Sarah Palin Hacker Loses Appeal

Sarah Palin hacker David Kernell has lost his appeal. Ironically Kernell was convicted under the much dissed Sarbanes-Oxley Act which forbids deleting data from a computer to cover up a crime. Kernell is the son of longtime Memphis Democratic State Rep. Mike Kernell.

COLE, Circuit Judge. Defendant David Kernell was convicted of obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1519 for deleting information from his computer that related to his effort to gain access to the email account of then-Alaska governor and Vice< Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Section 1519, passed as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, prohibits the knowing destruction or alteration of any record “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation . . . of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States . . . or in relation to or in contemplation of any such matter or case . . . .” Kernell argues that § 1519 is unconstitutionally vague, and that there is not sufficient evidence to support his conviction. We AFFIRM the conviction and sentence.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips sentenced Kernell to a year and a day in a halfway house. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons sent him to a work camp instead. He has already completed his sentence and was released this past fall.