Judge upholds warrants in Palin e-mail hacking case

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A U.S. district judge ruled against the defendant charged with hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail today by refusing to dismiss search warrants for Internet provider records:

U.S. Magistrate Clifford Shirley Jr. in a decision Friday denied the motion filed on behalf of David C. Kernell, 22, whose father is a Democratic state lawmaker from Memphis.

Defense attorney Wade Davies and the chief prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle, did not answer telephone messages seeking comment.

Authorities say Kernel was a University of Tennessee student who gained access to the former Alaska governor's personal Yahoo e-mail account when she was serving as the running mate to Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Kernell is free on bond, charged with computer fraud, unlawful electronic transmission of material outside Tennessee and intentionally accessing Palin's e-mail account without authorization. His trial is set for April 20 in Knoxville.

Davies' motion charged that the magistrate overstepped his authority by issuing warrants beyond the East Tennessee federal court district, but prosecutors countered that the warrants were proper under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Shirley's decision cited a change in federal law made in 2001 which granted such authority to a "court with jurisdiction over the offense under investigation."

- JP