Jury Convicts Palin Email Hacker on Two Charges
Jury Convicts Palin Email Hacker on Two Charges
Posted 05/03/2010 at 5:05am
| by Paul Lilly
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Political figures and other high-profile individuals can sleep a little better at night knowing that David Kernell, the 22-year-old who allegedly hacked into Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account in 2008, was found guilty on two charges and will likely serve some jail time.
Jurors convicted Kernell on one count each of computer fraud and obstruction of justice, the latter of which carries a maximum 20-year sentence. Computer fraud is considered a misdemeanor and is subject to a prison term of up to one year, so in a worst case scenario Kernell could be faced with 21 years behind bars, though that's highly unlikely. Kernell was not found guilty of wire fraud, and escaped a count of identity theft, at least for now, thanks to a deadlocked jury. Prosecutors must decide whether to retry Kernell on the deadlocked charge before a sentencing date can be set.
The case has received widespread attention not just because of Sarah Palin, but because David Kernell is the son of Micheal Kernell, a Tennessee state legislator.
Do you think Kernell should serve time for hacking someone's email account, political figure or not? What do you think would be an appropriate punishment? (Please refrain from political mudslinging when commenting on this post).
Image Credit: hollywoodgrind.com
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PawBear
May 03, 2010 at 6:11pm
I don't think there was anything innocent about this. I believe his motive was political and this was definitely intended to cause harm to Palin. Why else was it shared?
He decided to play with the big boys and influence an election and got body slammed. I hope he get's a little jail time so he remembers that when you play with fire you might get burned.
Keith E. Whisman
May 03, 2010 at 5:51pm
Normally I would just giggle a little as it was this stupid kid that I don't think actually tried to steal any identity. Sounds like a prank but this kid went too far. He made threatening phone calls. He really victimized Mrs Palin and her family. He really scared them. Made them feel like they weren't safe. Imagine someone calls you and your wife and kids that don't live in your home and tell you that you are all going to die and that he knows your addresses and phone numbers and knows where you are? This kid is now a criminal. I think he should goto jail for the maximum number of years aloud. This is not a conservative or liberal thing or a republican or democrat thing. This is about a punk that victimized an american family. Hell I don't care who he victimized I believe anyone has the right to defend themselves and their family. I believe the Palins are within their rights to defend themselves and I believe this kid deserves everything he has coming to him. I would feel the same thing if it were Bill Clinton that got attacked.
monkeykid753
May 03, 2010 at 3:52pm
Palin should be punished for using Yahoo! Who would ever consider using Yahoo nowadays? Also, she obviously wasn't careful with her password and probably used the same password and username for everything. PALIN FAIL! By the way, did he announce the username and password? I'd like those for her everything else (JK).
My exploding trick: Any iPad/Phone/Mac haters get a lot of silly putty, then clog up the speakers on iPad and iPhone or vents (if they exist) on an iMac and wait for a few minutes... then....
BIG BOOM!!!!
The Creator of that
Trooper_One
May 03, 2010 at 12:25pm
He seems like a nice kid with potentials to make real contribution to society. Everyone deserves a second chance but only if he genuinely demonstrate remore and willingly accept whatever punishments he may face.
Trooper_One
May 03, 2010 at 12:25pm
He seems like a nice kid with potentials to make real contribution to society. Everyone deserves a second chance but only if he genuinely demonstrate remore and willingly accept whatever punishments he may face.
Trooper_One
May 03, 2010 at 12:25pm
He seems like a nice kid with potentials to make real contribution to society. Everyone deserves a second chance but only if he genuinely demonstrate remore and willingly accept whatever punishments he may face.
r3dd4wg
May 03, 2010 at 11:34am
Laws NEVER prevented anyone from doing what was against the law as shown by what this kid did. All the court and the jury need to do is enforce the law and forget about this wishy-washy baloney of whether someone got hurt or not. We all play by the same rules every day.
sbud4u
May 03, 2010 at 10:45am
Why does the author use the word "allegedly" at the begining of the article? If he was found guilty is "allegedly" the right term?
NoCtrl
May 03, 2010 at 10:21am
My goodness, he's just a kid. He definetely needs the shit scared out of him. I hope he gets probation and has to do some community service and publicly appologize to Sarah Palin.
lunchbox73
May 03, 2010 at 9:26am
Girls only like guys with great skills. Computer hacking skills is at the top of the list. Plus I heard he's pretty good with a bow staff.
Five Rabbits
May 03, 2010 at 9:07am
I'd like to know why he's being charged with obstruction of justice, out of all the charges that's the one that could land him in some serious jail time. I see they're trying to hit him with identity theft too. The question is what's the legal precident for a case like this? I assume he's a first time offender, and I'm also willing to guess hacking into someone's email and making that information public isn't something new.
IMHO I don't think he did anything to warrant jail time, fine's and probation yes, but not jail.
Keith E. Whisman
May 03, 2010 at 6:02pm
He probably tried to destroy evidence of his wrong doing. He probably tried to destroy his computer after the investigation was announced and his property was put on notice that it was evidence in his possession. If you own a piece of evidence in a crime or what ever and it's been subpoenaed, anything you do to that property after wards is obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence falls under obstruction as well. And its easy to prove a file was deleted or changed. You can even prove when it was changed or deleted. Even if you physically destroy a computer it can be proved that it was destruction of evidence after the fact because why would anyone destroy their computer without threat of the law.
This kid is guilty and as I said I wouldn't be so harsh on him if he didn't victimize the Palins like he did. He had them believing they were all going to be murdered and he had the knowledge to do it.
This kid really is a bad guy and deserved to goto prison. I don't want him to have his freedom to do this to anyone else.
Magius
May 03, 2010 at 7:29am
Yes, what he did is wrong. Yes, it was a bad intrusion into her privacy. Beyond that not much else of consecuence happened, did it? Any long term damages to her life? Any abuse of her credit, new loans, or unwanted subscriptions to liberal magazines? No? Then there wasn't real malicious intent, was there?
Then to an equal degree so should his punishment be served, the longest community service sentence ever given. Jail time? No, he should not be branded a criminal going by what he actually did. The repercutions on his life would be permanent and that is not right, not for his stupid actions.
pbalstar
May 03, 2010 at 7:59am
Just because the dude didnt do anything "malicious" doesn't mean he shouldnt be punished. Yea he nevered hurt anyone or caused abuse to credit... blah blah. When perverts take pictures of girls in bathrooms they arent really "hurting" them in any way. Its an invasion of privacy. Another example: so you go and rob a bank, with a gun, but they have no money, Just because you didn't get anything doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished. I think he should be punished to the maximum extent of the law. I do understand that, on a scale, he could have done much worse damage (credit cards, lib mags subscriptions, etc). The main point I am trying to say is, He was obviously looking for something to make her look really bad (like the acorn scandal) and he obviously didn't find anything and because of this intent i think he should be punished to the maximum penalty. The reputation of people like palin is more valuable than what you are thinking of as monetary value (lib mags, credit abuse etc). Therefore he should be punished based on how much damage he was planning on doing to her reputation (arbitrary I know). In this case he was probably planning on completely destroying her rep (I know, not that she has much) so he should be punished completely to the maximum extent of the law. End of story.
Peanut Fox
May 03, 2010 at 10:48am
You can't know what a person is planning unless they tell you, or you can prove it. If he found something truly damaging, he likely would have used it to her disadvantage, but we don't know if he actually would have, or if that was his intent. Maybe Frodo has a sick obsession with Ms. Palin or women in general, and this is just his thing.
Proving intent in a case like this is difficult at best. It not like a person walking into a bank and demands money. Their intent is very clear. They just wish to ensure the quality of each bill before it gets distributed into the populous.
pbalstar
May 03, 2010 at 1:40pm
However, since the young gentle who hacked the account said (on 4chan) that he had done it to "derail her campaign" i am pretty sure he was doing it to "derail her campaign". I'd give him the full 21 years
samduhman
May 03, 2010 at 7:00am
Forget about it being Palin. How would you feel if your email were hacked? Would you want the culprit to serve jail time or fines? I'd guess yes.
If it were me. I'd want them fined $5000 to $$$$$$ payed directly to me not the government. Also, say 1 week to 1 year jail time depending on what they did with the info. For example stolen identity/monetary fraud hit them with the maximum punishment.
Cyberdiver
May 03, 2010 at 6:56am
It is a crime to hack without consent from the other party. Whether he meant harm or not he was in the wrong.
ThunderBolt
May 03, 2010 at 6:52am
into someone's virtual property is still illegal. Give him 5 years. He'll get out after 2.5 on good behavior.
Rocketpop
May 03, 2010 at 6:10am
The law is about intent. I don't think this guy was being malicious with his actions, that it was just a prank. Without causing any serious damage, he doesn't deserve to serve jail time for it. If I had a say in it, I would give a heavy community service sentencing. But with that obstruction of justice charge, he's really screwed.
pbalstar
May 03, 2010 at 8:03am
Said this before: his intent was to dig up doggy doo on palin and destroy her reputation. Her rep is the most valuable thing to her, as with every gov official. So by his intent on destroying her rep he would be destroying most of her life. He was obviously looking for something bad, and it obviously wasn't a prank.
Tekzel
May 03, 2010 at 7:00am
If the law is about intent, explain manslaughter. Or reckless endangerment.
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You know users... Buncha bitchy little girls.
Magius
May 03, 2010 at 7:17am
Indeed, in manslaughter and reckless endangerment cases there is proof of gross negligence.
Tekzel
May 03, 2010 at 8:38am
Regardless, it invalidates your point about intent.
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You know users... Buncha bitchy little girls.
Jims45wow
May 05, 2010 at 8:45am
Actually, it underscores it. You have to intend to take normal precautions.
Jim
deadsenator
May 03, 2010 at 3:56pm
His point about Intent is not invalidated in the slightest. One of the main tenents of law is establishing Intent. If Intent to do harm is established, then the crime is elevated in severity as is the punishmnet. If criminal intent is found lacking, then negligence or other charges are applied.
You need to watch more Perry Mason.
Regardless, this fellow should not be thrown in jail. He should be fined and put on probation. Prison is for hard criminals. If we can allow the corporate atrocities that happen nearly every day in the world to go unchecked or unpunished then this guy can stay out of jail.
Jims45wow
May 05, 2010 at 8:48am
I think that criminal interferance to influence the outcome of an election is pretty damn hard on the electorate--Excusable or mitigatable, perhaps, for only a very damn good reason.
Jim
isamuelson
May 03, 2010 at 6:00am
He broke into her email. Regardless of political affiliation (I don't care if was Palin or Joe Biden), breaking into someone's email is an invasion of privacy and to me, is no different than if he picked the locks to her house and went in. It's breaking and entering, pure and simple.
Now, did Palin not secure her account well? Probably so, but that still doesn't give him the right to break in.
Tekzel
May 03, 2010 at 7:02am
Exactly, its also illegal to enter someone's home and take their stuff if they leave their doors unlocked.
I don't think they should ruin the guys life over this though. The situation is tough. You HAVE to send a message to others with this high-profile case, yet the guy didn't actually HURT anyone. So how can you be tough enough to send that message without destroying this guy for one massively stupid mistake. I'm just glad I don't have to rule on this case.
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You know users... Buncha bitchy little girls.
big_montana
May 03, 2010 at 11:40am
What he did is similar to breaking and entering and trespassing. How would you feel if someone broke into your home, but did not take anything, just looked around, opened all your drawers and cupboards, went through your mail and trash, snooped through every inch of your house? Would you still consider it no harm no foul? No, because the person PHYSICALLY violated your home, you would want justice and jail time. This is no different. You say he hurt no one, yet we do not know what he uncovered or planned on doing with the data. The only person that destroyed this guys life is himself for violating the law, now he needs to serve the time.
isamuelson
May 03, 2010 at 11:36am
In a way, he did. Not only did he get access to Mrs. Palin's email, he was also able to get her daughter's email and such and started posting inflammitory information that was not true. He didn't just hack into the account and see information. He then stole that information and used it for political reasons.
I'm sure his dad, who is a state legislator, definitely isn't happy about this.
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