Dazhon Darien, the man accused of using artificial intelligence to impersonate the principal of Pikesville High School, on Monday accepted that prosecutors could prove the case against him but did not admit guilt.

Darien, 32, who splits his time between Baltimore and Houston, entered an Alford plea to disturbing school operations in Baltimore County Circuit Court right before he was set to stand trial.

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Jan Marshall Alexander sentenced him to four months in jail.

The recording purported to depict Eric Eiswert making racist and antisemitic remarks behind closed doors and quickly spread in 2024 across social media.

Eiswert, the now former principal of Pikesville High School, spoke publicly for the first time to tell the courtroom about the negative impact this had on him and his family.

“My life was forever changed,” he said, reading from a piece of paper.

He said he was a “respected educator” throughout his 27-year career, but after Jan. 17, 2024, he was a “racist and antisemite” to the public. He needed police presence at his house and his own children were harassed by the media, said Eiswert.

He’s now “slowly rebuilding my professional career” and beginning to heal. “But this experience will never leave me.”

Eiswert declined to answer questions after the hearing.

Darien is facing 12 counts in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, including sexual exploitation of children, in an unrelated case.

He’s incarcerated in the Chesapeake Detention Facility.

Outside the Baltimore County Courts Building, Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox called Darien’s actions reprehensible and added that they had an enormous effect on Eiswert and the Pikesville High School community.“

He, in my mind, was still not accepting full responsibility,” Cox said, “even though the evidence was clear what he did.”

Cox prosecuted the case with Assistant State’s Attorney Brigid McCarthy.

Jasmine Hope, one of the public defenders representing Darien, said Darien could not anticipate the crime he was charged with nor the consequences for him, Eiswert and the school.

“Artificial intelligence is such a new, emerging and scary thing,” she said. “I think this has been a lesson for everyone here.”

While at Pikesville, Hope said her client was “constantly reprimanded” and belittled. Darien didn’t like how he was spoken to, she said, and other staffers can back those claims. She said Darien had parents in both Maryland and California. He was abused by his stepfather, molested by his older brother and suffered from severe depression, said Hope.

Brian Cathell, one of Eiswert’s attorneys, thanked police and prosecutors for “taking the matter seriously.”

“We are happy today to see that Mr. Darien has been held accountable by the criminal justice system,” Cathell said. “We’re also confident that the civil justice system will hold Mr. Darien, the school system and other individuals involved accountable.”

This story will be updated.