• The court-martial trial of three SEALs accused of committing war crimes began with a flurry of motions Monday morning inside the courtroom of Naval Base San Diego.
• Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Daniel V. Dambrosio Jr. and two Special Operator Chief Petty Officers — Xavier Silva and David N. Swarts — stand accused of abusing unknown male prisoners at Village Stability Platform Kalach in the Chora District of Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province on May 31, 2012.
• A trial for their commander, Navy Lt. Jason L. Webb, waits in the wings.

The Navy’s top attorney might have scuttled a war crimes case against three SEALs by unlawfully meddling behind the scenes to bring charges against them.

After a flurry of Monday motions in the courtroom of Navy Cmdr. Arthur Gaston, the military judge ruled that Vice Adm. James Crawford III — the Navy’s judge advocate general — appears to have exerted unlawful command influence in a case first brought to light by a 2015 story in The New York Times.

The burden now shifts to military prosecutors to prove that Crawford, Naval Special Warfare Command’s Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski and other senior leaders did not create the appearance of behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

In the case at hand, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Daniel V. Dambrosio Jr. and two Special Operator Chief Petty Officers — Xavier Silva and David N. Swarts — are accused of abusing male prisoners at Village Stability Platform Kalach in the Chora District of Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province on May 31, 2012.

A June trial for their commander, Navy Lt. Jason L. Webb, waits in the wings but could be scuttled by the judge’s ruling, too.

It’s now the third time Crawford has been accused of unlawfully plotting with military leaders to convict SEALs.

A ruling is expected in the coming days from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., into Crawford’s alleged involvement in the rape case of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry, who was court-martialed and convicted in San Diego in 2015.

A special judge hearing evidence in Barry’s appeal already ruled that Crawford and others unlawfully tampered in the matter but left the final adjudication to the higher court.

Crawford also was accused by defense attorneys of unlawfully inserting himself into a probe involving the May 6, 2016, pool drowning of Seaman James Derek Lovelace during initial SEAL training. He has long insisted he was innocent in those cases and declined comment on Monday.

“The prosecution has opposed the defense motion to dismiss based on unlawful command influence in US v. Dambrosio, Silva and Swartz, and the judge's ruling on the matter is forthcoming,” Navy spokeswoman Patricia Babb said by email. “It would be inappropriate to discuss this case further, as it is Navy policy to not comment on ongoing or pending litigation.”

Military prosecutors suspect that the three SEALs and several village militiamen began committing war crimes hours after a bomb detonated at an Afghan Local Police checkpoint.

Called “ALP,” they were part of an ad hoc mix of armed militiamen that fall under the control of Kabul’s Interior Ministry but often are trained and led by SEALs or Army Green Berets.

Angered by the death of one of their militiamen in the blast, the Afghan police unit detained a group of Afghan men and marched them to the American compound near Kalach, kicking them and beating them with rifle butts and car antennas, according to witness statements compiled in a Navy Criminal Investigative Service report.

Relying on the recollections of four American soldiers, two Navy support personnel and a local Afghan police officer who allegedly witnessed and reported parts of the incident, prosecutors believe that Dambrosio, Silva and Swarts joined in with the militiamen and, by the end of the night, one Afghan prisoner died.

An Army witness later claimed that a senior Afghan police officer told him that the prisoners, including the dead detainee, were innocent.

The NCIS probe determined that Dambrosio, of Naval Special Warfare Group Training Detachment, assaulted one unknown man by grabbing his throat and striking his chest with a rock. He also pulled out his service pistol, placed it near a bound prisoner’s head and fired it in order to terrify him, military investigators say.

A member of Special Reconnaissance Team 2, Silva allegedly dragged an unidentified detainee by the neck, struck his chest with a rock, kicked him and at one point placed his body weight on his body to crush him.

Likewise accused of firing his pistol near a prisoner’s head, SEAL Team 5’s Swarts also allegedly struck a man with a rock. He’s also been charged with conspiring with his commander, SEAL Team 10’s Lt. Jason L. Webb, to lie to military leaders about what really happened that night.

Prosecutors allege that Swarts and Webb discussed filing a fake statement with their superiors and mulled submitting alternative versions of what really happened, omitting key details in their official report.

Because he was the senior SEAL during the incident, Webb’s charges are the most serious.

Along with the conspiracy count, he’s accused of willfully failing to supervise the interactions between his sailors and the Afghan militiamen when they interrogated the prisoners. Instead, Webb retreated to his office for “the duration of the interactions to avoid supervising the situation and the U.S. personnel,” according to his charge sheet.

Instead of sending a report warning his chain of command about the alleged war crimes, he sent a bogus message indicating only that an Afghan militiaman died in an explosion and that the village police officers’ “swift actions, decision making, and communication skills reflect that they are well prepared to handle situations of this magnitude,” court filings state.

He also allegedly urged an Army staff sergeant to never talk about how the SEALs abused the prisoners, part of an effort to impede a criminal probe, federal agents believe.

Not that it initially mattered because neither Webb nor his men ended up at a court-martial in 2012, after allegations of the war crimes surfaced.

Their commander, Capt. Robert E. Smith, gave them non-judicial punishment. Called a “Captain’s Mast” in the Navy, it’s a far less severe form of justice and its proceedings play out in private, far from public courtrooms and a paper trail citizens can follow.

Smith later said that he believed some of the statements against the SEALs were shaky and senior staff advisers had urged him to forgo what’s called “Article 32” proceedings, which are similar to a grand jury probe launched by federal prosecutors in civilian courts.

Allegations by the soldiers that the SEALs tried to cover it all up reverberated across a Navy already reeling from multiple scandals, including the ongoing “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery case. </s> The court-martial trial of three SEALs accused of committing war crimes began with a flurry of motions Monday morning inside the courtroom of Naval Base San Diego.

Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Daniel V. Dambrosio Jr. and two Special Operator Chief Petty Officers — Xavier Silva and David N. Swarts — stand accused of abusing unknown male prisoners at Village Stability Platform Kalach in the Chora District of Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province on May 31, 2012.

A trial for their commander, Navy Lt. Jason L. Webb, waits in the wings.

The Navy’s top attorney might have scuttled a war crimes case against three SEALs by unlawfully meddling behind the scenes to bring charges against them.

After a flurry of Monday motions in the courtroom of Navy Cmdr. Arthur Gaston, the military judge ruled that Vice Adm. James Crawford III — the Navy’s judge advocate general — appears to have exerted unlawful command influence in a case first brought to light by a 2015 story in The New York Times.

The burden now shifts to military prosecutors to prove that Crawford, Naval Special Warfare Command’s Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski and other senior leaders never created the appearance of behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

In the case at hand, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Daniel V. Dambrosio Jr. and two Special Operator Chief Petty Officers — Xavier Silva and David N. Swarts — are accused of abusing male prisoners at Village Stability Platform Kalach in the Chora District of Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province on May 31, 2012.

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A June trial for their commander, Navy Lt. Jason L. Webb, waits in the wings but could be scuttled by the judge’s ruling, too.

Although military officials insist the SEALs’ defense team was searching for evidence that didn’t exist, the attorneys for the three commandos pointed to a series of actions by Crawford and other high-ranking commissioned officers, including now-retired Rear Adm. Brian Losey, the former commander of Coronado-based Naval Special Warfare.

For example, defense attorneys say that although Losey was hedging at reopening a probe into the SEALs, Crawford told him that a captain was being scrutinized for allegedly bypassing traditional investigative processes — possibly sending a warning to junior leaders that the Navy wanted the commandos prosecuted.

It’s now the third time Crawford has been accused of unlawfully plotting with military leaders to convict SEALs.

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A ruling is expected in the coming days from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., into Crawford’s alleged involvement in the rape case of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry, who was court-martialed and convicted in San Diego in 2015.

A special judge hearing evidence in Barry’s appeal already ruled that Crawford and others unlawfully tampered in the matter but left the final adjudication to the higher court.

Crawford also was accused by defense attorneys of unlawfully inserting himself into a probe involving the May 6, 2016, pool drowning of Seaman James Derek Lovelace during initial SEAL training. He has long insisted he was innocent in those cases and declined comment on Monday.

“The prosecution has opposed the defense motion to dismiss based on unlawful command influence in US v. Dambrosio, Silva and Swartz, and the judge’s ruling on the matter is forthcoming,” Navy spokeswoman Patricia Babb said by email. “It would be inappropriate to discuss this case further, as it is Navy policy to not comment on ongoing or pending litigation.”

Military prosecutors suspect that the three SEALs and several village militiamen began committing war crimes hours after a bomb detonated at an Afghan Local Police checkpoint.

Called “ALP,” they were part of an ad hoc mix of armed militiamen that fall under the control of Kabul’s Interior Ministry but often are trained and led by SEALs or Army Green Berets.

Angered by the death of one of their militiamen in the blast, the Afghan police unit detained a group of Afghan men and marched them to the American compound near Kalach, kicking them and beating them with rifle butts and car antennas, according to witness statements compiled in a Navy Criminal Investigative Service report.

Relying on the recollections of four American soldiers, two Navy support personnel and a local Afghan police officer who allegedly witnessed and reported parts of the incident, prosecutors believe that Dambrosio, Silva and Swarts joined in with the militiamen and, by the end of the night, one Afghan prisoner died.

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An Army witness later claimed that a senior Afghan police officer told him that the prisoners, including the dead detainee, were innocent.

The NCIS probe determined that Dambrosio, of Naval Special Warfare Group Training Detachment, assaulted one unknown man by grabbing his throat and striking his chest with a rock. He also pulled out his service pistol, placed it near a bound prisoner’s head and fired it in order to terrify him, military investigators say.

A member of Special Reconnaissance Team 2, Silva allegedly dragged an unidentified detainee by the neck, struck his chest with a rock, kicked him and at one point placed his body weight on his body to crush him.

Likewise accused of firing his pistol near a prisoner’s head, SEAL Team 5’s Swarts also allegedly struck a man with a rock. He’s also been charged with conspiring with his commander, SEAL Team 10’s Lt. Jason L. Webb, to lie to military leaders about what really happened that night.

Prosecutors allege that Swarts and Webb discussed filing a fake statement with their superiors and mulled submitting alternative versions of what really happened, omitting key details in their official report.

Because he was the senior SEAL during the incident, Webb’s charges are the most serious.

He’s accused of willfully failing to supervise the interactions between his sailors and the Afghan militiamen when they interrogated the prisoners. Instead, Webb retreated to his office for “the duration of the interactions to avoid supervising the situation and the U.S. personnel,” according to his charge sheet.

Instead of sending a report warning his chain of command about the alleged war crimes, he sent a bogus message indicating only that an Afghan militiaman died in an explosion and that the village police officers’ “swift actions, decision making, and communication skills reflect that they are well prepared to handle situations of this magnitude,” court filings state.

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He also allegedly urged an Army staff sergeant to never talk about how the SEALs abused the prisoners, part of an effort to impede a criminal probe, federal agents believe.

Not that it initially mattered because neither Webb nor his men ended up at a court-martial in 2012, after allegations of the war crimes surfaced.

Their commander, Capt. Robert E. Smith, gave them non-judicial punishment. Called a “Captain’s Mast” in the Navy, it’s a far less severe form of justice and its proceedings play out in private, far from public courtrooms and a paper trail citizens can follow.

Smith later said that he believed some of the statements against the SEALs were shaky and senior staff advisers had urged him to forgo what’s called “Article 32” proceedings, which are similar to a grand jury probe launched by federal prosecutors in civilian courts.

Allegations by the soldiers that the SEALs tried to cover it all up reverberated across a Navy already reeling from multiple scandals, including the ongoing “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery case.

After the 2015 story in The New York Times, the Navy launched probes not only into what the SEALs allegedly did in Afghanistan but also the process Smith used to sidestep court-martial proceedings against them.

Smith’s name was scrubbed from a selection list for admiral, although prosecutors said Monday his delayed promotion now has been forwarded to the White House for approval.

In his Monday ruling, Cmdr. Gaston seized on actions taken against Smith, reasoning that they could have sent a “perceptible chill over the military criminal justice system” by warning future commanders that they also wouldn’t get promoted if they didn’t prosecute the SEALs.

“If it was known to (Rear Adm.) Losey it would be known to Szymanski when he took over,” Gaston said.

On Jan. 19, 2017, the three enlisted SEALs were charged with war crimes by Szymanski and nearly eight months later Navy Region Southwest commander Rear Adm. Yancy B. Lindsey forwarded their prosecutions to a general court-martial trial in San Diego.

The top military prosecutor in the war crimes case, Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart, vowed to press the Navy’s view that even if Crawford and others discussed the SEALs it doesn’t mean other commanders such as Szymanski and Lindsey failed to rely on evidence uncovered by news reporters and NCIS to make independent decisions to charge the sailors.

And the defense will keep trying to seek more than 200 emails and documents that Navy officials have withheld from them. They believe more evidence of high-ranking meddling might be found in them.

The hearings resume on Tuesday morning with the prosecution expected to submit statements from top admirals insisting that they reached their decisions to charge the SEALs without concerns about what Crawford or other more senior leaders wanted.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com </s> SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Latest on the court case of a Navy SEAL charged with murder (all times local):

A military judge has chided investigators in a Navy SEAL's war crimes case for not testifying about who authorized a scheme to snoop on defense lawyer emails.

Capt. Aaron Rugh (ROO) said Friday that refusal to testify could be a sign of culpability.

Rugh is considering whether to dismiss murder and other charges against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher.

Defense lawyers accuse prosecutors of misconduct and want them removed if the judge doesn't throw the case out.

Prosecutors have downplayed the effort to embed code in emails sent to the defense and a journalist in an effort to find the source of news leaks.

Rugh unexpectedly released Gallagher from custody Thursday as a remedy for interference by prosecutors.

Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to crimes in Iraq.

Attorneys for a decorated Navy SEAL facing a murder trial in the death of an Islamic State prisoner will try again to have the case dismissed after their client was unexpectedly freed from custody.

A military judge in San Diego released Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher on Thursday, saying it was a remedy after prosecutors interfered with his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

Gallagher's lawyers have condemned the prosecution for launching an unusual effort to find the source of news leaks in the politically charged case by embedding tracking code in emails sent to defense attorneys and a reporter.

The hearing on their request to dismiss the case continues Friday.

FILE - This 2018 file photo provided by Andrea Gallagher shows her husband, Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who has been charged with murder in the 2017 death of an Iraqi war prisoner. Lawyers for Gallagher are seeking to have the charges dismissed for alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Attorneys for Special Operations Chief Gallagher are scheduled to argue in military court Wednesday, May 29, 2019, that the case against him has been tainted by lies, withholding evidence and conducting surveillance on the defense. (Andrea Gallagher via AP, File) </s> SAN DIEGO — The Latest on the court case of a Navy SEAL accused of murder (all times local):

A military judge has released a Navy SEAL from custody in advance of his murder trial in the death of an Islamic State prisoner.

Capt. Aaron Rugh said Thursday that he was freeing Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher as a remedy for interference by prosecutors.

Defense lawyers accuse the prosecutors of misconduct for an effort to track defense lawyers’ emails that they say violated attorney-client privilege.

Gallagher will be freed as his lawyers continue to argue that the case be dismissed. He is scheduled to face trial June 10.



 This undated selfie photo provided by Andrea Gallagher shows her husband, Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who has been charged with murder in the 2017 death of an Iraqi war prisoner. Lawyers for Gallagher are seeking to have the charges dismissed for alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Attorneys for Special Operations Chief Gallagher are scheduled to argue in military court Wednesday, May 29, 2019, that the case against him has been tainted by lies, withholding evidence and conducting surveillance on the defense. (Edward Gallagher via AP) (Associated Press)

There were gasps in the courtroom as Rugh made the announcement. Gallagher’s wife put her head in her hands and burst into tears.

A military judge overseeing the case of a Navy SEAL charged with murder says he never approved an effort by prosecutors to track defense lawyers’ emails.

Capt. Aaron Rugh said Thursday he knew Navy investigators were trying to find the source of leaked court documents, but did not know of or approve any email tracking.

Defense lawyers say the move amounted to prosecutorial misconduct and they want charges against Gallagher dismissed or prosecutors removed from the case.

A military prosecutor downplayed the tracking effort, saying it did nothing more than record information on where and when emails were opened by recipients.

Defense lawyer Tim Parlatore withdrew his motion to have the judge removed from the case after learning Rugh was kept in the dark about what prosecutors did.

A military prosecutor has downplayed an effort to track emails of lawyers defending a Navy SEAL charged with murder.

Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak (CHAP-lak) said Thursday that the investigation to find the source of news leaks in the case of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher did nothing more than record information on where and when email messages were opened by recipients.

Defense lawyers say prosecutors engaged in misconduct and want charges against Gallagher dismissed or prosecutors removed from the case.

Czaplak says the emails contained code similar to what marketers use to see the internet protocol address where an email was opened and when.

Defense lawyers have called the device a web bug and have said the tracking was unethical.

Lawyers for a Navy SEAL accused of killing an Islamic State prisoner say prosecutors lied, withheld evidence and illegally conducted surveillance of the defense team.

Attorneys for Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher are scheduled to ask a military judge Thursday in San Diego to dismiss the charges or kick prosecutors off the case for misconduct.

Defense lawyer Tim Parlatore says the government’s conduct irreparably tainted the politically charged case.

Attorneys are also seeking more information on efforts by prosecutors to plant tracking software in emails sent to the defense and a journalist.

The Navy has said the software was used as part of an investigation to find the source of news leaks and that it did nothing wrong and has no plans to remove the prosecutor.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> SAN DIEGO — A decorated Navy SEAL facing a murder trial in the death of an Islamic State prisoner was freed Thursday from custody after a military judge cited interference by prosecutors.

The unexpected move drew gasps from those at a hearing in a San Diego courtroom in which lawyers for Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher sought to get the case dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct.

Gallagher’s wife, Andrea, who has led a campaign to free her husband, put her head in her hands and burst into tears.

The judge, Capt. Aaron Rugh, has not ruled yet on whether to throw out the case or remove prosecutors over tracking emails sent to defense lawyers and a journalist in an effort to find the source of news leaks in the politically charged case. He said freeing Gallagher at this point would be a remedy for interference by prosecutors.

Attorney Tim Parlatore accused prosecutors of a “rogue, relentless, and unlawful cyber campaign” that may have violated attorney-client privilege and hurt Gallagher’s ability to get a fair trial.

Efforts to get the case thrown out come as President Donald Trump considers pardoning several service members accused of war crimes, including Gallagher. Gallagher faces trial June 10.

Trump previously got Gallagher removed from the brig and transferred to better custody conditions at a Navy hospital.

During the hearing Thursday, Rugh indicated he was kept in the dark by prosecutors about the email monitoring.

Rugh said prosecutors had told him privately they planned to embed code in what he believed to be a court document to help them find the source of leaks. But he said he didn’t have the power to authorize such an investigative tool, and wasn’t told they planned to plant the code in emails to defense lawyers or a journalist.

Rugh said he thought prosecutors were coordinating the investigation with the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego. Rugh said he wasn’t aware that a federal prosecutor told the military prosecutor to make sure they had the judge’s approval before launching the tracking effort.

Parlatore withdrew his motion to have the judge removed from the case after learning he had not authorized the scheme.

The lead prosecutor downplayed the move at a related hearing earlier in the day. Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak said the code recorded nothing more than where and when email messages were opened by recipients that included a journalist for the Navy Times.

Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of an injured teenage militant in Iraq in 2017 and attempted murder for allegedly picking off civilians from a sniper’s perch.

His platoon supervisor, Lt. Jacob Portier, is fighting charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly conducting Gallagher’s re-enlistment ceremony next to the militant’s corpse.

Defense lawyer Jeremiah J. Sullivan III, who represents Portier, said there was no probable cause for the tracking effort, which was discovered in an unusual logo of an American flag with a bald eagle perched on the scales of justice beneath Czaplak’s signature.

Czaplak said the tracking ended May 10 after he was confronted by defense lawyers and acknowledged the effort in a closed-door hearing. He disclosed no other details at the time.

On Thursday Czaplak said the emails contained code similar to what marketers use to see when an email is opened and what device was used to open it.

“It’s still a web bug and it’s still unethical,” Sullivan said.

The judge in Portier’s case, Capt. Jonathan Stephens, said from what he had seen the tracking effort wasn’t able to view the contents of any emails.

Several experts testified that the code embedded in a signature line in the emails collected information on internet protocol addresses and could tell what web browser was being used, the duration it was open and could see if the message had been forwarded. But the information couldn’t generally be used to identify a specific person or capture content.

Josiah Roloff, a data forensics examiner from Spokane, Washington, said the code is typically used by marketing companies and he’s seen it used in undercover investigations. But he said he’s never seen it used to target defense lawyers. </s> San Diego -- Attorneys for a decorated Navy SEAL facing a murder trial in the death of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) prisoner will try again Friday to have the case dismissed, after their client was unexpectedly freed from custody.

A military judge released Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher from custody Thursday, drawing gasps in a San Diego courtroom.

The judge, Capt. Aaron Rugh, said releasing the platoon leader was a remedy for prosecutors interfering with his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

Gallagher's lawyers have condemned the prosecution for launching an unusual effort to find the source of news leaks in the politically charged case by embedding tracking code in emails sent to defense attorneys and a Navy Times journalist.

Defense attorney Tim Parlatore had accused prosecutors of a "rogue, relentless, and unlawful cyber campaign" that may have violated attorney-client privilege and hurt his client's ability to get a fair trial.

Gallagher's wife, Andrea, who has led a campaign to free her husband, put her hands to her face and burst into tears.

Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher hugs his wife, Andrea Gallagher, after leaving a military courtroom on Naval Base San Diego on May 30, 2019; the decorated Navy SEAL is facing a murder trial in the death of an ISIS prisoner was freed from custody after a military judge cited interference by prosecutors Julie Watson / AP

"I feel like it's a small victory on the way to the larger victory," Andrea Gallagher said outside court while her husband stood quietly by her side in his Navy whites.

"We have been utterly terrorized by this entire farce of a case," Andrea Gallagher said.

He didn't comment, on the advice of his attorneys.

A spokesman for the Navy prosecutors also wouldn't comment on Gallagher's freedom or developments at the hearing, which continues Friday.

Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of an injured teenage militant in Iraq in 2017 and attempted murder for allegedly picking off civilians from a sniper's perch.

His platoon supervisor, Lt. Jacob Portier, is fighting charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly conducting Gallagher's re-enlistment ceremony next to the militant's corpse.

Efforts to get the case thrown out come as President Trump considers pardoning several service members accused of war crimes, including Gallagher, who faces trial June 10.

One of Gallagher's civilian defense attorneys, Marc Mukasey, is also a personal lawyer for the president, the Reuters news service notes.

Gallagher could face life in prison if he's convicted of all the charges, including murder, attempted

murder and obstructing justice, Reuters points out.

Gallagher says fellow SEALS testifying against him -- several after being granted immunity -- are disgruntled subordinates who made up allegations in an effort to get him stripped of his command, Reuters adds.

Evidence at the hearing showed prosecutors enlisted a Naval Criminal Investigative Service intelligence specialist to conduct criminal background checks on three civilian lawyers, including Parlatore, and a journalist with the Navy Times who has broken several stories based on leaked documents.

On Thursday, Rugh said investigators told him privately that they planned to embed code in what he believed to be a court document to help them find the source of leaks but the judge said he didn't have the power to authorize it and wasn't told they planned to target emails sent to the defense lawyers or a journalist.

The lead prosecutor downplayed the move at a related hearing earlier in the day. Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak said the code embedded in the email recorded nothing more than where and when messages were opened by recipients.

Czaplak said the tracking ended May 10 after he was confronted by defense lawyers who discovered the code in an unusual logo of an American flag with a bald eagle perched on the scales of justice beneath Czaplak's signature.

On Thursday, Czaplak said the code was similar to what marketers use to see when an email is opened and on what device.

"It's still a web bug and it's still unethical," countered defense lawyer Jeremiah J. Sullivan III, who represents Portier.

The judge in Portier's case, Capt. Jonathan Stephens, said from what he had seen the tracking effort wasn't able to view the contents of any emails.

Several experts testified that the code couldn't generally be used to identify a specific person or capture content. </s> May 31 (UPI) -- A Navy SEAL accused of war crimes was released from pretrial custody after a military judge cited prosecutors interfered with the case, according to officials.

Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher, 39, was being held at Naval Medical Center San Diego ahead of his court-martial for allegedly committing war crimes, including the killing of a wounded 15-year-old Islamic State militant.

Military Judge Capt. Aaron Rugh released Gallagher following the five-hour hearing Thursday due to prosecutors interfering with the case by placing trackers on emails, Navy Region Southwest spokesman Brian O'Rouke said.

"That means he is free from restriction," O'Rouke said following the hearing, adding that his release is because of "all the interference with the email tracking," The Orange County Register reported.

His release follows earlier hearings where attorney Tim Parloatore, Gallagher's defense, argued for charges against his client to be dropped due to the prosecutor having placed trackers on emails sent to members of the defense and to an editor of Navy Times.

"It is illegal for the government to use [email] in the way they did without a warrant," Parlatore told Military Times. "What this constitutes is a warrantless surveillance of private citizens, including media, by the military -- We should be terrified."

The defense has argued the case should be dismissed due to the alleged misconduct by the prosecution team and that Gallagher's team intends to again request for the charges to be dismissed Friday, The Orange Country Register reported.

Gallagher was arrested Sept. 11 at Camp Pendleton's Intrepid Spirit Center and faces four counts of violating military law, including the most serious for the alleged killing of a 15-year-old IS militant.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In March following months of campaigning from the SEAL's family, President Donald Trump tweeted that he would have Gallagher moved from a military brig to be held to a less restrictive location.

"In honor of his past service to our country, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court," Trump tweeted March 30. "Process should move quickly." </s> A Navy SEAL accused of killing an injured teenage ISIS prisoner of war in Iraq was freed from custody on Thursday by a military judge as a move to rectify unsanctioned tracking of the defense team’s emails.

The judge, Capt. Aaron Rugh, has not ruled yet on whether to throw out the case against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher or remove the prosecutors who allegedly attached tracking software to emails they sent to Gallagher’s lawyers in a bid to find the source of leaks to the media about the case.

WIFE OF NAVY SEAL EDDIE GALLAGHER SAYS MILITARY PROSECUTORS SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED OVER ‘CRIMINAL WRONGDOING’

Gallagher’s attorneys accused the prosecutors of misconduct and initially demanded that Rugh be removed from the case. The motion against the judge was withdrawn after it was revealed that Rugh did not know of the email tracking methods despite condoning finding out who leaked court memos.

Attorney Tim Parlatore accused prosecutors of a “rogue, relentless, and unlawful cyber campaign” that may have violated attorney-client privilege and hurt Gallagher’s ability to get a fair trial. Marc Mukasey, another member of Gallagher’s legal team, is an attorney for President Trump, who has reportedly considered pardoning the Navy SEAL along with several other military personnel accused or convicted of war crimes, according to The New York Times.

Trump previously got Gallagher removed from the brig and transferred to better custody conditions at a Navy hospital.

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Gallagher is set to face trial on June 10. He is accused of fatally stabbing a 15-year old ISIS fighter to death in Iraq in 2017, shooting two civilians in the same year, and opening fire on crowds, all charges which he has pleaded not guilty to.

His platoon supervisor, Lt. Jacob Portier, is fighting charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly conducting Gallagher’s re-enlistment ceremony next to the militant’s corpse.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Morocco has acquitted a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, held without charge by the US military for over 13 years, of "undermining state security", his lawyer said Friday.

Yunis Chekkouri was arrested by Pakistani forces in late December 2001 with a group of several dozen alleged fighters who had fled the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda allies.

The following year he was flown to the Guantanamo Bay military prison, where he was locked up for over 13 years but never charged.

In September 2015, Chekkouri was released and sent back home where the authorities put him on trial for "undermining state security".

He was acquitted on Thursday of any wrongdoing, his lawyer Khalil Idrissi told AFP. The official MAP news agency confirmed, citing the court.

"The mistake has been acknowledged... the charges against him were contradictory and had no logic to them," Idrissi said.

Chekkouri, who had repeatedly denied the accusations against him, told AFP after the verdict: "The nightmare is over."

In May last year, Chekkouri, who has said he travelled to Afghanistan on a "humanitarian" mission, was sentenced to five years in prison but he appealed.

"The verdict was unfair. I knew that I would be proven innocent," he told AFP.

"I can now say I have turned the page on Guantanamo," he said, calling it a "cruel prison" where he said detainees are submitted "every day to interrogations, physical and psychological tortures".

Under former US president George W. Bush, the US military built a prison camp on Guantanamo Bay, located on an American naval base on the eastern tip of Cuba, in the months following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In January, US President Donald Trump announced he would keep the detention facility open, breaking from his predecessor Barack Obama's efforts to shutter it.

Guantanamo, once home to 780 prisoners detained for their alleged links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, now holds 41 detainees.
Three US Navy SEALs go on trial in San Diego accused of war crimes. Prosecutors allege the trio tortured unidentified detainees in Village Stability Platform Kalach in Chora, Uruzgan, Afghanistan.