The lawyer who led the successful defense of a SEAL accused of war crimes wants to rejoin the Navy to help teach prosecutors what they got wrong.
Timothy Parlatore won an acquittal this month on nearly all charges for his client, Special Warfare Chief Edward Gallagher, after a whirlwind trial with shocking twists and turns worthy of a blockbuster movie. Now he wants to join the Navy Reserve to show Navy prosecutors what they did wrong and how they can improve going forward.
“In the end, it’s still an institution that I love and that can grow from this experience,” Parlatore told the Washington Examiner.
Gallagher’s case made national headlines after media outlets detailed horrific accusations fellow SEALs hurled against him. The decorated combat veteran was accused of stabbing an injured, teenage ISIS fighter to death while deployed to Iraq in 2017, as well as shooting at an elderly Iraqi man and a young girl. The accusers described him as a reckless, bloodthirsty killer who failed to distinguish between friend and foe.
By the time Parlatore took over Gallagher’s defense, momentum did not appear to be in his favor. But that began to change when it was revealed that prosecutors had embedded email tracking software in their correspondence with the defense. That, Parlatore said, is just one example of the prosecution’s mishandling of the case.
In response to the revelation, Navy Capt. Aaron Rugh, the judge who oversaw the court martial, released Gallagher from pre-trial custody and dismissed lead prosecutor Cmdr. Chris Czaplak, against whom Parlatore plans to file an ethics complaint.
The biggest bombshell of the case came during the cross-examination of the prosecution’s star witness, Special Warfare Operator First Class Corey Scott, who claimed that he, not Gallagher, was responsible for the death of the injured ISIS fighter. While he admitted to seeing Gallagher stab the teen, Scott said he asphyxiated him in an effort to save him from abuse by Iraqi captors.
Parlatore told the Washington Examiner he was suspicious of Scott’s statements and felt confident prosecutors had missed something in their investigation, so he pressed Scott on who was ultimately responsible for the fighter’s death. The gamble paid off, as Gallagher was found guilty only of unlawfully taking a picture with the corpse of the fighter.
The case has undoubtedly boosted Parlatore’s career. He said he doesn’t have a vendetta against the Navy for trying his client. In fact, as a Naval Academy graduate and former officer, he cares deeply for the institution.
“Even though I’m not in, I still care about the mission,” he said.
Parlatore was part of the first class of midshipmen to graduate after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in 2002. As a surface warfare officer, Parlatore requested service on the USS Normandy, a guided missile cruiser he knew would be one of the first Navy ships in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. He was later deployed to Somalia, engaging in counter-piracy operations until leaving active duty in 2005 and heading off to law school.
Parlatore left the reserves in 2013 and is seeking a waiver to rejoin at a higher rank so he can bring a fresh perspective to what he calls the Navy legal system’s “insular” community.
“Everyone is in their own little bubble, and somebody needs to come in and shake things up,” he said.
One of his biggest concerns is for law-abiding warfighters on the front lines who saw the trial and have doubts as to whether they will be treated fairly by military prosecutors should they be accused of a crime, possibly causing them to second-guess themselves in combat. While Gallagher was found not guilty of the most serious charges brought against him, the trial itself has effectively ended his career.
Whether the Navy wants Parlatore remains to be seen. He admitted there may be some understandable hesitation on the part of Navy leaders who don’t want to work with the former opposition. He’s still working on Gallagher’s behalf to get his sentence of four months confinement, a drop in rank, and two months docked pay reduced. Gallagher’s pre-trial confinement counts toward his sentence, meaning he will not serve any jail time.
Known for unorthodox methods, Parlatore took to the internet to crowdsource for examples of similar offenses that were given nonjudicial punishment instead of a formal charge to prove Gallagher’s sentence was too harsh. It’s a move unlikely to endear him to Navy brass. But Parlatore expects to work with Gallagher on future business opportunities after the SEAL leaves the Navy, which could happen within the month.
