David Kernell, the 23-year-old hacker that broke into the official email account, of then Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, was found guilty on two of three charges he was indicted for, in connection with his criminal misconduct.
Kernell, the son of a rival Democrat, was convicted of Obstruction of Justice and computer intrusion, in hacking into Republican Sarah Palin's email account, but was found not guilty on the charge of identity theft.
David Kernell
Kernell did actually commit identity theft. However, it may have been a hard sell to the jury, as most associate identity theft with stealing someone's credit card number or pretending to be another person online.
However, the Obstruction of Justice conviction, is the one with the highest sentencing guidelines, with a maximum of up to 20-years in prison. This young man greatly damaged his life, in trying to illegally sway a national U.S. election. He was in university, now he is in trouble, with a felony conviction under his name.
Video: Bristol Palin: E-mail Hack Led to Scary Calls
David Kernell, the 22-year-old former university student, who hacked into the email of former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin, is not remorseful regarding his criminal conduct. On his way into court, he made a joke about Palin's daughter, Bristol, stating with a smirk, she is not his type.
Sarah Palin
Kernell, the son of a Democrat, whose party is the main rival of Palin's Republicans, hacked into the email accounts of Palin, while she was in office and released the contents thereof to the public. He also made harassing and menacing mobile phone calls to Palin's underage daughter Bristol that made her fear for her safety.
Bristol Palin
As mentioned previously, Kernell is facing 50-years in prison for the unprecedented and bumptious hack, he is trying to pass off as a prank, when it was a threat to national security during election time.
David Kernell
Palin: E-mail hack was an 'illegal action'
Posted: April 23rd, 2010 03:51 PM ET - A Tennessee man is accused of hacking into then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s person e-mail account during the 2008 presidential campaign.
(CNN) - Sarah Palin, speaking to reporters Friday after testifying against a Tennessee man accused of breaking in to her personal e-mail account, dismissed the defense's argument that the incident was nothing more than "silly prank."
"I don't think an illegal action like this is a prank," Palin said after the courtroom appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. "Not when you consider how impacting it was on a presidential election. It went beyond a prank."
Palin compared the e-mail hack to an office break-in, with "documents stolen and disclosed to the rest of the world." ...
Palin said top officials inside John McCain's presidential campaign immediately became concerned that politically damaging private e-mails would leak. But Palin said she told campaign advisers to "just chill" because there were no "horrible e-mails" that would "end up derailing the McCain campaign."
