Prosecutors in Palin hacking push for prison time

[November 12, 2010]  KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Prosecutors want 18 months in prison for a former Tennessee college student scheduled to be sentenced Friday for hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail during the 2008 presidential campaign.

David Kernell's lawyers are seeking probation for what they contend was a youthful prank that involved Kernell using publicly available information to guess his way into the then-governor of Alaska's e-mail account.

Prosecutors and the defense filed their recommendations ahead of Friday's sentencing hearing by a federal judge in Knoxville.

Palin and her daughter, Bristol, both testified at trial in late April that the hacking and harassment afterward caused their family emotional distress.

Palin previously declined to comment when asked if Kernell should be sent to prison, saying it should be up to the judge. She did not answer Associated Press messages seeking comment this week about the sentencing. Her attorney, Thomas van Flein, referred questions Thursday to prosecutors, saying Palin provided them a victim's statement.

A statement on Palin's' Facebook page after the trial compared the case to Watergate and said she and her family were "thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict."

"As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates' private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election," the statement said.

Kernell was convicted on charges that include unauthorized access to a protected computer and destroying records to impede a federal investigation. Jurors acquitted him of wire fraud and deadlocked on an identity theft charge.

The maximum possible penalty for destroying or concealing records to impede an investigation is 20 years, according to the government's sentencing memorandum. Applying sentencing guidelines to Kernell, the penalty ranges from 15 months to 21 months.

A prosecution filing Wednesday said the recommendation for an 18 month sentence was further justified because the hacking was motivated by Palin's status as a governor and candidate for national office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle declined comment about the sentencing.

Prosecutors in other pre-sentence filings referred to Kernell bragging online about having read through Palin's e-mails and finding "nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped."

Defense attorney Wade Davies said in motions filed ahead of sentencing that the "public humiliation, trial, and felony conviction are enough to deter any future violations of the law."

Part of the defense motion for probation is filed under seal and documents say it includes protected health information from treatment he received as a juvenile.

Davies said that instead of destroying evidence as prosecutors contend, Kernell helped preserve computer records and left an easy trail for them to follow.

Kernell, whose father is a Democratic state legislator from Memphis, did not testify at his trial. He was an economics major at the university when federal agents seized his laptop computer.

[Associated Press; By BILL POOVEY]

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