{"id":89819,"date":"2025-07-14T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/news\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T21:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T05:30:00","slug":"nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lawana Barker, 61 of Nikiski, was sentenced last week to four years in prison for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.<\/p>\n<p>Barker reported Rodgers dead on Aug. 11, 2023, according to previous Clarion reporting. Barker was arrested more than a year later, in December 2024. Alaska State Troopers said she had provided methamphetamine to Rodgers that caused his death because of a preexisting heart condition. Barker also had deleted an uncertain amount of information from the man&rsquo;s phone.<\/p>\n<p>According to a press release from the State Department of Law, Barker pleaded guilty to an amended charge of criminally negligent homicide, fourth-degree possession of a controlled substance and theft in the fourth degree. She was found responsible for the death because she had both obtained the drugs that killed Rodgers and taught him how to use it.<\/p>\n<p>Superior Court Judge Lance Joanis on July 10 sentenced Barker to eight years in prison with four suspended &mdash; meaning four years incarceration &mdash; followed by seven years of probation.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net\/peninsulaclarion.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":89820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,811],"tags":[126,56],"class_list":["post-89819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-news","tag-crime","tag-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peninsula Clarion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-15T05:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jacob Dye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacob Dye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/\",\"name\":\"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-15T05:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ff36f619b88897cb7b0f261d9ee96826\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye\/Peninsula Clarion)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/\",\"name\":\"Peninsula Clarion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ff36f619b88897cb7b0f261d9ee96826\",\"name\":\"Jacob Dye\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b039c936ad65622bd2f927c472951e7e4223802eb4f18b5359f09ad1463ecc7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b039c936ad65622bd2f927c472951e7e4223802eb4f18b5359f09ad1463ecc7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jacob Dye\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/author\/jacob-dye\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion","og_description":"Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","og_site_name":"Peninsula Clarion","article_published_time":"2025-07-15T05:30:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1365,"url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg","type":""}],"author":"Jacob Dye","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jacob Dye","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","name":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death - Peninsula Clarion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-15T05:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ff36f619b88897cb7b0f261d9ee96826"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg","width":2048,"height":1365,"caption":"A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye\/Peninsula Clarion)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/","name":"Peninsula Clarion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ff36f619b88897cb7b0f261d9ee96826","name":"Jacob Dye","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b039c936ad65622bd2f927c472951e7e4223802eb4f18b5359f09ad1463ecc7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b039c936ad65622bd2f927c472951e7e4223802eb4f18b5359f09ad1463ecc7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jacob Dye"},"url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/author\/jacob-dye\/"}]}},"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death","url":"http:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/2025\/07\/14\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacob Dye"}],"creator":["Jacob Dye"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Peninsula Clarion","logo":""},"keywords":["crime","local news"],"dateCreated":"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z","datePublished":"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z","dateModified":"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/14\\\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/14\\\/nikiski-woman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-for-2023-drug-death\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/17\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/17\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"News\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Jacob Dye\"}],\"creator\":[\"Jacob Dye\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Peninsula Clarion\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"crime\",\"local news\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-15T05:30:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/peninsulaclarion.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2025\/07\/39911244_web1_KPC_121324_TroopersPretrial-photos_2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsulaclarion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}