Posted on 04/30/2010 12:49:09 PM PDT by rhema
The 22-year-old man accused of hacking into the Yahoo! email account of Sarah Palin while she was the Republican candidate for vice president was found guilty of two of four counts: unlawful computer access and obstruction of justice, according to a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel. He was acquitted of the charge of wire fraud and a mistrial was declared on count one, identity theft.
David Kernell was a 20-year-old economics student at the University of Tennessee when he hacked his way past security questions to access Palin's personal email account in 2008. Kernell gained access by providing Palin's birth date and ZIP code to Yahoo's password retrieval system. At that time, she was the governor of Alaska and recently recruited as running mate in the presidential bid of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The government will decide next week whether to retry the case, with sentencing to follow after that decision is made, according to @hsumerford reporting via Twitter from the scene. Kernell and his attorney had no comment for the press as they left the courtroom, he added.
A jury in Knoxville, Tenn. comprised of six men and six women, began hearing testimony last week in the case, including from Palin and her daughter Bristol, who both testified that the event disrupted their lives.
"It caused a huge disruption in the campaign," Palin told jurors during her 45 minutes of testimony last Friday.
The jury began its deliberations on Tuesday morning after receiving instructions from U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Phillips and continued for more than five hours before concluding for the day. The jurors continued discussion all day Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, the jurors were unanimous on their decision in three of the four charges, but were deadlocked on count one, the charge of identity theft.
The jurors' discussion seemed to be heating up on Thursday. In a note to the judge, the jurors said: "Some of us feel not all jurors are following the jury instruction."
When they could not come to a verdict on the charge of identity theft, the judge refused to accept a partial verdict and sent them back into the jury room to reach a decision on count one.
After another full day of deliberation on Friday, the jury acquitted Kernell of count two, wire fraud, but it remained deadlocked on count one, felony identity theft.
Kernell was charged with four felonies – felony identity theft, wire fraud, accessing Palin's email account without authorization and obstructing an FBI investigation. If convicted, he faced 50 years in prison.
Charges, possible sentence
Count one: identity theft
Maximum five years in prison
$250,000 fine
Three years supervised release
Count two: wire fraud
Maximum 20 years in prison
$250,000 fine
Five years supervised release
Count three: unlawful computer access
Maximum five years in prison
$250,000 fine
Three years supervised release
Lesser included misdemeanor offense on count three carries a maximum of one year in prison
Count four: obstruction of justice
Maximum 20 years in prison
$250,000 fine
Five years supervised release
Wade Davies, Kernell's attorney, argued that "what he did was closer to a prank than a crime." He added that Kernell didn't use the information he accessed or harass Palin's family. But prosecution lawyer Thomas Van Flein told the jury the hacking was "disruptive to [Palin's] ability to communicate with her staff."
Answering reporters' questions following her testimony last Friday, Palin said, "It's not right. It's not legal. It's not fair. It's not decent."
Davies argued that federal authorities trumped up charges because the high-profile Palin is the alleged victim. He urged jurors to penalize Kernell only for what he claimed was the more appropriate conviction: misdemeanor unauthorized computer access.
Kernell was present in court throughout the proceedings, but did not testify. He is the son of Democratic state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, who has served in the state's House of Representatives for more than three decades.
Sentencing will follow.
Here are a series of FReeper articles on the E-mail Hacker, David Kernell and Sarah Palin ...
Obstruction of Justice?? What a joke. Every school teacher that knows of an illegal alien in their class room obstructs justice by not turning them in for deportation.
I understand prosecuting him but federal prison for this seems a bit severe.
Would you be saying the same thing if this was a conservative who did the same thing to Nancy Pelosi? That is always an interesting situation when wanting to throw the book at someone.
That is the context that I believe will make his sentencing drift toward the upper end of the guidelines. I feel for the kid, but it is what it is.
BTW, the defense attorney is an old friend of mine. Outstanding guy.
Yahoo's credibility just got flushed!
Take away his chess board.
Hell yes.
“There will be no jail time for this punk.”
Based on my work in a federal court, I think he will get at least 24 months in a low security federal prison like Coleman in Florida, three years probation and a fine.
I doubt that the judge can say “no time”.A lawyer,of course,could set me straight if I’m wrong. “
I would have to look at the guidelines to be sure, but I believe he’s in the first zone (A), which means the judge would have the flexibility to sentence him to federal probation, only.
My only caveat is I think there’s an enhancement for obstruction, which might bump him to the next level inside that zone, which could mean mandatory prison time.
Don’t forget he never said he wasn’t sorry for his crime. This is a big deal in federal sentencing. I think he’ll get at least 24 months in federal prison.
“Good Time” in the federal BOP is 52 days off per year, so if he receives 36 months and has no discipline reports, he would be out in about 30 months with at least two years probation.
Kernell gained access by providing Palin’s birth date and ZIP code to Yahoo’s password retrieval system
I understand prosecuting him but federal prison for this seems a bit severe.
I know a guy in Florida who received five years in prison, three years probation and a $250,000 fine for allegedly making threats against President Clinton on an edited audiotape that shouldn’t have been allowed into court.
Needless to say the dude in question was a Republican, Christian and conservative. The District Federal Judge was a Democrat appointed by Carter and the U.S. Attorney had been appointed by Clinton.
This sentence was a severe...and illegal.
“
Wade Davies, Kernell’s attorney, argued that “what he did was closer
to a prank than a crime.”
“
Democrats/Liberals/Socialists/Communists:
“It’s not a crime when we break into someone’s computer!”
I don't know about that. They gave husband murderer Mary Winkler a slap on the wrist. Shot her husband in the back while he slept and she gets a few monthes in jail and 60 days at the funny farm. Then she gets her kids back and her in laws who are the victims here, are ordered to give her $200,000 that was given to them by their church and friends to pay for lawyers in their custody battle to keep from having to turn these kids back over to a murderer.
Winkler...you make a good point.
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