If convicted, Gallagher faces a life sentence.Īt a two-day preliminary hearing at the Navy base in November, investigators said Gallagher stabbed the teen in the neck and body with a knife after he was handed over to the SEALs in the Iraqi city of Mosul to be treated for wounds sustained by the Iraqi Army and its prisoners during an airstrike in May 2017. The judge asked defense attorneys to describe the awards at the start of the court-martial. Gallagher, who was awarded the Bronze Star twice, showed little emotion as he sat in the courtroom in a Navy dress uniform covered in medals. “He didn’t shoot at innocent people in the street.” “He didn’t murder anyone,” Stackhouse told reporters outside the courtroom. His attorney, Phil Stackhouse, dismissed the documents as “hearsay and double hearsay statements.” He said Gallagher is being falsely accused by disgruntled SEALs who wanted to get rid of a demanding platoon leader and that several of the government’s witnesses have now indicated they don’t clearly remember what happened. They say the information shows why he should not be released. The case is unusual because of the seriousness of the allegations against an elite special warfare operator and because prosecutors’ case includes the accounts of fellow Navy SEALs, an extremely tight-knit group even by military standards.Īt Friday’s arraignment, prosecutors handed over 1,700 pages of documents, including text messages they say show Gallagher trying to intimidate witnesses. 11, and a judge said he will determine next week whether the 19-year Navy veteran should be released before trial. Gallagher has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 19 before a jury that will be one-third enlisted personnel. Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will stand trial Feb. A decorated Navy SEAL pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of premeditated murder and other crimes in the stabbing death of a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq last year and the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.
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