David Kernell, the former college student who hacked Sarah Palin’s email in 2008 looking for politically damaging information, is FINALLY off probation. Kernell’s prison term ended in November 2011, and a judge has now ended his post-prison probation, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., reports. He was scheduled to remain on probation until late 2014, but Judge Thomas Phillips agreed to Kernell’s request to end his probation early. As NBC affiliate WBIR notes, Kernell’s attorney Wade Davis continues to argue, five years later, that his client only committed a youthful prank. When he did hack Palin’s email, the young man was a student at the University of Tennessee. He did complete his degree after he was out of prison. Phillips didn’t want to send Kernell to prison in the first place. In fact, he had ordered the college student to report to a halfway house in Knoxville. However, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons overruled Thomas and instead sent the 22-year-old prankster straight to the slammer for his cyber “crime.”
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David Kernell, Sarah Palin Email Hacker, Finally Out of Prison, Off Probation
