Sarah Palin to take witness stand in e-mail case

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sarah Palin will take the witness stand here in a case involving a Memphis lawmaker’s son and her personal Yahoo! e-mail account.

University of Tennessee student David C. Kernell will stand trial for allegedly tampering with her e-mail account. Kernell defense attorney Wade Davies wants Palin to bring any documents relating to that account — when it was opened, how it could be accessed and why and who was allowed to use it.

“I don’t want to get in the position where at the last minute there are questions about whether (subpoenas) were properly delivered,” Davies told U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley on Wednesday when seeking the legal OK to electronically serve witnesses, including Palin.

Federal prosecutors have insisted that Davies’ records request of Palin, a former Alaska governor and GOP vice-presidential candidate, is a veiled fishing expedition. Shirley will hear more about the subpoena debate at a March 24 hearing.

Regardless of what, if any, records Palin is ordered to bring, her presence is guaranteed. She is, prosecutors note, the alleged victim.

Kernell, the son of longtime Democratic Memphis state Rep. Mike Kernell, faces a four-count indictment accusing him of stealing Palin’s identity, improperly accessing her personal e-mail account, allowing at least one other person to access it and trying to wipe from his laptop evidence of his alleged crimes. He is alleged to have committed the crimes while attending the University of Tennessee.

At a time when the national media was probing Palin’s use of her personal e-mail account for gubernatorial business, Kernell used publicly available information to figure out Palin’s password security question. On that, even Davies agrees. He is not accused of hacking into her e-mail account or computer.

The Justice Department contends Kernell’s crimes came when he reset her password and used the new one to peruse her e-mail in what turned out to be a fruitless search for politically damaging information. A team of federal prosecutors, headed locally by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle, alleges Kernell posted the new password on a Web site, allowing at least one other person to access Palin’s e-mail.

Davies counters that Kernell’s actions rate no more than a misdemeanor charge, and he accuses the government of trumping up the charges because the victim is a political celebrity.

Kernell faces an April 20 trial. At the pre-trial hearing set later this month, Davies and federal authorities will square off on whether Shirley had the authority to issue search warrants for Internet service providers outside Tennessee, including Yahoo! in California.

Prosecutor Josh Goldfoot this week argued that Davies waited too long to raise a legal stink over the court’s reach, but Davies said his bid to suppress the fruits of those search warrants will not delay the trial.

“Either the court has the authority to issue the search warrants or it doesn’t,” he said. “I think the issue is simple.”

Shirley agreed to allow Davies to make his case.

“The court’s going to grant that motion,” he said.

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