The defense attorney for the Navy SEAL on trial for murder and attempted murder at the Navy Base in San Diego, California has claimed his client has been set up by younger SEALs who hated his ‘old school’ ways.
Lawyer, Tim Parlatore, told a court on Friday that the group wanted to get rid of Chief Special Warfare Operator Eddie Gallagher who is accused of murdering a wounded, teenage ISIS fighter in Mosul, Iraq in 2017 by stabbing him twice in the neck then posing with the corpse.
‘This entire case was built on a small group of people that had personal animosity towards Eddie Gallagher,’ Parlatore said.
Parlatore added that they despised Gallagher for being an ‘old school, hard-charging warrior’.
Attorney Tim Parlatore told court on Friday that Navy SEALS wanted to get rid of their Chief
Eddie Gallagher is accused of murder and attempted murder in Musul, Iraq 2017. Gallagher arrives at court with his wife Andrea and brother Sean (C) for the start of his court-martial trial at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, California on June 18
‘The younger millennial SEALs were just there to say they were SEALs,’ the lawyer claimed.
Parlatore had told reporters prior to heading into court that the story is a big lie.
‘This is not a murder this is a mutiny,’ Parlatore charged. ‘This is a group of young disgruntled sailors that didn’t like being told that they were cowards and so they decided they conspired to take down the chief. They made up a story and that’s why we’re here.’
On Friday, SEAL Team 7’s Dalton Tolbert testified that he fired a warning shot at an old man during their 2017 tour and afterwards the man was hit by another shot.
He claimed he later heard a voice on radio say ‘you guys missed him but I got him’ and it sounded like Gallagher. But he replied to the defense that he didn’t know where the shot came from.
Regarding the stabbing of the ISIS militant, Tolbert said he arrived after the prisoner had died but he later heard Gallagher say something to the effect of: ‘I thought you guys were cool with it.’
One of the SEALs told the court on Tuesday that he’d seen Gallagher shoot at an elderly Iraqi man and group of women as they collected water from a river.
‘This is a group of young disgruntled sailors that didn’t like being told that they were cowards,’ the lawyer said and added they made the story up. Parlatore is pictured June 18
Special Warfare Operator Gallagher was hated for being an ‘old school, hard-charging warrior’, Parlatore claimed. Gallagher’s lawyer said there is a conspiracy against him
Left to right; SOC Eddie Gallagher, Tim Parlatore, SO1 Corey Scott, Lt. Brian John, Capt. Rugh on Thursday. Scott claims he was one who killed the ISIS militant boy
However Tolbert’s testimony could be affected by group texts he sent regarding the trial, which he claims were sent in frustration.
He wrote: ‘I’m going to burn this mother******g courthouse to the ground,’ the defense team claims one read. Tolbert is also said to have messaged other SEALs: ‘Somebody fire this p***y a** f*****g judge’ and ‘This legal process is a joke’.
Navy SEAL, Joshua Vriens testified Friday that he saw one girl in a group of 12-to-14-year-olds clutch her stomach and fall. But he didn’t see Gallagher shoot her.
On Thursday, SEAL medic Corey Scott shockingly testified that he was the one who killed the boy and not Gallagher.
Another group of SEALs radioed Gallagher’s men to tell them they had him and other witnesses testified that the Chief said ‘leave him, he’s all mine’.
A SEAL says he thinks he heard Gallagher (pictured) say: ‘You guys missed him but I got him’ after an old man was shot in Iraq
He stabbed the boy in his neck and in his side, they testified. The boy had a collapsed lung and couldn’t breathe so Gallagher opened his throat to insert a breathing tube, he testified.
One SEAL claimed that he tried to justify it by calling him ‘just an ISIS dirtbag’ once he had died.
Scott told the court he covered the hole because he thought the boy would be killed by Iraqi forces anyway and he didn’t want him to be tortured. Scott said Gallagher did stab the boy in the side.
Gallagher has claimed he only tried to give him help. Photos shown to the court also showed him posing with the boy, holding him up by the head.
‘He’s got a wife and family,’ Scott added on the stand about Gallagher. ‘I don’t think he should spend the rest of his life in prison.’
But Navy prosecutor, Lt. Brian John, hit back: ‘You can stand up there, and you can lie about how you killed the ISIS prisoner so Chief Gallagher does not have to go to jail.
Scott may now face perjury charges and the prosecution plans to continue with the case.
Court will resume on Monday and the case will rest Tuesday or Wednesday.
Gallagher, who has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder stemming from his 2017 tour of duty in Iraq