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Palin hacker found guilty on two counts
S C Magazine ^ | April 30 2010 | Greg Masters

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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: duplicate; hacker; kernell; palin; palinfreeperping; palinkernellhacker; sarahpalin
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To: presently no screen name

See my post, immediately after yours.


61 posted on 04/30/2010 1:34:17 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: OldDeckHand

I did - thanks. What is supervised control?


62 posted on 04/30/2010 1:38:26 PM PDT by presently no screen name ( Repeal ZeroCare!)
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To: presently no screen name

Fancy phrase for probation.


63 posted on 04/30/2010 1:41:26 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: Cyber Liberty

If we imprison every college kid who does something stupid, we’ll need a lot more prisons. I know he needs to be punished, but I think a felony conviction and maybe a short jail term is plenty.


64 posted on 04/30/2010 1:45:25 PM PDT by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: OldDeckHand

Gotcha! Thank you.


65 posted on 04/30/2010 1:50:08 PM PDT by presently no screen name ( Repeal ZeroCare!)
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To: rhema
He added that Kernell didn't use the information he accessed or harass Palin's family.

Posting the emails on the internet was harrassment.

-PJ

66 posted on 04/30/2010 1:50:19 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too ("Comprehensive" reform bills only end up as incomprehensible messes.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

i was thinking the same thing.


67 posted on 04/30/2010 1:50:41 PM PDT by MissDairyGoodnessVT (Free Nobel Peace Prize with oil change =^..^=)
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To: SeaHawkFan

Totally agree,

I hope he gets about 6 months to a year and everyone can move on.


68 posted on 04/30/2010 1:51:35 PM PDT by mrsixpack36
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To: Palmetto Patriot
If she wants to run for president, she should probably let it rest and not come off as over aggressive in this matter.
69 posted on 04/30/2010 1:55:09 PM PDT by mrsixpack36
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To: stinkerpot65
If we imprison every college kid who does something stupid, we’ll need a lot more prisons. I know he needs to be punished, but I think a felony conviction and maybe a short jail term is plenty.

Have you ever had your private information stolen?

Think about the implications.

Her children were harassed.

Her private conversations were published and broadcast nationally.

He attempted to sabotage a national campaign for President and Vice President of the United States, and probably succeeded.

Do not trivialize this, sir.

70 posted on 04/30/2010 2:06:37 PM PDT by Palmetto Patriot ( Nov. 2, 2010, Circle the Date)
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To: stinkerpot65

He hacked the email account of somebody running for Vice President of the United States, and posted the emails containing personal information on the web. The daughter of that candidate, as a result, had hundreds of unwanted cell phone calls, some threatening. The stated purpose was to cause embarrassment to the candidate, in hopes of changing votes.

You don’t find this malicious? It’s just “something stupid?”


71 posted on 04/30/2010 2:08:35 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Cyber Liberty
There will be no jail time for this punk.

There are MINIMUM sentencing guidelines for federal crimes. The minimum he would get for obstruction of justice alone would be 15 months prison time. Based on a first conviction, if both convictions are added together, he could receive as much as 97 months in prison.

I predict he will probably get 36 months and be out in 2 years.

72 posted on 04/30/2010 2:11:05 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: mrsixpack36
I hope he gets about 6 months to a year and everyone can move on.

Check the federal sentencing guidelines. The judge probably can't give him less than about 24 months.

73 posted on 04/30/2010 2:12:31 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: rhema

This is intentional political sabotage. Not doing something with it isn’t the point. It’s like someone getting into your house, but not stealing anything.


74 posted on 04/30/2010 2:25:23 PM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: rhema
the old prison at ft. leavenworth Pictures, Images and Photos

Welcome to Leavenworth! Population: You.

75 posted on 04/30/2010 2:27:18 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: P-Marlowe

I don’t know squat about the guidelines, so I’m already in “I’m a doofus” territory.

:^)


76 posted on 04/30/2010 2:30:11 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Cyber Liberty

Yeah, it was malicious and stupid and he’s a punk and he deserves some punishment. He guessed her passwords and posted some of it on some blogs. Then he got scared and tried to hide. Not a conspiracy, just stupid.

James O’Keefe, the ACORN video guy snuck into a Senators office to do “something” with the phones. Another stupid stunt by a guy in his 20’s, but not the crime of the century. I’m sure the DU crowd will be howling for his blood.

Liberals are vicious and vindictive. We don’t have to be.


77 posted on 04/30/2010 2:33:15 PM PDT by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: Tallguy
Dear Tallguy,

While I doubt that he'll get much jail time, if any, one of his convictions was felony obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

That's one of the two major counts.

And a felony conviction, even without jail time, is a felony conviction.

As others have pointed out, he will lose significant civil rights. As well, he will be severely limited in his job opportunities. Most corporations won't hire a convicted felon for a professional position. Traditionally, I've been willing to hire folks with criminal records (in exceptional cases), but they are restricted in what roles they can perform in my company, and the best-paying jobs are forever foreclosed to them.


sitetest

78 posted on 04/30/2010 2:46:50 PM PDT by sitetest ( If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: P-Marlowe

Thank you! I’ve been wondering about the minimums. Have been on the other thread...

What happens in regards to the mistrial on the 4th count? Does it just get dropped at this point?


79 posted on 04/30/2010 2:58:32 PM PDT by LibertyRocks (http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com ~ Anti-Obama Gear: http://cafepress.com/NO_ObamaBiden08)
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To: al baby
He should have been charged with conspiracy and Rico

Speaking of RICO violations, what was Zero up to today?
80 posted on 04/30/2010 3:07:53 PM PDT by Canedawg (I'm not digging this tyranny thing.)
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