Father-and-son duo that stalked Sarah Palin sentenced to probation for harassing her family lawyer

From Daily Mail:  Father-and-son duo that stalked  Sarah Palin sentenced to probation for harassing her family lawyer 

A father and son previously ordered to keep away from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin were sentenced on Friday to five years of probation for harassing her family's attorney.
Craig Christy, aged 48, and his 20-year-old son, Shawn, pleaded guilty in January to placing  hundreds of threatening and obscene phone calls to Fairbanks attorney John Tiemessen, his colleagues and relatives last August. 

The father and son were arrested in home state of Pennsylvania and have been jailed in Alaska for most of the time since then. Sentencing was delayed until court-order psychiatric examinations were completed.

Under the terms of their probation, Shawn Christy would have to spend up to 180 days in a residential treatment center. Both men will also face restrictions on their Internet use, prohibitions on contacting various Alaska residents and limits on contact with state court officials.

Any violation could land them in prison for up to two years, and lead to prosecutors bringing additional criminal charges that they have so far declined to file, U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess warned the two defendants.

But an outburst by Shawn Christy during the proceedings prompted the judge to express misgivings about the young man's ability to stay out of legal trouble in the future.
‘I'm a little concerned that you are having difficulty coming to grips with the situation you're in today,’ Burgess told the 20-year-old after he interrupted the hearing to declare the case against him illegal and in violation of his civil rights.

Craig Christy, his voice breaking at times, read an apology in court.

‘I take full responsibility for blowing this whole situation out of control and not showing my son better coping skills,’ he told the court. ‘I hope one day, all of those I have hurt and offended can find it in their heart to forgive me.’

Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, attended the back-to-back sentencing hearings. Their daughter, the former governor and 2008 Republican nominee for U.S. vice president, was not present.

Tiemessen, who also attended, told reporters he and others never wanted to hear from the Christys again. 

‘The only adequate remedy is a remedy that results in our firm, our family and our clients being left alone,’ he said.

The father and son were placed under restraining orders issued by a state court in 2010 and 2011 over repeated calls that authorities said they made to Palin, her parents and a long-time friend of the former governor.