A Navy SEAL has been held in jail and mistreated for nearly six months, including insufficient access to legal counsel and medical care, and now a fellow SEAL and member of Congress is calling for his release ahead of the trial.
Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw is asking his Congressmen and -women to sign a letter requesting that the Navy release SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher from pre-trial confinement. Gallagher has been jailed since Sept. 11, 2018, ahead of his trial in May.
The draft letter that he will send is intended for Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey, who is Commander of Navy Region Southwest and the convening authority over Gallagher’s case with the power to release him from pre-trial confinement. The trial was recently delayed to May 28. If Gallagher isn’t released from the brig before then, he will have been in jail for nearly nine months prior to his trial – and that’s simply not acceptable, Crenshaw said.
“The key tipping point here was pushing the trial date back three months. Everyone deserves their time in court in a timely manner,” Crenshaw told American Military News.
Crenshaw will request that Gallagher, who is charged with murder of an already fatally wounded ISIS terrorist, be moved to base confinement instead of being confined at Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego, according to his draft letter, which his office noted is not finalized yet.
“To confine any service member for that duration of time, regardless of the authority to do so, sends a chilling message to our war fighters and is contrary to our Constitutional system of innocent until proven guilty,” Crenshaw writes in the letter to Lindsey. “As a result, we are respectfully requesting that he be released to properly prepare for trial, receive medical treatment, and see his family.”
So far, there are 10 confirmed signers of the letter, according to Andrea Gallagher, Eddie’s wife, who has been posting on social media for the public to contact their elected representatives and encourage them to sign Crenshaw’s letter. The deadline is Friday, March 1.
Their goal is to get 30 elected officials to sign onto the letter before sending it to the Navy, Andrea said.
“It means a great deal to our family that a SEAL veteran in Congress – someone who has seen the likes of combat that Eddie has lived through for eight tours – recognizes the injustice taking place against an American hero,” Andrea told American Military News on Thursday. “Rep. Dan Crenshaw has stepped up, along with Rep. Duncan Hunter and Rep. Ralph Norman, to lead a movement in Congress demanding action be taken on Eddie’s case.”
Aside from Crenshaw, confirmed signers are: Brian Babin, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Duncan Hunter, Steve King, Ralph Norman, Michael Waltz and Ron Wright.
Rep. Hunter, a former Marine officer and combat veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has been extremely vocal about Eddie Gallagher’s confinement and mistreatment in the brig. He recently told American Military News that Eddie’s is a case of “prosecutors gone wild” in the U.S. Navy.
“[The prosecutors are] treating our military guys, especially our Special Operators, like policemen as opposed to realizing they’re in a war zone,” Hunter said. “Now he’s being second-guessed. […] He’s being held in the sex-offender brig. We’re talking about a decorated 20-year Navy SEAL.”
“They see what is plain as day: the treatment being afforded to a decorated war fighter of the highest regard who will be jailed for nine months before his day in court is abysmal and Un-American,” Andrea said. “They’re demanding the immediate release of Eddie from Pre-trial Confinement so that he can receive proper medical care, have access to legal counsel, see his family and be afforded the Constitutional rights he deserves in this country of due process, innocence until proven guilty.”
Gallagher has been “improperly confined,” Crenshaw says in his letter, pointing out that a 19-year decorated warrior is being held with convicted sex offenders, and that his retributive confinement is more “punishment” rather than a necessary measure, as the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) allows for other measures prior to utilizing confinement.
Gallagher has also been mistreated, Crenshaw says, based on information reviewed by his office. He is “deprived of adequate food, heat, hygiene, medical care and sufficient access to legal counsel typically given to others awaiting trial,” Crenshaw’s letter reads.
Rep. Crenshaw’s proposed letter to Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey. (Courtesy of Andrea Gallagher)
Rep. Crenshaw’s proposed letter to Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey. (Courtesy of Andrea Gallagher)
In his letter to colleagues, dated Feb. 19, Crenshaw says, “My letter asks authorities to no longer hold Chief Gallagher’s liberty and freedom hostage by moving him to less restrictive pre-trial conditions, specifically from confinement in the brig to confinement to base.”
This is his letter:
Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s letter to colleagues asking them to sign onto his letter. (Courtesy of Andrea Gallagher)
Gallagher is charged with premeditated murder of an ISIS prisoner in Mosul, Iraq, during his last deployment in 2017, allegedly stabbing the prisoner with a hunting knife. He also faces other charges, including aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice.
Other service members who face charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice are not being held in the brig, including two other Navy SEALs who are charged with strangling a Green Beret in Mali.
