A Tennessee man has been sentenced to prison for hacking into the email account of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney William C. Killian.
David C. Kernell, 23, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for intentionally accessing without authorization the email account of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips also imposed a three-year term of supervised released.
On April 30, 2010, a jury found Kernell guilty of one count of misdemeanor unauthorized access to obtain information from a computer and one count of obstruction of justice. The jury found Kernell not guilty of wire fraud. The jury could not reach a verdict on the identity theft charge and the judge declared a mistrial as to that charge.
According to evidence presented at trial, Kernell, a resident of Knoxville, Tenn., obtained unauthorized access to former Gov. Palin’s personal email account by resetting the account password. He read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the email directory, email content and other personal information. Kernell posted screenshots of the emails and other personal information to a public website.
Kernell also posted the new email account password that he had created, providing access to the account by others. He became aware of a possible FBI investigation after the illegal entry into the email account and began a series of deletions of records and documents with the intent to impede an anticipated FBI investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krotoski and Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle. CCIPS Trial Attorney Josh Goldfoot provided significant assistance. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Anchorage, Alaska, and Knoxville field offices.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips recommended service at Midway Sanction Center, but noted that the Bureau of Prisons would decide where Kernell would serve his sentence.
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