Conviction Upheld for Hacker of Gov. Palin's Emails

A federal judge refused to throw out the convictions of David Kernell, who was found guilty in April of unauthorized access to a computer and obstruction of justice arising from his hacking into Gov. Palin's private email accounts during the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign, according to widespread reports. Kernell's lawyer is appealing to a higher court. Kernell could serve 15 to 21 months in a federal prison. His sentencing date is October 29, 2010.

Kernell is the son of a Tennessee Democrat. In what he claims was a "prank," he hacked into Gov. Palin's private email accounts and broadcast screen shots including identifiable information of key personal and professional contacts all over the Internet. Screen shots were also picked up by the press and shown on national TV. Not satisfied with merely violating Gov. Palin's privacy by these actions Kernell also posted the reset password to the breached account, allowing others to access and gain control over it, which one person did.