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Home Front: WoT
Judge finds Navy SEAL’s fair trial rights violated in war crimes case
2019-06-02
[NYPOST] The military judge presiding over the court-martial of a U.S. Navy SEAL charged with war crimes said on Friday prosecutors who electronically tracked email communications of defense lawyers without a warrant violated the accused’s right to a fair trial.

The finding came near the end of a two-day hearing that wrapped up just 10 days before Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher is due to stand trial in a case that has drawn the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
Gallagher is charged with murdering a helpless, maimed Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
fighter in his custody, and with two counts of attempted murder in the wounding of two unarmed civilians, a schoolgirl and elderly man, shot from a sniper’s perch.

The charges stem from Gallagher’s deployment as a platoon leader to Iraq’s northern city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, in 2017.

He has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to those and other charges, including obstructing justice. If convicted, the decorated career combat veteran could face life in prison.

Gallagher says he was wrongly accused and that fellow SEAL team members testifying against him, several under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to force him from command.

His defense team has filed motions seeking either to dismiss the charges altogether, or remove the lead prosecutor from the case, on grounds of alleged misconduct by the prosecutor and agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).

The defense specifically has accused Navy lawyers of conducting illegal surveillance of defense attorneys and news media using electronic tracking software secretly embedded in emails sent to the defense.
Posted by:Fred

#8  The Army JAG Corps appears to be rather ignorant about Art 99. To wit -

(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or
(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-06-02 17:20  

#7  Having a US Army JAG Major sit in on Brigade staff meetings in AFG and tossing in his opinions was difficult for me to stomach as an old contractor sitting in the cheap seats. I don't remember the Albanian SF commander or his "S-2" paying much attention, ha.
Posted by: Besoeker   2019-06-02 16:42  

#6  I'm hoping that stories like this are aberrations. But I share Mike's fears that we may be neglecting basic military preparedness and functions in favor of some lawyerly fad of the day.
Posted by: Tom   2019-06-02 14:07  

#5  ...There was something off about this from the beginning. I have found it almost impossible to believe that Chief Gallagher was able to do all the things charged in the call-a-lawyer-before-you-shoot ROE we had over there. The sheer viciousness of his treatment at the hands of the United States Navy raises serious, serious questions, and now we have not only admitted prosecutorial misbehavior, but it was reported Friday that three prosecution witnesses have now decided that they will not testify.

The bottom line is that to a great extent, the USN seems to be unable to prosecute anything that doesn't involve a seaman recruit and a DUI. No one - NO ONE - will ever face justice for the Fitzgerald collision now, after the CNO made public comments that he should have known better to have made. The McCain collision may never be sorted out to the point where we know why supposedly trained sailors were unable to use the controls of their own ship.

This now starts to worry me that if we get into it with the Chinese, we may well get our asses handed to us, along with several thousand body bags.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2019-06-02 11:24  

#4  The trial is sounding more and more like ... Breaker Morant(1980).
Posted by: magpie   2019-06-02 09:39  

#3  ...should and out of the military's hands. Clear case to violate the accused's fundamental civil rights of due process and conspiracy to do so. Give it to the Civil Rights division. It seems to call for the 'relief' of the chain of command who let this run.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-06-02 07:35  

#2  I would think that the prosecutors should be charged with crimes in this case and on trial themselves.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2019-06-02 02:00  

#1  You start to get the impression that even military discipline can't overcome lawyerly crookedness.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2019-06-02 01:31  

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