David Kernell, the Tennessee student that hacked into Sarah Palin’s e-mail account is asking if he can skip prison-time. Kernell, 22, was convicted of misdemeanor computer intrusion and a felony count of obstruction of justice. The jury found him not guilty of wire-fraud charge after 4 days of debate.
The convictions carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. According to federal sentencing guidelines, there is a recommended sentence of between 15 and 21 months of prison. The government is currently seeking 18 months of prison time for Kernell.
Kernell is scheduled to to be sentenced on November 12th. Kernell had deleted evidence from his computer out of nervousness, but he did not smash anything or destroy the computer entirely. Kernell’s defense attorney Wade Davies said that the “public humiliation, trial and felony conviction” will prevent his client from committing future clients.
Kernell revealed some of Palin’s private data on public websites. This included two pictures of Palin’s children and five screen shots of e-mail messages. This data was posted on Imageshack and 4chan.
[Wired]