Jury Finds Navy SEAL Not Guilty Of Killing ISIS Terrorist

Beth Baumann / Townhall Tipsheet

Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher on Tuesday was found not guilty of committing war crimes and improperly killing an ISIS terrorist.
 

The announcement comes after another member of Seal Team Seven, medic Corey Scott, said he killed the terrorist.

The Navy Times detailed Scotts' testimony:

Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Corey Scott said Thursday that he asphyxiated the teenage Islamic State fighter after Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher unexpectedly stabbed him.

Gallagher is facing court-martial on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Scott says the militant had been stabilized and was breathing normally after he and Gallagher treated him for wounds suffered in an airstrike.

Scott says the patient would have survived the stabbing, but he decided to plug the youth's air tube because he believed he would eventually be tortured by Iraqi forces.

A prosecutor says Scott never revealed that version of events in previous conversations and accused him of lying to help Gallagher.

Gallagher was found not guilty of premeditated murder, willfully discharging a firearm to endanger human life, retaliation against members of his platoon for reporting his alleged actions, obstruction of justice, and the attempted murders of two noncombatants.

The only charge Gallagher was found guilty of was posing with a human casualty for a photo, CNN reported. He faces four months in prison for the photo but he's been held for 201 days.

  

"We have a sentencing to do, but the maximum sentence of what they’re about to sentence him on is much less than the time that they’ve already had him in the brig," defense attorney Tim Parlatore told NBC News after Tuesday's verdict. "So he is going home."