Unusual circumstances in classified docs case makes outcome hard to predict: NYT

When a legal case fits neatly into a category, it’s much easier to predict the outcome.

But if what can be gleaned from charging documents is any indication, the case against Airman Jack Teixeira, who is accused of leaking highly sensitive classified documents, it will be difficult to predict the outcome, according to new reporting in The New York Times.

The Times’ Charlie Savage writes that government document leakers typically fit into three main categories; they’re either spies, whistleblowers, or hoarders. Teixeira, the 21-year-old who, according to reports, was trying to show off to friends in a chat room, fits into none of those categories.

Savage notes that in cases in which the past offers guidance, defendants and prosecutors have an incentive to reach a deal, noting that such deals offer defendants less prison time and allows prosecutors to avoid the uncertainty of addressing classified documents in open court.

But according to Savage’s reporting “prosecutors may be less willing to offer a relatively attractive prison sentence in a case as serious as Airman Teixeira’s,” noting the volume of documents involved and how sensitive they are.

“It is hard to predict how the case against Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to friends on a gaming server, will play out,” Save writes.

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