A federal jury this afternoon convicted Sarah Palin e-mail intruder David C. Kernell of felony destruction of records to hamper a federal investigation and misdemeanor unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer. The jury acquitted Kernell, 22, of felony wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips declared a mistrial on the fourth charge, felony identity theft, after the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.
The records charge carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, while the misdemeanor maximum sentence is one year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle said federal prosecutors would decide next week if they would retry the former University of Tennessee economics major on that charge.
Phillips said he would set a sentencing date after prosecutors make that decision.
Kernell and his family left the federal courthouse without comment. His attorney, Wade Davies, said they would issue a statement later.
Kernell remains free on bond.
Thomas van Flein, Sarah Palin’s personal attorney, told The Associated Press he has been involved in the case from the morning they learned of the hacking in 2008.
“I think the jury took its job very seriously and weighed the evidence closely and concluded that any effort to impact a national election through illegal means is not a college prank. It is a crime,” he said.
Van Flein said Palin would issue her own statement about the verdict on her Facebook page.
The jury of six men and six women began its fourth day of deliberations this morning by hearing a special added instruction from Phillips.
Called an Allen charge in legal parlance, it is commonly called “a dynamite charge.”
Phillips told the jurors that as they resume deliberating they should each reconsider their positions, but there was no need to rush to a verdict.
By Thursday, the panel had reached unanimous agreement on three of the four counts against Kernell, whose father is Democratic state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis. Those verdicts were not announced until this afternoon.
The four charges are all felonies with only the protected computer count including a lesser misdemeanor offense. The jurors chose the misdemeanor count of the charge. Kernell was facing a total of 50 years in prison if convicted of all the felonies.
On Thursday the jurors sent a note to Phillips indicated some tension in the group.
“Some of us feel not all jurors are following jury instructions,” the note said in part.
The case began in September 2008. Palin, the governor of Alaska, was the GOP vice presidential candidate, and Kernell was 20.
That was when, federal authorities say, he illegally gained access to her Yahoo! personal e-mail account, through internet posting allowed others to snoop in it also.
Palin and her oldest daughter, Bristol, testified last week.
More details as they develop online and in Saturday’s News Sentinel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
