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Judge Gets Brutally Honest With Defendant Asking For Leniency With A 'Hell No'

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counting marks on wall jailJareh Sebastian Dalke pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to transmit classified information. Dalke was arrested only months after beginning work at the National Security Agency after trying to sell classified information to someone he believed was a Russian agent, but was actually a law enforcement agent.

Earlier this week, Dalke was sentenced for his crimes by U.S. District Judge Raymond P. Moore. He asked Judge Moore for leniency, citing a difficult childhood, post traumatic stress disorder, and self-sabotage as explanations for what he did.

Judge Moore was having exactly none of that.

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As reported by Law360, Judge Moore utterly rejected Dalke’s request of 14 years in prison for his crimes.

“This was blatant, it was brazen, and in my mind, it was deliberate, it was a betrayal,” Judge Moore said. “And it was as close to treasonous as you can get.”

The judge said he was only sentencing him to 262 months in prison because that’s what federal prosecutors asked for, adding that he would have been comfortable sentencing him to “a whole lot more.”

He characterized the 262 months as “mercy and mitigation,” noting Dalke’s cooperation with federal authorities after he was arrested in Denver’s Union Station during an attempted digital dead drop.

Dalke had sought a sentence of 14 years in prison, but Judge Moore was not receptive.

“Not only ‘no,'” Judge Moore said, “Hell no.”

He added that Dalke, 32, “earned every bit of 262, and that’s what I’m going to give you.”

In rejecting the defendant’s proposed jail time and imposing the harsher sentence, the judge also noted Dalke’s history of lying, saying, “I’ve got nothing to back it up other than your word and your word is worth nothing.”

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Julia Martinez of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado applauded the judge’s decision saying it sends a message that cases “will be met with an extreme punishment, and it will be resolved quickly.” She also noted the deterrence effect of the sentence, saying it “will be discussed by thousands of [security] clearance holders.” The sentiment was echoed by FBI Director Christopher Wray, “this sentence should serve as a stark warning to all those entrusted with protecting national defense information that there are consequences to betraying that trust.”

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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