Bristol Palin, in Dispute With Levi Johnston, Seeks Full Custody of Baby

Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is seeking sole custody of the son she had with Levi Johnston, the Associated Press reports. The move came to light after a judge in Anchorage denied Bristol's request to keep the legal proceedings closed because an "onslaught of media" attention could be harmful to the child.

Bristol Palin, the mother of 1-year-old Tripp, is also seeking child support from Johnston and wants a visitation schedule for him. Bristol says her ex-fiance has been "sporadic" is seeing the child. Johnston, who has very publicly criticized Sarah Palin since breaking off his engagement to Bristol a year ago, had fought for open court proceedings, saying in an affidavit: "I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding. I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. Bristol's attorney is her attorney."

In court documents, he has denied avoiding his responsibilities as a father and is seeking shared custody of Tripp. But in making her case for full custody, Bristol Palin's court petition calls Johnston's nude photo shoot with Playgirl magazine "risqué" and suggests that he may have substance abuse problems, an accusation Johnston denies. Bristol Palin's lawyers cite a tweet purportedly from Johnston in which he says he's looking for some "weed." Johnston's attorneys deny any marijuana use and counter that the Twitter account referenced by Bristol Palin "is a fraud" -- and that Levi Johnston isn't even registered on the popular social networking site.

If true, there is an irony here. In 2008, Bristol's mother was victimized by a similar scam in which a Los Angeles screenwriter who'd never met Sarah Palin masqueraded as her on a fake Facebook page, which was subsequently taken down by Facebook administrators.