The military medals given to the prosecutors of the Navy SEAL, Edward Gallagher, who was recently acquitted of the murder of an Iraq prisoner have been requested to be revoked by President of the United States.
Yesterday, the Navy Secretary Richard Spencer ordered seven Navy Achievement Medals and 3 letters of commendation given to the prosecution team be rescinded.
In the high-profile case, Chief Edward Gallagher was found not guilty by a military jury of the premeditated murder of the 17year-old Islamic State prisoner in 2017. In early July, Gallagher was sentenced to a demotion in rank and a reduction in pay for posing with the dead captive's body.
The prosecution's case was plagued by problems, including a sanction from the military judge for violating the defendant's constitutional rights. Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak, who was the lead prosecutor was also removed from the case for conducting a warrantless surveillance program aimed at tracking emails sent by the defense team. The navy Times reported that the prosecutors were also accused of granting immunity in an effort to block defense witnesses from testifying.
In President Trump's tweets on Wednesday, he said the prosecutors had been "ridiculously given" the awards, adding, "Not only did they lose the case, but they also had difficulty with respect ... to information that may have been obtained from opposing lawyers and for giving immunity in a totally incompetent fashion."
Chief Gallagher,a 19-year Navy veteran who had previously won the Bronze Star, was serving his 8th deployment at the time of the killing took place.
