Murder or mutiny? Arguments come from Navy SEAL’s court martial in New york

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Did decorated U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Ed Gallagher murder a teenage Islamic State fighter or possibly he being framed by mutinying sailors he commanded and which have been testifying against him?

That stands out as the question a seven-sailor jury have to research in Gallagher’s court martial, which began on Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Base in Los angeles.

Prosecutors say Gallagher, 39, who began his 18-year career to be a medic, briefly treated the young Islamic State fighter, then served his knife and stabbed him on the neck many.

Prosecutor Jeff Pietrzyk introduced a perception showing Gallagher holding the dead youth by way of hair. “Create celebrated that stabbing, celebrated the murder, whilst took photos and performed his re-enlistment ceremony over that body,” Pietrzyk said.

Defense attorney Timothy Parlatore told the jury in his opening statement the prosecution cannot present a body or a crime scene and therefore no case.

“This really is about a number of mutinous sailors and then a sham investigation.”

Gallagher could face life in prison if convicted in the trial arising from his 2019 deployment to Mosul, Iraq.

The platoon leader can also be charged with attempted murder in your wounding of two civilians – a schoolgirl as well elderly man – shot using a sniper’s perch in Iraq.

He maintains fellow SEAL downline in his platoon, who turned him in and are usually testifying against him under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to just make him from command.

POSSIBLE PARDON

The court martial has drawn national attention – including the battery life of President Mr . trump who said recently that he is considering pardons for many different military service members charged with war crimes, and Gallagher’s case was regarded as one of those under review.

Gallagher, an employment Navy officer, was on his eighth deployment, this point to Iraq where SEALs were training Iraqi military as they definitely pushed Islamic State fighters outside Mosul in a fight that went block by block in the war ravaged city.

Iraqi forces noticed the Islamic State fighter after he has been shot inside leg and was can not breathe within the fighting in Mosul. They tied him for the hood of a Humvee before driving 120 minutes to their operating base, where he was added to the ground and died 20 mins later.

It was there, the prosecution says, that Gallagher stabbed the fighter to death. There’s no video of your helmet-cameras troops with the field wear, however some video was deleted, reported by testimony in one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Lieutenant Thomas MacNeil. He was any type of those in the group photo showing Gallagher holding the dead fighter up by hair.

“Is a photo (of the group along with the dead youth) in

poor taste? Probably. Might it be evidence of a murder? No,” Parlatore said.