SAN DIEGO — A decorated Navy SEAL pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of premeditated murder and other crimes in the stabbing death of a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq last year and the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.
Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will stand trial Feb. 19 before a jury that will be one-third enlisted personnel. Gallagher has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 11, and a judge said he will determine next week whether the 19-year Navy veteran should be released before trial.
The case is unusual because of the seriousness of the allegations against an elite special warfare operator and because prosecutors’ case includes the accounts of fellow Navy SEALs, an extremely tight-knit group even by military standards.
At Friday’s arraignment, prosecutors handed over 1,700 pages of documents, including text messages they say show Gallagher trying to intimidate witnesses. They say the information shows why he should not be released.
His attorney, Phil Stackhouse, dismissed the documents as “hearsay statements.” He said Gallagher is being falsely accused by disgruntled SEALs who wanted to get rid of a demanding platoon leader and that several of the government’s witnesses have now indicated they don’t clearly remember what happened.
“He didn’t murder anyone,” Stackhouse told reporters outside the courtroom. “He didn’t shoot at innocent people in the street.”
Stackhouse told the judge that his client was venting when he sent text messages to friends that called the SEALs who reported the allegations liars and that since then he has learned coping skills after getting treatment for a traumatic brain injury last summer.
Stackhouse suggested Gallagher be released with a protective order to stay away from witnesses.
Navy prosecutors have painted a picture of a highly trained fighter going off the rails on his eighth deployment, shooting at Iraqi civilians and stabbing to death a captured Islamic State fighter estimated to be 15 years old.
