(Daily Mail)
Jennifer Smith July 3, 2019 10:05
A decorated Navy SEAL has been acquitted Tuesday of murder in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017.
The verdict at a military court on Naval Base San Diego was met with an outpouring of emotion as the military jury also cleared Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, 40, of attempted murder in the shootings of two civilians and all other charges except for posing for photos with the body of the dead captive.
The case exposed a generational conflict within the ranks of the elite special forces group and the outcome dealt a major blow to one of the military's most high-profile war crimes cases.
Outside the court Gallagher greeted the media alongside his wife and lawyers. He spoke briefly saying: 'I'm happy and I'm thankful.
'I thank God, my legal team and my wife.'
According to Fox News he joked with his legal team that 'it's Independence Day'.
His wife Andrea said they are now looking forward to freedom: 'We just want to celebrate today.
'I was feeling like we're finally vindicated after being terrorized by the government that my husband fought for for 20 years.
'I think that this vindication, I hope, will be a lesson learned to everybody, that we need to uphold innocent until proven guilty (and) due process.'
'If this was a movie no one would believe it.'
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