MINNEAPOLIS — Seventeen legal scholars are weighing in on the upcoming sentence of a former Minnesota FBI agent who admitted he leaked documents to the media.

Terry James Albury is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18 on two counts of unauthorized disclosure or retention of national defense information. Under his plea agreement, he faces a likely sentence of between 37 and 57 months, but the decision will be up to a federal judge.

The scholars are asking the court to craft a punishment that weighs the constitutional protection of free speech against any harm to national security.