Navy SEAL’s Rank Reduced, Walks Free on Time Served in ISIS Fighter Case

The only charge Gallagher was found guilty of was wrongful posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty.

A decorated Navy SEAL who faced sentencing for a single charge of posing with a 17-year-old militant's corpse after being acquitted on all other charges will walk free on time served, a military jury ruled Wednesday. 

Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's rank, though, will be reduced to Petty Officer First Class (E-6) and his pay will be docked. He must also pay a two-month fine of $2,697.

As Gallagher left the courtroom, he did not appear pleased and did not address the media as he had in the past. When asked how he felt about the outcome he responded with a blunt, "I feel fine." 

Gallagher told the military jury ahead of his sentencing that he took full responsibility for the "black eye" he put on the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy, specifically the SEALs. 

"I’ve made mistakes in my 20-year career, tactical, ethical, moral. I’m not perfect but I’ve always bounced back from my mistakes during my career. I’m ready to bounce back from this," he said. 

The military jury ordered Gallagher to four months confinement but he was freed Wednesday because he already served seven months ahead of trial. At one point, the jury asked the judge what reducing Gallagher's rank to E-5 would mean for him. Ultimately, after two hours of deliberations, they decided to reduce his rank to E-6. 

Present at the sentencing was Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was one of dozens of congressional Republicans who supported a "Free Eddie" campaign that garnered the attention of President Donald Trump. 

Trump appeared to suggest that he had intervened in the case in a tweet on Wednesday.

"Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family. You have been through much together. Glad I could help!" the tweet read. 


Gallagher was cleared on Tuesday in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017. He was also cleared of attempted murder in the shootings of two civilians and all other charges.

The only charge he was found guilty of was wrongful posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty.

The outcome of the case dealt a major blow to one of the Navy's most high-profile war crimes cases and exposed a generational conflict within the ranks of the elite special operations forces.

After the verdict was read on Tuesday, the defense attorneys jumped up from their seats as Gallagher turned and embraced his wife over the bar of the gallery.


"I thank God, and my legal team and my wife," he said.



"I was feeling like we're finally vindicated after being terrorized by the government that my husband fought for for 20 years," Andrea Gallagher said before the couple drove away from Naval Base San Diego in a white convertible Mustang to start celebrating.




"Got him with my hunting knife," Gallagher wrote in a text with the photo.




Lt. Jacob Portier, the officer in charge of the platoon, has been charged separately for overseeing Gallagher's re-enlistment ceremony next to the corpse and not reporting the alleged stabbing.


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