KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sarah Palin testified Friday about the disruption and hurt caused when her e-mail account was hacked during the 2008 presidential campaign and said outside court that there should be consequences for what happened.
She declined to say whether she thinks conviction of the 22-year-old defendant should lead to prison or whether community service would be punishment enough.
“That’s up to the judge,” she said when she talked to reporters outside the courthouse.
Former University of Tennessee student David Kernell, the son of a Democratic state lawmaker, is charged with hacking the Yahoo e-mail account as Palin campaigned in 2008 as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Kernell faces up to 50 years in federal prison if convicted of identity theft, mail fraud and two other felony charges. His attorney has said the case is a prank and Kernell had no criminal intent.
As Palin walked to the witness stand, some jurors smiled at her. The first question from Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle: “May I call you Gov. Palin?”
The former Alaska governor smiled through 30 minutes of testimony as she told jurors about the disruption the hacking caused for her family and close friends when their e-mails and phone numbers were publicized on the Internet.
The posting of family photos and e-mails on the Web fueled rumors that Palin and her husband had affairs and that her youngest child, Trig, was not really her son, she said in court.
Palin’s husband, Todd, sat in the courtroom.
Their daughter, Bristol, told jurors this week that she got harassing calls and text messages after screen shots of e-mail from the account revealed her cellphone number. A former Palin aide also described receiving vulgar e-mails.
Prosecutors say Kernell broke into Palin’s e-mail account by providing her birth date and ZIP code and correctly answering that she met her husband in Wasilla, Alaska. Kernell’s attorney argued the password was obtained using information that was publicly available.
