Teixeira’s attorneys are urging U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani to sentence him to 11 years in prison and argued in a recent court brief that the 22-year-old “is essentially still a child” and he meant no harm to her.

But prosecutors argued that Teixeira “committed one of the most significant and consequential Violations of the Espionage Act in American History” and urged Talwani to sentence him to 16 1/2 years in prison, according to a court filing.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m

Teixeira, of Dighton, has been held without bail since his arrest in April 2023. He pleaded guilty in March on six counts of withholding and intentionally transmitting information to the Department of Defense in violation of the Espionage Act.

He admitted that while working as a cyber defense 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 war in Ukraine and other matters sensitive information on Discord, a social network. popular platform among players. He admitted that he knew the information he shared between January 2022 and April 2023 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 to provide any government documents that may be in his possession or control.

“His conduct was clearly wrong and wrong, but his motives and decisions were naive, not nefarious,” Teixeira’s attorneys, Brendan Kelley and Michael Bachrach, wrote in the defense filing. They described Teixeira as a bright but socially awkward child who faced bullying in high school and the military and was recently diagnosed with autism.

Teixeira joined the Air National Guard at 18 and missed his high school graduation to attend basic training. He became isolated during the pandemic, according to his lawyers.

“His world was online — playing video games, posting memes, making deep friendships he could never make in high school,” the defense wrote, noting he was in his 20s when he began sharing classified information with his friends online and only 21 when he was arrested. “His intention was never to harm the United States. Instead, his intention was to educate his friends about world events to ensure they were not misled by misinformation.”

But prosecutors argued in the sentencing brief that Teixeira shared highly classified information on Discord “to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends” and that his posts caused exceptionally serious harm to the national security of the United States.

“The scale of his betrayal is staggering,” prosecutors wrote. They also filed a “classified motion” with the court under seal, arguing why the government should sentence Teixeira to a lengthy prison term.

Teixeira continued to access information unrelated to his duties “even after being admonished by his superiors on two separate occasions not to take notes or conduct in-depth investigations for information,” a prosecutor told the judge during Teixeira’s change of plea hearing.

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, investigated mass shootings and talked about killing people.

Inspector General of the Air Force issued a report in December 2023, concluding that there was a lack of supervision of Teixeira and a number of officials failed to take appropriate action after becoming aware of his suspicious behavior. As a result, 15 employees were disciplined last year.

Shelley Murphy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow a @shelleymurph.