Probably not. Society is more complex than that, especially when you mix perverse actions with seemingly honest intentions. If you reveal 10 military secrets that put lives at risk but then have 1 piece of whistleblower evidence to protect yourself that's a shortcut to getting all your secrets revealed. There is no society in which revealing state secrets would be tolerated without being quickly destroyed by their enemies. And it's certainly showing one dosent care about the lives recklessly put at risk either, so is this really about helping people or is it just a blaze of ego?
Personally I'm more or less ambivalent whether he walks free or not today, what matters is deterrence is established.
Nobody ever charged Assange with releasing secrets which led to to the death of any operative.
And if he did, it would make perfect sense to charge him with that.
Sure, they implied it might possibly maybe have happened and some suckers believed it. Why wouldn't they? They hated his guts because he exposed a war crime so naturally they'll sling any kind of mud they can - whether there is evidence or not.
Personally I'm more or less ambivalent whether he walks free or not today, what matters is deterrence is established.