Gov. Palin testifies in Kernell mail fraud case

*


Sarah Palin testified Friday against the son of a Tennessee state legislator on trial for breaking into her e-mail account. Gov. Palin said that the theft of her email identity compromised how she had been communicating with her family during the 2008 presidential campaign:

Palin told jurors she was in Michigan campaigning as the Republican vice presidential candidate when she first learned from a news report that her e-mail had been hacked. A few minutes later, her campaign manager and a Secret Service agent told her the report was true, she testified.

David Kernell, the defendant in the case, could go to prison for as many as 50 years if convicted of the four felony charges, including identity theft and mail fraud.

The former Alaska governor said she used the "gov.palin" Yahoo! account and a red Blackberry almost exclusively to communicate with her family in Alaska while she was campaigning as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

[...]

Palin's husband, Todd, listened as she testified. Their daughter Bristol testified earlier this week that she got harassing calls and text messages after screen shots of e-mail from the account revealed her cell phone number.

At Frankly Speaking, Terry Frank has a photo posted of Gov. Palin as she was about to enter the courtroom.

WBIR has more here, including a web video of Gov. Palin answering some questions from the media as she was leaving the courthouse. An ABC News story and video are here, and the Knoxville News Sentinel's report and a photo are here.

- JP