Didn’t the two prosecutors nominate each other and award themselves for medals over this shitshow?
copied and pasted from the Navy Times...
Presented at the Navy Region Southwest Legal Service Office in San Diego on July 10 by Capt. Gary E. Sharp — the chief of staff of Naval Legal Services Command in Washington — the decorations included NAMs for three lieutenants, George O. Hageman, Brian P. John and Scott I. McDonald, plus a female officer whose name and rank were redacted by the Navy.
Signed by Capt. Meg Larrea, the commanding officer for RLSO Southwest, McDonald’s NAM citation praised him for his “superior performance” after reviewing a (redacted) number of hours of video and reading a (redacted) number of pages of discovery to prep for a trial where he “brilliantly cross-examined defense witnesses” and “expertly delivered the government’s case in rebuttal.”
John’s NAM lauded him for his “superior performance" and “brilliant legal acumen” despite an “unforeseen personnel change” that forced him to fleet up to become a top prosecutor.
Those pair of awards raised eyebrows because although those Navy attorneys weren’t found culpable of wrongdoing, the prosecution team was sanctioned by Navy judge Capt. Aaron Rugh for violating the constitutional rights of Gallagher.
Part of the punishment included booting Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak, the lead prosecutor, for
a warrantless surveillance program cooked up with Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents
to track emails sent by defense attorneys and Navy Times.
Czaplak appears to have been the “unforeseen personnel change" and it remains unclear if the Navy will present him with an award.
The spying wasn’t the only accusation of prosecutorial and police misconduct dogging the case. They were accused of manipulating witness statements to NCIS agents; using immunity grants and a bogus “target letter” in a crude attempt to keep pro-Gallagher witnesses from testifying; illegally leaking documents to the media to taint the military jury pool; and then trying to cover it all up when they got caught.