but that his son said he would come anyway to beat him up. Todd Palin told police he got his pistol “to protect his family.”
Track Palin told police he broke a window, disarmed his father and put him on the ground.
Wasilla police Officer Adam LaPointe wrote in the affidavit that Todd and Sarah Palin had left the home when police arrived and that she was visibly upset.
Track Palin yelled at officers, calling them peasants, and “moved around in a strange manner” before being arrested without incident, the affidavit says.
He told police he “consumed a few beers earlier,” the document says.
Anchorage television station KTUU reported in December that the Palins obtained a court order barring their son from having contact with them and their children who live at home. Todd Palin told the court by phone in December that the family is prepared to re-establish contact.
In 2016, Track Palin was suspected of punching his girlfriend, who then became concerned that he was going to shoot himself with a rifle, court documents said.
He faced several charges but pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm while intoxicated, and the other charges were dismissed.
His then-girlfriend later filed for custody of their child and requested a protective order against Track Palin, who served in Iraq for a year in 2008.
Sarah Palin indicated that post-traumatic stress disorder might have been a factor in that case.
By RACHEL D’ORO
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