Senior Prosecutor in Navy SEAL Case Removed for Potential Conflict of Interest: NPR

A military judge dismissed the senior prosecutor in the highly publicized case of a decorated Navy SEAL, accused of war crimes in Iraq.

This rare decision comes a week before the scheduled start of the trial and after President Trump said he planned to pardon army members indicted for war crimes.

Lawyers defending the chief of special operations, Edward Gallagher, have accused the spy attorneys. They discovered a digital tracking device that was emailed to defense lawyers and a reporter covering the case.

The chief prosecutor, the commander of the navy. Christopher Czaplak, admitted to court for sending the hidden software by email. He added that the code simply tracked the location and time of messages when recipients opened their emails.

It was embedded under his electronic signature, in the logo of an American flag and in a bald eagle "perched on the scales of justice", according to Navy Times.

Prosecutors said they were trying to find out the source of the disclosed court documents, which persisted despite a gag order. They hired the navy's criminal investigation department to investigate the leaks.

The judge, Navy Captain Aaron Rugh, said that he had not been informed of the prosecutor's plan to use trackers in defense emails, reports Steve Walsh of KPBS. . The judge ordered Czaplak to withdraw from the case on Monday due to a potential conflict of interest.

Rugh said in a petition that he could not conclude whether the prosecutor had broken the rules, but that "the danger of an investigation is sufficiently real," according to the newspaper. Marine Times.

Phillip Stackhouse, a former military defense lawyer who previously represented Gallagher, told NPR that his team had repeatedly complained to the leak judge. "Most leaks were not defense friendly," Stackhouse said.

"It seems like [prosecutors] has begun to independently investigate defense, which is horribly inappropriate, "he added.

Stackhouse said that he uses a program that identifies digital tracking devices in his email and that he "was not going on" when he represented Gallagher. Other lawyers representing Gallagher said their emails had been followed.

Navy spokesman, Brian O'Rourke, told NPR that Czaplak had immediately complied with the judge's order. "When the judge made his decision, the prosecutor was informed and at that time he was no longer part of the prosecution team," said O & # Rourke.

He added that he had texted Czaplak afterwards and that it was unlikely that the prosecutor would speak to reporters. (Czaplak did not immediately respond to NPR's comment request.)

At least four associations of lawyers have denounced the use of such tracking software. The New York State Bar Association, of which Czaplak is a member, has stated that it "could violate federal or state law."

It is unclear whether the trial, scheduled for June 10, will proceed as scheduled or will be delayed.

It is also unclear whether the NCIS leak investigation is complete or is still ongoing. Jeff Houston, spokesman for the federal law enforcement agency, told NPR: "The NCIS does not comment on ongoing investigations".

Gallagher, a 19-year-old veteran, faces life in prison. He is accused of committing several crimes while he was in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

Prosecutors say that in 2017, Gallagher sat on the perch of a sniper and shot an old Iraqi man and a young woman. They say he used a knife to execute a 17-year-old captured ISIS fighter while an American doctor was treating his wounds – stabbing the teenager in the head and throat. He would then pose for photos next to the fighter's body.

Gallagher denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. His lawyers stated that the teenager had died from an injury during an air strike and that the SEAL testifying against him, under immunity, were resentful subordinates in his platoon.

The case took a turn at the end of May, when the judge unexpectedly released Gallagher while he was awaiting trial. This decision comes after the defense argued that prosecutors had violated Gallagher's right to a fair trial through misconduct.

His wife, Andrea Gallagher, told Fox News that he had been "trapped in this nightmare" and "persecuted by our own government".

In May, Trump launched the idea of ​​pardoning Gallagher and other members of the armed forces convicted of war crimes, the New York Times reported. President tweeted his support for Gallagher, who was later transferred to a less restrictive place. Some conservative lawmakers have criticized the way it has been treated and supported a possible Trump grace.

One of Gallagher's civil defense lawyers, Marc Mukasey, also worked as a lawyer for Trump. Mukasey said in court that he had received an email a few minutes after joining the case.