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Posted on 06/07/2019 6:32:57 PM PDT by jazusamo
Navy judge in SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher’s case won’t dismiss charges, but took away life-without-parole sentencing option
SAN DIEGO — The war crimes charges against a San Diego-based Navy SEAL will stand, a Navy judge ruled Friday. Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward R. Gallagher is facing charges that he killed a wounded teenage ISIS fighter brought to the SEAL’s Mosul, Iraq compound for medical treatment in 2017. Gallagher also is accused of shooting at civilians, posing for photos with a corpse and holding his reenlistment ceremony next to the body, according to court documents and prosecutor statements.
Gallagher has denied all the charges and pleaded not guilty.
Thursday the judge, Navy Capt. Aaron Rugh, moved the trial date from June 10 to June 17 at defense lawyers’ request.
The judge also said that government prosecutors had violated Gallagher’s rights by trying to electronically track emails sent to his defense attorneys.
Rugh said that the tracking had placed an “intolerable strain” on the public’s perception of the military justice system. He added that the email intrusions and news coverage of the case that included excerpts of the court’s rulings constituted “apparent unlawful command influence.”
Unlawful command influence occurs when a military commander uses their authority to influence the outcome of a military legal proceeding.
As remedies, Rugh ruled that if Gallagher is convicted of the charges, he will not have to face life without parole.
Also, Rugh gave the defense additional rights to challenge potential jurors. Rugh gave the defense two more “peremptory challenges” than the one they would normally have.
The prosecution has suffered other setbacks. On Monday the judge removed the lead prosecutor, Cmdr. Chris Czaplak, from the case after defense attorneys accused him of misconduct for allegedly “spying” on them via email.
Czaplak and NCIS hid a tracking link in emails sent to defense lawyers and a reporter that enabled them to see when the emails were read or transferred. Navy prosecutors said the link, which they called an “audit tool,” did not meet the legal threshold of a wire tap and so did not require a search warrant.
Rugh said he removed Czaplak because his need to defend himself against the misconduct charge constitutes a conflict of interest in the criminal case.
An isis life is not worth spit. If guilty, give him a LOR. If innocent, give him a medal.
I was really hoping Capt Rugh would dismiss all charges because of the prosecutorial misconduct.
So . . . Which part of the foregoing is considered bad?
[The "shooting at civilians" bit sounds like an obvious lie, unless you redefine "civilian" as "jihadi."]
Crazy. He should get a medal for killing a terrorist.
Seems to me like the Navy brass is still working for the OBUNGHOLE administration.
The Navy has concluded that one of its top judges did not lie when he provided erroneous information about witnesses while testifying under oath at an administrative hearing.
Last year, The Washington Post found that Cmdr. Aaron Rugh made false statements in 2014 to a board of officers deciding whether a Marine he had prosecuted for sexual misconduct should be expelled from the service.
That discovery led to an ethics inquiry — just part of the fallout from the flawed investigation into Marine Maj. Mark Thompson, a former history instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy convicted of having sex with two female midshipmen. He is accused of lying to the same board and faces a second court-martial because of The Post’s revelations about his case.
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Couldn’t get into the article due to paywall but looks like Rugh was promoted to Capt since that took place and that was in 0bama’s admin.
His biggest problem was having a big mouth.
“We’re scapegoats, George . . . scapegoats for the bloody Empire!”
No! Just a memo for record.
The Seal definitely pissed off some higher up somewhere along the way in his career.
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/04/25/navy-seals-war-crimes-edward-gallagher
If this report is accurate, this guy is a murdering POS. The fact his own comrades where the ones who reported him for using old men and schoolgirls for target practice suggests there must be something in these accusations. I doubt military personel hand one of their their brothers over to the law lightly, and several of them did, repeatedly, despite being constantly told to shut up.
- - - The fact his own comrades - - -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU GOT IT WRONG. What rock have you been sleeping under ???
This short thread is MISSING ALL THE FACTS, which I have run across even without trying.
Just for starters: his comrades have lied. Admitted. They have been trying to get a pass on that so they can, now, tell the actual truth without penalty. etc
Judge needs to be put on trial by a military court
Killing a wounded enemy was once a final mercy.
Breaker Morant! MUST viewing.
If this report is accurate, it means he should have been pulled from all combat theaters years ago. Officers who did not recognize his developing problems are the pieces of sh!t.
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