A federal judge agreed Wednesday to grant a two-week delay in the detention hearing for the Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking classified documents after his lawyers sought more time to “to address the issues presented by the government’s request for detention.”
Prosecutors agreed to grant the motion, which Magistrate Judge David Hennessy of the U.S. District Court in Boston then approved.
The suspect, Jack Teixeira, 21, briefly appeared in court to waive his right to a preliminary hearing in the proceedings, which lasted just a few minutes.
Teixeira entered court wearing orange prison uniform with his hands handcuffed in front of him, which a marshal of the court then removed. He made a quick glance of the full gallery before sitting down and conferring with his attorney.
“Yes your honor,” Teixeira said, leaning down to the microphone, when asked by the judge if he had signed the waiver.
Teixeira was arrested last week in connection with the investigation into classified documents that were leaked on the internet.
He was charged with possessing classified documents pertaining to national security and possessing national defense materials. The charges carry a maximum of 10 years behind bars.
Teixeira was not required to enter a plea during this initial court appearance last week, and a federal public defender, listed as Teixeira’s attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment at the time.
Teixeira, an airman first class with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, reportedly used Discord, an online forum originally used as a chat platform by video game enthusiasts, to share the leaked information with his small community of online friends, and he took photos of paper documents that he may have smuggled out of a secure facility.
Among more than 50 of the leaked documents NBC News obtained, many were labeled “Top Secret,” the highest level of classification. They reveal details of U.S. spying on Russia’s war machine in Ukraine and secret assessments of Ukraine’s combat power, as well as intelligence about America’s allies, including South Korea and Israel.
The postponement of Texeira’s hearing comes as the Air Force’s 102nd Intelligence Wing, which Texeira was assigned to, was ordered to stand down from its intelligence mission as the service’s inspector general conducts an investigation, the Air Force said Tuesday.
Ken Dilanian contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
