Attorneys for a New Jersey teenager accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS argued that the injured former football player was simply searching for camaraderie and purpose after being sidelined due to repeated head trauma.
Defense lawyers for 19-year-old Tomaskann Jimenez-Guzel asserted their client was particularly susceptible to extremist influence because of “an extensive history of traumatic brain injuries” sustained while playing as a starting defensive end for Montclair High School’s football team.
Jimenez-Guzel was arrested in November and charged with swearing loyalty to ISIS, plotting to travel to the Middle East to help form a group of violent jihadists, and making threats against Jewish people and other non-Muslims, reports the New York Post.
Despite those allegations and his online behavior, the defense insists he never harmed anyone and never intended to do so, pointing to the emotional toll his arrest has already taken on his family.
Court filings describe Jimenez-Guzel as “a young person with deep family and community roots, a good student, a responsible son and brother, and a person who can be trusted by the Court to comply with all conditions, particularly given how much his family has already suffered following his arrest and how loathe he would be to place his family and those who support him in any further jeopardy.”
“To say he was a misguided, immature teenager is not to minimize the seriousness of the allegations but to make clear to the Court that he had no intention of ever hurting anyone, and that he has never in fact hurt anyone,” his lawyers wrote.
According to the defense, Jimenez-Guzel — who was considered a strong prospect for Division I college football — struggled after being forced to quit the sport in 2023 due to his injuries. The loss of football, they argue, left him without a sense of identity or belonging, creating an opening for extremist influences.
“Lost, Tomaskaan looked to the internet and religion to make sense of the world and find connection,” the filing states. “He became socially isolated, spending hours reading about international politics online. He followed online rabbit holes to dark corners of the Internet, including a number of TikTok live group chats where users espoused extremist views and disseminated ISIS propaganda.”
“He wanted to feel like he was on a team again, bonded closely to others, with a shared sense of purpose,” the lawyers said.
The arguments were laid out in an 18-page letter asking Magistrate Judge José Almonte to release Jimenez-Guzel from federal custody, where he has remained since his arrest. Jimenez-Guzel is the son of a United Nations diplomat who leads a women’s business agency.
His attorneys proposed a $500,000 bond and home confinement at his retired international development lawyer father’s residence in Maryland, along with GPS monitoring and oversight of his internet use.
Under the proposal, Jimenez-Guzel would also participate in a de-radicalization program known as the Parents for Peace Program.
The defense further claims that Jimenez-Guzel suffers from severe migraines linked to his brain injuries and that his condition has worsened due to inadequate medical care while incarcerated. They argue he poses no threat to the community.
According to the filing, he has been prescribed the wrong medication, and his migraines are aggravated by harsh fluorescent lighting, frequent loud alarms, and the “screams and cries” of other inmates.
Before his arrest, Jimenez-Guzel had been undergoing monthly injection treatments for migraines and had been scheduled for additional testing — appointments that never occurred due to his detention, his lawyers said.
Medical evaluations found that he has “objective [cognitive] impairment” and “functional impairment,” the court documents state.
Jimenez-Guzel was arrested along with Milo Sedarat, another 19-year-old from Montclair and the son of a prominent Iranian-American poet.
Sedarat allegedly expressed rage over his mother’s Jewish friends and was accused of saying he wanted to execute “500 Jews” and enslave their wives and children, according to a criminal complaint.