Edward Gallagher said nothing throughout the nearly year-long process between being indicted and the end of his trial, but his wife Andrea was a constant presence in the media and by his side.
Since he was charged in September 2018, Andrea, 39, has relentlessly campaigned for her husband’s exoneration.
Her hard work finally paid off on Tuesday as Edward was acquitted on murder and attempted murder charges and walked free.
Andrea stood next to him as he finally broke his silence and briefly addressed the media outside the court.
‘I’m happy and I’m thankful,’ he said with a smile. ‘I thank God, my legal team and my wife.’
She then took the microphone and told reporters the couple are now looking forward to freedom: ‘We just want to celebrate today.
‘I was feeling like we’re finally vindicated after being terrorized by the government that my husband fought for for 20 years.
‘If this was a movie no one would believe it.’
Andrea Gallagher was all smiles as she stood beside her husband, Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, after he was acquitted of murder in the 2017 killing of a wounded ISIS fighter on Tuesday outside a military court on Naval Base San Diego
Since he was charged in September 2018, Andrea, 39, has relentlessly campaigned for her husband’s exoneration. Her hard work finally paid off when the trial came to a close Tuesday
Speaking outside the court alongside her husband, Andrea said: ‘We just want to celebrate today. I was feeling like we’re finally vindicated after being terrorized by the government that my husband fought for for 20 years. If this was a movie no one would believe it’
Andrea’s searing confidence throughout the legal battle was well documented in her multiple television appearances, first on Fox News and later, as the trial gathered speed, on Good Morning America to insist on his innocence and condemn prosecutors’ attempts to put him behind bars.
Despite SEALs testifying to have witnessed her husband killing the ISIS prisoner, she said in one interview: ‘He’s confident. My husband has always maintained his innocence from the beginning; he has been confident.
‘He’s wanted to go to trial. We have waited so long for this opportunity,’ she said.
In addition to her media campaign, the glamorous blonde launched social media pages where she shared photographs of their family.
In them, Gallagher is seen hugging their sons, kissing her and treating her to ‘date night’ during the trial.
The Facebook page ‘Free Eddie Gallagher’ has more than 33,000 followers.
‘I will NEVER give up or stop speaking out against the injustices my husband, children, and family have suffered during this horrific ordeal & utter TRAVESTY of JUSTICE,’ she captioned a video on the page.
Andrea shared countless photographs of their family to the Facebook page ‘Free Eddie Gallagher’ in her continued effort to ensure her husband’s freedom
Many of the photographs featured Edward in the role of doting dad to the couple’s young sons
On the page, Andrea refers to the men who testified against her husband as ‘mean girls’
Andrea also told fans about the couple’s ‘date nights’ while the trial was ongoing
A fundraising effort by the Navy Defense Fund has raised more than $737,000 for the family
Andrea had previously called the trial ‘corrupt’, ‘vile’ and a ‘farce’ and has referred to the younger SEALs testifying against him as ‘Mean Girls.’
She pleaded with the president to intervene when her husband was put in the brig, begging him: ‘What is happening here isn’t right, and we need your help.’
When he was released, she thanked him publicly.
The pair had been married for 12 years and Andrea says they are lifelong best friends.
The couple have three children together: a 19-year-old son, a teenage daughter and a 10-year-old son. They live in Florida.
She has previously told how he planned to retire next year, aged 40, after 20 years in the armed forces.