Sarah Palin expected to testify at Knoxville trial of student accused of taking over her e-mail

Former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is expected to be a witness at a University of Tennessee student's internet fraud trial next month.

A motions hearing Wednesday addressed several procedural issues U.S. District Judge Clifford Shirley expects to rule on at a pre-trial conference in two weeks.

University of Tennessee student David Kernell, now 22, is accused of accessing Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account (gov.palin@yahoo.com) while she was Sen. John McCain's running mate. Palin was governor at the time.

Prosecutors contend Kernell answered some security questions, like Palin's date of birth and where she met her spouse, then reset her password.

He's accused of posting the new password on the internet so others could look at her e-mail account.

He faces four felonies: identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, and obstruction of justice.

If convicted on counts two and four of the indictment, Kernell faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and 5 years of supervised release.

If convicted on counts one and three of the new indictment, Kernell faces a maximum punishment of 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release.

One of the issues discussed at Wednesday's hearing was whether the defense can serve trial subpoenas by Fed Ex or email instead of in person.

Defense attorney Wade Davies said, "There are people all over the country, including in Alaska, who are involved in this case."

Kernell's defense attorney, Wade Davies, told Judge Clifford Shirley he may consider a so-called 12.2 defense. While Davies declined to elaborate, usually that means the intent to call expert witnesses to talk about a defendant's mental condition.

The judge summed up a third issue the defense brought up: "Does the court have authority to issue an out of district search warrant?" Judge Shirley said. His ruling on that question could exclude some evidence in the case.

Kernell remains free until trial as long as he meets certain conditions, including using a computer only for class work.

David Kernell's trial is set for April 20.

His father is a longtime Democratic State Senator from Memphis.