Judge mulls whether to allow release of military leader Teixeira

WORCESTER - A federal magistrate judge in Worcester is mulling whether to detain accused military leaker Jack Teixeira after a hearing Thursday in which prosecutors painted him as a dangerous, self-centered and disloyal person with a fixation on mass murder.

“If I had my way I’d kill a (expletive) ton of people,” a federal prosecutor alleged Teixeira, 21, wrote in one of several online conversations in which the Dighton man referenced mass murder.

Court documents indicate the Cape Cod Air National Guardsman expressed a hope that ISIS would “massacre” the World Cup, said that killing people himself would be “forcibly culling the weak-minded” and talked logistics about shooting people from “assassination vehicles.”

Prosecutors used the missives - which were allegedly sent as recently as last month and included musings of bombing a school - to support their request that he be held without bail pending trial.

In a packed courtroom in Worcester’s federal courthouse that included multiple family members and dozens of reporters, they argued that Teixeira is a dangerous person who is at risk to continue spilling national secrets.

In addition to notes allegedly sent to friends online saluting mass murder, they noted he’d once been denied a firearms-related permit after classmates in high school reported he made racist and violent statements.

As a sketch artist worked at capturing the scene - no cameras are allowed in federal court - Nadine Pellegrini, chief of the National Security Division for the U.S. Attorney’s office for Massachusetts, put on easels a blown-up version of the signed security agreements Teixeira allegedly broke by posting top-secret government data to friends in a Discord social media forum.

Teixeira, whose shackled entrance in orange prison garb prompted one family member to audibly sob, sat motionless staring ahead as Pellegrini described him as a self-centered person who betrayed his country and might do so again.

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Possibly vulnerable to foreign influence

Prosecutors alleged in court filings that Teixeira, whose net worth they pegged at shy of $20,000, could be vulnerable to influence from foreign governments who might be willing to get him out of the country in exchange for secrets.

Brendan O. Kelley, one of Teixeira’s three court-appointed public defenders, suggested to U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy that the fear was one of several overblown statements about Teixeira he alleged were not supported by evidence.

Kelley - who referred to Teixeira multiple times as a “kid” and argued he’d never taken steps to actually harm anyone - argued that the government doesn’t have evidence the airman intended for the documents he posted to Discord to be shared beyond the private forum.

Hennessy, a longtime magistrate judge who sits in Worcester, bristled at the argument, questioning out loud what person under 30 years of age doesn’t know the dangers of posting sensitive information online.

“Seriously?” Hennessy said incredulously. “Your argument is he had no idea it might go somewhere beyond this little circle of people on the server?”

Hennessy then compared the argument regarding intent to a close-range firearms assault.

“I point the gun at somebody's heart, I pull the trigger, but I didn’t intend to kill them?” he asked.

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Defense under fire from judge

While Hennessy did not signal which way he might rule Thursday - he ended the hearing saying he would take the matter under advisement - his harshest questioning was aimed at the defense.

In response to a defense argument that there’s no evidence Teixeira retained copies of sensitive information that could be further leaked, Hennessy noted that prosecutors alluded to a possibility that Teixeira could still have memory of documents he allegedly pilfered.

Hennessy opined that information on the war in Ukraine could be “extremely relevant and perhaps valuable” to foreign governments.

“I think it’s a legitimate concern,” Hennessy said of the government’s argument.

Hennessy also opined that the evidence against Teixeira - who faces up to 25 years in prison on charges of violating the Espionage Act and an act prohibiting unauthorized removal of classified documents - is “relatively strong,” which, he noted, can have bearing on a person’s potential motive to flee.

Kelley argued that government rules surrounding detention tilted in favor of Teixeira, however, noting that the U.S. Probation Department recommended he be released to the custody of his father, Jack M. Teixeira Sr.

The probation department, Kelley said, was comfortable with Teixeira being on home confinement without a GPS monitoring device.

Kelley described Teixeira Sr., a former corrections officer at Bridgewater State Hospital, as a “reliable” person who would faithfully report any probation violations to the government.

Father takes stand

Teixeira Sr., who took the stand Thursday wearing a rain jacket covering a button-down shirt, testified he would report any violations immediately.

Kelley sketched out an arrangement for the judge in which Teixeira Sr., who now works in Sudbury, would monitor his son with the same camera he used to do so in high school, with the added aid of a Ring doorbell camera.

Pellegrini, the prosecutor, asked multiple probing questions on such an arrangement, having Teixeira Sr. confirm that it would take him an hour and 10 minutes to drive home if any problems were detected.

She also told Hennessy that Teixeira Sr., in an interview with the government, had trouble recalling details of his son’s high school suspension.

“Imagine,” she told the judge, a parent who couldn’t recall the details of the time racist and violent statements led to their child’s suspension.

Kelley argued the suspension, which he said took place when Teixeira was a sophomore, was being overblown. He noted in court papers that it was "fully known and vetted by the Air National Guard prior to enlisting and also when he obtained his top-secret security clearance."

Kelley also criticized the government’s framing of how numerous weapons were found in Teixeira’s room.

“Because the firearms were sufficiently secured as legally mandated, law enforcement agents were forced to utilize a drill to gain access to the safe,” he wrote in court documents. He argued to the judge that, just as some people collect cars, Teixeira collected guns, and did so legally.

Kelley conceded that his client’s alleged online statements would be concerning to any judge, but emphasized that he has heard no evidence that Teixeira ever took active steps to carry out violence.

Kelley said it’s his understanding that Teixeira is still on active duty, and would be given a light-duty assignment with the Air National Guard should he be allowed to travel to and from work.

Court-martial proceedings mentioned

Lawyers on both sides said they did not yet know whether or when any military court-martial proceedings against Teixeira might begin. He has been appointed representation, they said, but signals were that the military’s actions could depend on what happens in federal court.

Kelley argued that Teixeira’s peaceful surrender to a swarm of armed men was evidence that the man poses no flight risk.

Despite being aware from media reports that the feds were bearing down, Kelley said, Teixeira returned to his home and sat reading a Bible as he waited to be captured.

“(He’s a) 21-year-old kid,” Kelley said of Teixeira, who has no means or opportunity to flee the only area he’s ever called home.

Pellegrini disagreed, arguing that a letter Teixeira wrote Dighton police when trying to get a firearms permit following his high school suspension illuminated his duplicity.

Teixeira professed to have learned from his mistakes in the letter, Pellegrini said, and used his membership in the military as an example of his maturation and growth.

“There is no integrity in (his) character,” Pellegrini said as she noted the oath to the country he allegedly betrayed. “There can be none when there is such deceit.”

Pellegrini charged that Teixeira has “consistently put himself before" all else.

“He doesn’t like the rules,” she said, questioning how anyone could believe he would adhere to conditions of pretrial release in light of his alleged conduct.

Fleeing not far-fetched

An hour and 10 minutes head start, she suggested, was too much to afford Teixeira should he choose to flee - a notion she suggested was not at all far-fetched.

“We all know Mr. Snowden currently residents in Russia,” she said of Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence contractor who leaked classified information about mass surveillance techniques before fleeing to and becoming a citizen of Russia.

Hennessy did not say when he might issue a ruling on whether to order Teixeira detained or grant him bail.

Among those watching from the court gallery Thursday was U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael S. Rollins. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Rollins believes her office is capable of handling the case despite reports that Justice Department officials have mulled requesting it be transferred to the Virginia federal court that covers the Pentagon.

Discussion of the long-term fate of the case did not come up at Thursday’s hearing. The Times reported the case, unless moved out of state, would likely eventually be transferred to a judge in Boston - a report consistent with the Boston court code that remains assigned to the docket.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Judge David Hennessy weighs detaining accused leaker Jack Teixeira