As Jack Teixeria awaits trial, a new motion by federal prosecutors argues the Massachusetts resident should remain behind bars, contending that the former Air National Guardsman facing six counts of leaking military secrets poses a ‘significant danger’ to public safety.
In court papers Friday, prosecutors argued that Teixeira’s claim to be released is based on a fictionalized portrait of the North Dighton native and that Teixeira would be both a flight risk and a valuable target to American adversaries.
“At first glance, the façade he presents of a family-oriented, law-abiding Massachusetts resident offers an enticing image. However, the detention proceedings before Magistrate Judge Hennessy shattered that veneer as illusion,” prosecutors asserted in the new filing. “This Court should focus on the real Jack Teixeira. The Defendant is accused of and faces overwhelming evidence of having committed one of the largest disclosures of classified national defense information in the history of our nation; ; provided top-secret information to foreign nationals adjacent to a theater of war; expressed support for a foreign terrorist organization committing a mass-casualty attack at the world’s largest sporting event; freely discussed and detailed how he would commit his own acts of violence; engaged in acts of deception and obstruction designed to thwart his own apprehension and prosecution; and lied to and manipulated those around him when it served his interests.”
Teixeira pleaded not guilty last month to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Teixera’s defense team asked for his release ahead of the trial, comparing the 21-year-old’s situation to that of former president Donald Trump’s, arguing that the former Commander in Chief was not detained for his own alleged mishandling of classified documents. Teixeira’s lawyers also wrote there is no evidence their client “ever carried his online conversations into reality or ever endangered any person in his community.”
However, prosecutors cite the Dighton native’s fascination with firearms as just one of many reasons for his continued detainment.
“Put simply, there are no conditions of release that can adequately mitigate the risks posed by the Defendant if released by this Court,” wrote prosecutors.
Teixeira has been behind bars since his April arrest on charges stemming his alleged role in releasing classified military documents about Russsia’s war in Ukraine on the social media platform Discord.
Investigators say, Teixeira, who has been enlisted in the Air National Guard since 2019, began sharing military secrets with users in January 2023. Teixeira allegedly began by typing out classified documents before sharing photographs that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings.
Teixeira was ordered to remain behind bars by a U.S. Magistrate Judge in May after pleading not guilty in Worcester Federal Court. Justice Department lawyers revealed a history of disturbing online remarks allegedly made by Teixeira, including a November 2022 instance in which he said would “kill a (expletive) ton of people” in order to cull “the weak-minded.”
Prosecutors say that Teixeira was also caught by superiors months before his April arrest taking notes on classified information or viewing intelligence not related to his job.
“Although the defense attempts to minimize the seriousness of Defendant’s conduct by making the unsupported assertion that a disclosure of classified national defense information to a group that included teenagers is somehow less harmful, the scale and audacity with which he shared information—and his persistence in doing so in the face of repeated warnings—leaves no doubt as to the gravity of his conduct and that he made a calculated choice to put his nation’s security at risk to advance his own goals and agenda,” the federal prosecutors stated.
Each count Teixeira faces is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Teixeira is due back in court next week but in a separate filing Friday, both legal teams asked the judge to set a new date.
The full court filing is included below:
Prosecutors argue accused leaker Jack Teixeira should be kept behind bars by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd
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