Acquitted Navy SEAL Sues Ex-lawyers, Legal Nonprofit

The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
September 15, 2019US News
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Acquitted Navy SEAL Sues Ex-lawyers, Legal Nonprofit
Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who has been charged with murder in the 2017 death of an Iraqi war prisoner was found not guilty. (Andrea Gallagher/File Photo via AP)

SAN DIEGO—A Navy SEAL acquitted in a war crimes trial has sued two of his former attorneys and a military legal defense nonprofit.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says the lawsuit filed Sept. 13 in Texas by Petty Officer 1st Class Edward Gallagher claims his case was not defended properly. The filing says attorneys Colby Vokey and Phillip Stackhouse, along with United American Patriots, attempted to delay the case in an effort to maximize fundraising for the nonprofit.

Stackhouse said he has not yet read the complaint. David Gurfein, CEO of United American Patriots, said he hasn’t read it either. A lawyer for Vokey did not address the complaint in an email to the newspaper Saturday.

A military jury acquitted Gallagher of premeditated murder on July 2 in the killing of a captive and wounded member of the ISIS terrorist group under his supervision in Iraq in 2017.

The jury also found him not guilty of all other counts except for the violation of posing for photographs with a dead war casualty.

Defense lawyers said Gallagher was framed by disgruntled platoon members who fabricated the allegations to oust their chief. They said there was no physical evidence to support the allegations.

Eddie Gallagher and wife
Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher (L) hugs his wife, Andrea Gallagher, after leaving a military courtroom on Naval Base San Diego in San Diego on May 30, 2019. (Julie Watson/AP)

A panel of jurors is made up of five Marines and two sailors, including a SEAL, many of whom had been in heavy combat in Iraq. The panel returned to deliberations Tuesday, a day after closing arguments wrapped up at the court-martial of Edward Gallagher.

Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to seven charges. The other charges include violations for posing with a human casualty and for allegedly retaliating against SEALs who reported him.

A military prosecutor asserted the proof of Gallagher’s guilt is his own words, his own photos and the testimony of his fellow troops. Defense lawyers called the case a “mutiny” by entitled, junior SEALs trying to oust a demanding chief.

Gallagher is accused of fatally stabbing the adolescent captive while he was under his supervision in Iraq in 2017 and to shooting civilians. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.

An Iraqi general who handed the wounded prisoner to the SEALs testified that Gallagher did not stab the boy. And Marine Staff Sgt. Giorgio Kirylo said after the boy died that he moved the body to take a “cool guy trophy” photo with it and saw no stab wounds on his neck.

navy seal freed
Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher leaves a military courtroom on Naval Base San Diego with his wife, Andrea Gallagher in San Diego, California on May 30, 2019. (Julie Watson/Photo/AP)

Gallagher’s attorneys said there were a number of things that could have caused the ISIS fighter’s death, including internal injuries from the blast.

The trial followed months of turmoil in one of the Navy’s most prominent war cases, including the removal of the Navy’s lead prosecutor after it was discovered the prosecution had tracked the emails of the defense team to find a news leak. The judge in response to that lowered the maximum sentence Gallagher could face for premeditated murder to life in prison with parole, instead of without parole.

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