The court-martial judge sentenced a dishonest discharge without more prison time than he currently serves.
Jack Teisheyla, a member of the Massachusetts Airlines National Guard, who leaked highly classified documents about the war in Ukraine in a discrepancy chat room, pleaded guilty to obstructing judicial charges in his court on March 13th.
Prosecutors argued before Judge Vicki Marcus that Teisheira was meant to interfere with the FBI investigation and was scared because he knew he had done something wrong.
After seeing the news report on the leaked document, Teixeira admitted and pleaded, saying that he had told his friend to destroy his phone, computer hard drive, and iPad with a hammer and destroy the messages he exchanged with the communications app.
“I was scared of the potential law enforcement investigation into me and my friends,” he told the court.
Marcus has declared a dishonest discharge without extra prison time than what he currently serves. The prosecutor also requested written responsibilities and demoted the rank, but she denied them.
“There was part of it in which we said we needed military punishment. That’s why disgraceful discharge was important to us as a facility to communicate to our aviators and Americans that we were taking this very seriously.” “We’re going to make sure your military records reflect that for these actions. We don’t just rely on civil convictions.”
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The 23-year-old, described as an information technology expert in charge of military communications networks, says he used his court martial arts to act as a “prideful patriot” who knew his actions were illegal and “exposed and corrected lies perpetrated by the Biden administration.”
“If I saved American, Russian or Ukraine life in this money-grabbing war, my punishment was worth it,” he says, adding that he was later pleased with the way history remembered his actions.
During the court-martial, he claimed to be a weaponized Justice Department victim and called on the Trump administration to “consider my double prosecution and punishment, with an eye to reversing the actions of the deep state and showing the truth.”
Teisheira was sentenced to 15 years in prison by US District Judge Indira Talwani on November 12, 2024, on November 12, 2024, for leaking US military documents regarding the Ukrainian War after agreeing to pleading guilty to six counts of intentional retention and communication of defense information in March 2024.
At the time, he apologised for his statement’s actions.
“I wanted to apologise for all the harm I brought and caused,” Teksaila said.
“I understand that all responsibility and consequences rest only on my shoulders and accept whatever it brings.”
He was also described by his lawyer as isolated with autism. This was spent most of my time online and never intended to “do harm the United States.” The prosecutor suspected his mental diagnosis.
His leaks exposed a secret assessment of Taiwan’s defensive capabilities as well as a secret assessment of various aspects of the Russian war in Ukraine, including its military movement and supply.
Ryan Morgan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
