Jack D. Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified information in an internet chat group, “is essentially still a child’’ and should be sentenced to 11 years in prison for his crimes, defense lawyers argued in a lengthy memorandum filed Tuesday in US District Court in Boston.
But, prosecutors argued that Teixeira “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history’’ and urged a judge to sentence him to 16½ years in prison, according to a memorandum filed Tuesday.
US District Judge Indira Talwani has scheduled a Nov. 12 sentencing hearing for Teixeira, 22, of Dighton, who has been held without bail since his arrest in April 2023.
Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willful retention and transmission of Department of Defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. He acknowledged that while working as a cyberdefense operations journeyman assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, he posted hundreds of documents containing classified military information about the Ukraine war and other sensitive intelligence matters on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers. He admitted that he knew the information could cause damage to the national security of the United States and provide an advantage to foreign adversaries.
As part of a plea deal, he agreed to participate in a debriefing with military and government officials, and provide any government documents that may be in his possession or control.
In Tuesday’s filing, Teixeira’s lawyers said he sat for a nearly four-hour intelligence community debrief and detailed the full scope of his conduct and answered every question by the government.
“His conduct was clearly wrong and misguided, but his motives and decisions were naïve, not nefarious,’’ Teixeira’s attorneys, Brendan Kelley and Michael Bachrach, wrote. They described Teixeira’s actions as “inexcusable’’ but said he “is still essentially a child — at the very least, a ‘youthful offender’ — who has his whole life in front of him.’’
The defense argued that an 11-year prison term “would provide more than enough time for him to grow and mature; informed by his behavior as well as from his punishment.’’
But prosecutors argued that Teixeira disclosed secrets that are vital to US national security and the physical safety of Americans serving overseas.
“By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States,’’ prosecutors wrote. “The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking. The amount of damage he caused is immeasurable.’’
Teixeira’s case captured global attention and fueled intense criticism of the Defense Department’s decision to grant Teixeira a high-level security clearance and its failure to detect his online activities for months as he posted classified information, researched mass shootings, and spoke of killing people.
In court when Teixeira pled guilty, Assistant US Attorney Jason Casey told the judge that if the case went to trial, prosecutors were prepared to prove that from January 2022 until April 2023, Teixeira conducted hundreds of searches of intelligence databases that weren’t related to his job and purposely copied classified information without approval and posted it on Discord. In some instances, Teixeira posted images of the documents, and other times, he took notes from documents and later posted that information, Casey said.
Teixeira continued to access information that was unrelated to his duties “even after he was admonished by his superiors on two separate occasions not to take notes or conduct deep dives for information,’’ Casey said.
The Air Force inspector general issued a report in December 2023 concluding that there was a lack of supervision of Teixeira, and a number of officials failed to take required action after becoming aware of his suspicious behavior. As a result, 15 personnel were disciplined last year.
Defense lawyers told the judge that only a summary of the report had been posted online and were granted permission to file a full copy under seal Tuesday. The government also filed documents under seal.
The defense described Teixeira as a bright, but socially awkward child who was only recently diagnosed with autism. They said he became isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, turning to people he befriended online while spending hours alone in his room.
Teixeira’s parents and stepfather wrote letters to the judge in support of him, and said they only learned after Teixeira’s arrest that he had been mistreated by his military co-workers.
Teixeira’s mother, Dawn Dufault, said her son faced bullying and harassment by his peers at the Cape Cod military base.
“Little did we know, at a time when he should have been mentored and monitored closely by his superiors, Jack was being thrown into a highly toxic work atmosphere, where military structure and discipline didn’t exist, where policy and rules were not made a priority, and not one person stepped up to take a leadership or mentorship position to improve conditions there,’’ she wrote.
His father, Jack M. Teixeira, wrote to the judge that his son “will forever carry the weight of his errors, but I believe he has learned from actions and can overcome this hurdle to reenter society and do good for himself and others.’’
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.
