KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Sarah Palin testified Friday about the disruption and hurt caused when her e-mail account was hacked during the 2008 presidential campaign, and said outside court that there should be consequences for what happened.

She declined to say if she thinks conviction of the defendant should lead to prison or if community service would be punishment enough. “That’s up to the judge,” she said outside the courthouse.

Former University of Tennessee student David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic state lawmaker, is charged with hacking the Yahoo! e-mail account as Palin campaigned in 2008 as the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Kernell faces up to 50 years in federal prison if convicted of identity theft, mail fraud and two other felony charges. His lawyer has said it was a prank and that Kernell had no criminal intent.

In 30 minutes of testimony, the former Alaska governor told jurors about the disruption the hacking caused for her family and close friends when their e-mails and phone numbers were publicized on the Internet. The posting of family photos fueled rumors that Palin and her husband had affairs and that her youngest child, Trig, was not really her son, Palin testified.

Palin’s daughter, Bristol, told jurors earlier this week that she received harassing calls and text messages after screen shots of e-mail from the account revealed her cell phone number. A former Palin aide also described receiving vulgar e-mails.

Kernell isn’t accused of the harassment, but prosecutors say he broke into Palin’s e-mail account in September 2008 by correctly providing her birth date and ZIP code and correctly answering that she met her husband in Wasilla, Alaska.

After the e-mail was hacked, prosecutors said Kernell bragged about it in obscenity-laced Internet postings.