Palin E-mail Hacker Sentenced to 1 Year, 1 Day

Last Updated 11:41 a.m. ET

A former University of Tennessee college student who was convicted of hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail during the 2008 presidential campaign has been sentenced to a year and a day with the judge recommending the term be served in a halfway house, not prison.

Federal Judge Thomas W. Phillips also said David Kernell, who was a 20-year-old economics major when he deduced the answers to security questions and read e-mails in Palin's private account, should get mental health treatment.

Kernell apologized in court Friday to Palin and her family.

The judge rejected a recommendation from prosecutors who argued for 18 months in prison. It will be up to the Bureau of Prisons to decide if Kernell is allowed to go to a halfway house.

He was found guilty of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a computer, but was acquitted on a charge of wire fraud.

Prosecutors said the hacking was motivated by Palin's status as a governor and candidate for vice president.

Defense attorney Wade Davies has filed motions seeking probation at the sentencing, contending Kernell used publicly available information to guess his way into the e-mail in a prank.

Palin and her daughter, Bristol, both testified at the April trial for Kernell that the hacking caused their family emotional distress.

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Kernell is the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell.

He got into Palin's email account, gov.palin@yahoo.com, by entering her personal information in order to reset her password; aside from easily accessible information like Palin's birthday and ZIP code, he had to correctly answer the question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" The correct response: "Wasilla High."

Kernell reset Palin's password to "popcorn," then posted screen shots of her email account along with all the login information to 4chan, the infamous online gathering site for hackers. Others then attempted to access the account.

In breaking into Palin's account, the F.B.I. said at the time that Kernell left an easy trail to follow.

Palin reportedly sometimes used a Yahoo! account to conduct state business, though the only relatively insignificant personal information from a separate account was made public as a result of the email break-in.