Lawyer of singer charged on Guam hopeful about probation
HAGATNA, GUAM » A Grammy-award winning singer who gained famed for hits from “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Saturday Night Fever” will be sentenced this week on drug possession charges in Guam.
Yvonne Marianne Elliman-Alexander, 66, who performs under her maiden name Yvonne Elliman, and her husband, Allen Bernard Alexander, are scheduled for sentencing Tuesday in the U.S. territory. Their attorney, Mike Phillip, said he is hopeful they will be sentenced to probation.
They both pleaded guilty to felony drug possession charges in August.
After a court appearance Monday in Guam, Elliman-Alexander she and her husband had performed about 120 hours of community service in Hawaii, where they live.
“Get help and when you’re feeling stronger, help others,” Elliman-Alexander said. “I think that’s why we did so well because we did help other people.”
Airport officers said they found marijuana in Allen Bernard Alexander’s belongings and crystallike rocks and a glass pipe in Elliman-Alexander’s belongings, the Pacific Daily News reported .
The couple was arrested in Guam, where they were set to perform at a benefit concert. The concert to benefit a Catholic school went forward even though the archdiocese on the heavily-Catholic island opposed it after the drug arrest.
Phillips said his clients have completed everything they were assigned — making him optimistic about their upcoming sentence.
They face a maximum of six months in prison, Assistant Deputy Attorney General James Collins has said. But probation would mean they won’t spend any more time behind bars.
The court previously granted the couple’s request to leave Guam and return to Hawaii to care for Elliman-Alexander’s ailing mother after they pleaded guilty.
They’ve been checking in with probation officials through email.
She had her first hit, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from “Jesus Chris Superstar,” and she played Mary Magdalene in the 1973 movie version of the Broadway hit. She also performed “If I Can’t Have You” on the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack, which won a Grammy for album of the year in 1978.