The defense attorney for the Navy SEAL on trial for murder and attempted murder at the Navy Base in San Diego, California has claimed his client has been set up by younger SEALs who hated his 'old school' ways.
Lawyer, Tim Parlatore, told a court on Friday that the group wanted to get rid of Chief Special Warfare Operator Eddie Gallagher who is accused of murdering a wounded, teenage ISIS fighter in Mosul, Iraq in 2017 by stabbing him twice in the neck then posing with the corpse.
'This entire case was built on a small group of people that had personal animosity towards Eddie Gallagher,' Parlatore said.
Parlatore added that they despised Gallagher for being an 'old school, hard-charging warrior'.
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Attorney Tim Parlatore told court on Friday that Navy SEALS wanted to get rid of their Chief
Eddie Gallagher is accused of murder and attempted murder in Musul, Iraq 2017. Gallagher arrives at court with his wife Andrea and brother Sean (C) for the start of his court-martial trial at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, California on June 18
'The younger millennial SEALs were just there to say they were SEALs,' the lawyer claimed.
Parlatore had told reporters prior to heading into court that the story is a big lie.
'This is not a murder this is a mutiny,' Parlatore charged. 'This is a group of young disgruntled sailors that didn't like being told that they were cowards and so they decided they conspired to take down the chief. They made up a story and that's why we're here.'
On Friday, SEAL Team 7's Dalton Tolbert testified that he fired a warning shot at an old man during their 2017 tour and afterwards the man was hit by another shot.
He claimed he later heard a voice on radio say 'you guys missed him but I got him' and it sounded like Gallagher. But he replied to the defense that he didn't know where the shot came from.
Regarding the stabbing of the ISIS militant, Tolbert said he arrived after the prisoner had died but he later heard Gallagher say something to the effect of: 'I thought you guys were cool with it.'
One of the SEALs told the court on Tuesday that he'd seen Gallagher shoot at an elderly Iraqi man and group of women as they collected water from a river.
