The college student who hacked into Sarah Palin's email account during her 2008 vice presidential campaign was ordered Friday to serve one year in either prison or a halfway house, CNN reported.
David Kernell was sentenced in a federal courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was studying at the university. The judge recommended placing Kernell in a halfway house, where one is permitted to leave in daytime hours to work or attend classes, but the final decision was left to the Bureau of Federal Prisons.
A jury convicted Kernell in April on two counts related to hacking into Palin's account. He took photos of private messages and displayed them on the internet, prosecutors said. Palin testified against him during the trial.
Palin, the former Alaska governor who was John McCain's Republican presidential running mate, told the jury of the emotional stress she and her family underwent after learning he account had been violated.
Defense attorneys sought a sentence of probation. Prosecutors wanted at least 18 months.
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