But the government looked to make an example out of him and they did just that. It would be interesting to see if his endeavors were on the UT intranet system that university students can access or if it was on his own network.

In either regard, a 22 year old convicted felon, a long, long way from home with possible, not probable, incarceration in a federal minimum security penetentiary.

I've read all these allusions to his "powerful" daddy, and have to say that is just crap.

I know Mike Kernell, saw him here in Knoxville last fall when he came through on his annual trip to the mountains to see the leaves. He stopped by to see Dawn Coppock, who was presiding over a Brown Bag at the Library lunch presentation about her mountaintop coal removal bill.

This is probably as fancy as Mike Kernell's vacations get because he is the very likely the poorest member of the General Assembly. He is honest as the day is long and very committed to environmental issues, to the point that he has often been the butt of some pretty mean jokes pulled by his colleagues.

Interestingly, back when David was first charged with this and this stupid "rich powerful daddy" meme was making the rounds, it was shot down by none other than Stacey Campfield, who called bullshit and said that Mike Kernell wouldn't condone such activity, liberal that he is.

So peddle your "Call Daddy" crap somewhere else.

I'm also guessing there will be an appeal. The misdemeanor was enough. Felony conviction and federal prison time is pretty harsh for what was essentially a "college prank." But I guess "obstruction" after the fact is usually what they can make stick when nothing else will.

“Felony conviction and federal prison time is pretty harsh for what was essentially a "college prank." But I guess "obstruction" after the fact is usually what they can make stick when nothing else will.”

It wasn’t a “college prank”, that claim defense came up AFTER the courts in Alaska ruled that Palin’s PRIVATE Yahoo E-Mail account was in fact a Private E-Mail; account.

“On September 16, 2008, the private Yahoo! Mail account of Sarah Palin was hacked by a 4chan user. The hacker known as "Rubico" (David Kernell) targeted Palin because he wanted to "derail her campaign." “

Derail her campaign is NOT a “college prank”.

"After reading through Palin's emails Rubico (David Kernell)wrote "There was nothing there, nothing incriminating —
all I saw was personal stuff,
some clerical stuff from when she was governor."

"seriously, /b/. We could have changed history and failed, epically."

Change history doesn’t sound like a “college prank” to me, how bout you?

“The hacker (David Kernell ) admitted he was worried about being caught, writing "Yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fXXXked, I panicked,

I still wanted the stuff out there ... so I posted the [information] ... and then promptly deleted everything, and unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state."”

Does this sound like a “college prank”?

His original defense was that Palin used her PRIVATE E-Mail for Government Business, but as we all know this claim turned out to be false.

"A judge ruled, after news of the hack broke, that Palin was required to preserve the correspondence in her private accounts until the lawsuit was resolved."

"Davies implies in his motion to dismiss that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Palin’s Yahoo correspondence was a public record, and cites case law showing that information that already appears on the public record can’t be considered private."

That was his defense, and that defense went “by by” when the lawsuit was resolved. The court found her E-mail account was in fact a private e-mail account, opps.

That’s when Kernell defense changed to “it was just a prank”

Please don’t insult my intelligences and I will try not to insult yours.

Calling this a “prank” is an insult to anyone who has some knowledge about this case.