NEW YORK — Lawyers for disgraced former New York congressman Anthony Weiner say he’s no predator and have asked a judge to spare him prison when he’s sentenced for transmitting obscene material to a 15-year-old North Carolina girl.

Weiner’s attorneys portrayed him sympathetically when they filed papers Wednesday with his sentencing judge. The papers argue Weiner is a better man than when he committed the crime. They say his crime stemmed from a sad confluence of untreated addiction and profit-seeking curiosity.

Guidelines call for Weiner to get between 21 and 27 months in prison when he’s sentenced in two weeks.