A Navy SEAL accused of war crimes won’t face life in prison without parole if convicted.
The Navy judge overseeing the case ruled out the possibility against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher after a series of unusual events catapulted the case into the public spotlight.
Capt. Aaron Rugh denied the defense team’s motion to dismiss the case on Friday, but did acknowledge that Navy officials have exerted undue command influence in the proceedings. In response, Rugh ruled the highest sentence a jury can give Gallagher is life with the possibility of parole and has awarded the defense two extra exemptions it can use to remove jurors during jury selection.
“The Navy remains committed to an impartial military justice system that provides due process and fundamental fairness,” Navy spokesman Brian O’Rourke told the Washington Examiner. “Chief Petty Officer Gallagher is presumed to be innocent, and the Navy will safeguard his right to a fair trial.”
Gallagher, 39, is accused of murdering an injured teenage ISIS fighter while on deployment to Iraq in 2017, in addition to a number of other crimes. Prosecutors allege he stabbed the fighter to death with his knife. Some of Gallagher’s former platoon mates reportedly accused him of engaging in reckless behavior and war crimes. His defenders say he is a war hero who has fallen victim to an unruly and overzealous prosecution team.
Gallagher was arrested on Sept. 11, 2018, but his case didn’t draw national headlines until the New York Times issued a damning report in April accusing him of crimes, including randomly firing machine guns and rockets into neighborhoods and shooting an unarmed man and school-age girl. The case against Gallagher seemed strong until the prosecution team reportedly embedded email tracking software in its correspondence with the defense, raising questions about a potential ethics violation.
Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, filed motions in response seeking dismissal of the charges, the lead prosecutor, and Rugh, though the latter was eventually withdrawn. Two other motions sought to compel the prosecution to be interviewed by the defense and alleged undue command influence from Navy officials.
Rugh’s ruling found that the use of the email tracking software “placed an intolerable strain on the public’s perception of the military justice system,” requiring a solution for the defense, despite his denial of the motion itself.
Rugh previously released Gallagher from pre-trial custody last week and later dismissed lead prosecutor Cmdr. Chris Czaplak on Monday, swinging momentum in Gallagher’s favor. The trial has been rescheduled for June 17 from its original June 10 date.
