Navy SEAL says he saw medic Eddie Gallagher stab a prisoner in the neck, during day 2 of court-martial
Two Navy SEALS testified Wednesday, June 19, during day two of the trial of decorated fellow SEAL Edward “Eddie” Gallagher, including Chief Special Warfare Operator Craig Miller who told jurors he saw Gallagher drive a knife into the neck of a young ISIS detainee, leaving him for dead.
Gallagher is accused of the premeditated murder of the teen ISIS fighter and of committing other war crimes during his 2017 deployment to Iraq.
“I saw him stab the prisoner in the side of the neck,” said Miller, the prosecution’s key witness, who served with Gallagher in Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team 7. Miller went on to describe the puncture in the teen’s neck and how the blood flowed out.
But, Miller was also vague on some details during cross-examination with Gallagher’s lead defense attorney, Tim Parlatore.
In earlier testimony on Wednesday, in a San Diego military courtroom, Dylan Dille, who has left the Navy but served with the defendant, recalled a comment Gallagher made before the SEAL team deployed: “If we ever get a wounded enemy, the medics know what to do to nurse him to death,” Dille said.
He also corroborated testimony given by Navy Lt. Thomas MacNeil, on Monday, in which MacNeil described Gallagher calling dibs on the teen Islamic State fighter after he heard the call come across the radio that he had been found wounded.
“Don’t touch him, he’s all mine,” Dille told jurors about Gallagher’s comment.
Gallagher, 40, a special warfare operations chief, has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges in the high-profile case that has taken dramatic turns since Sept. 11, 2018, when he was arrested at Camp Pendleton’s Intrepid Spirit Center, where he was undergoing a medical screening.
He has two bronze stars and has served on eight deployments.
Gallagher, who sat in the courtroom Wednesday in a starched white uniform with a chest full of medals, is also accused of posing with the teen ISIS fighter’s body in a photograph, while he and other SEALs held a reenlistment ceremony.
Gallagher, who served as a medic, faces seven counts that include premeditated murder and attempted murder. He’s also accused of shooting two civilians from sniper perches in Iraq in 2017.
Dille said Wednesday he believed Gallagher had fired at Iraqi civilians from a sniper’s position several times, including on Father’s Day 2017, when an old man was shot near the Tigris River.
Though he didn’t see Gallagher pull the trigger, Dille said, he heard a gunshot coming from his position. He then looked in his scope and saw the old man was bleeding through his white outfit. He testified Gallagher then radioed that he thought he had missed the man.
Parlatore questioned Dille about why he never confronted Gallagher or reported him to superiors until a year after they returned from deployment.
Dille answered that the allegations were serious and he wanted to “be prepared for the angry mob to come knocking” referring, he said, to conservative news media and older SEALs who maintain their silence.
Asked about Miller’s statements, Parlatore said: “What we learned about Mr. Miller today is that when you’re not telling the truth, you can’t remember anything.”
The prosecution is expected to call two more Navy SEALs to testify on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.