Adam Johnson announced he will not run for Kootenai County Sheriff in light of the prosecutor office's opinion that his legal trouble makes him ineligible.

The following message was sent to The Press via Facebook from Johnson, who was involved in a high profile downtown shooting in 2009 and also pleaded guilty this year to an unrelated felony drug possession charge.

"Recently Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh published an opinion that followed an inquiry by Kootenai County Election Clerk Clifford Hayes regarding my eligibility to file a declaration of candidacy for the office of Sheriff.

The genesis of that opinion was, that despite my having a withheld judgement for an offense I plead guilty to in January of this year, that I was not eligible to file a declaration of candidacy and that the elections office would refuse any such attempt made by me.

After much consideration on whether to pursue official judicial clarification regarding the implications of how a withheld judgement differs from a straight conviction, I have made the decision to officially cease my pursuit of the office of Sheriff in the upcoming 2012 election cycle. Though disappointed that I will not be able to run this time around, the causes of such were the result of my own actions and lapse in judgement that led to the charges that now ultimately disqualify me from running for office. The experience up to this point has been exhilarating and the support I have received in this endeavor has been nothing short of amazing.

I look forward to such time when there will be no barriers to my pursuit of public office and to restoring the public's faith in me that had been previously lost for reasons aforementioned. Here's to seeing you all again in 2016."