No One Confesses On the Stand

Hey there, before we start, just know that this episode contains descriptions of violence and war. Thanks for listening. Previously on The Line, one of the things that's causing their pain is defining their role as a hitman, as an assassin, or a torturer. What was that tertiary thing constantly floating over your head? That civilians were being killed by our chief? Objections. Overruled. If you cannot see that line, there's no way to know which side of it you're on. And I see any playing over on with the knife. So yeah, there's no. I was kind of shocked at first. I kind of looked around like, who else is seeing this? And then I kind of stayed at the dude's head, like, for a few minutes until he died. He didn't stab this kid. No. Not at all. It was, yeah, the complete lie that was told. Episode 5. No one confesses on a stand. I am not a huge true crime fan, so I may be the wrong person to ask, but has there ever been photographic evidence in a murder trial more damning than the pictures in the trial of Eddie Gallagher? Are there any other pieces of evidence that tick so many boxes at once? It is a picture in Mosul of Eddie Gallagher, the accused, tick. In one hand, he's holding a hunting knife, the murder weapon, tick. And with the other hand, is propping up the corpse of the murder victim, that young Isis prisoner, tick. It's all allegedly, of course, but still. It's all right there in that photograph. That's the one thing I never denied doing. Like, I'm not gay. I did that. Gallagher says, yes, the picture looks bad, but it doesn't mean the soldier died by his hand. The picture, he says, was a dark souvenir. I think that just comes down to mindset. And also, it was a good morning. We had killed a lot of Isis guys. You don't think in like, oh, this is wrong or this. You're like, yeah, fuck this guy. He was just trying to kill us. Who gives a shit? The main event of the Gallagher trial was the charge of stabbing and killing that young Isis prisoner. But he's also charged with the memorializing of it, with a photograph, a trophy shot. The D.O.D. is law of war manual prohibits taking pictures with the corpses of the enemy. There are practical reasons. Mainly images like that make instant propaganda for the enemy. But there have been trophy photos in war as long as there has been photography. Even soldiers on horseback posing next to piles of the dead. American GIs and World War II hammering it up with the skulls of Japanese soldiers they just killed. And it's here, not just the killing, but the keepsaking of the act, where the gulf between those who have been in combat and those who haven't can feel the widest. Well, of course, it seems distasteful. War is fucking way beyond distasteful. This is Mike from SEAL Team 3. You just took somebody's life. You know, like that person is now no longer in existence. There's nothing fucking nice about that. At that point, you know, taking a picture of him is far less dehumanizing than killing that fucking guy. Mike says he's never taken a trophy photo. But after talking to so many SEALs, I can tell you that it is more common than you might think. And the idea that anyone who has done it would need to explain themselves is for Mike beyond the pale. When you take somebody who has lived in a Disney World-esque environment their entire fucking life and does not know what real violence and true anger toward somebody is, judging the people that are putting their lives in harm's way to go do a shitty fucking job that's gonna fuck with them for the rest of their life. And then you're going to second guess something as benign as taking a fucking picture is to me borders on insulting as it's let me do my fucking job. Of course, Gallagher went one unfortunate step further than a picture. He also texted it to a friend, along with what is easily construed as a confession to the crime. Tick. So day one prosecutor, he shows the picture that you took with a dead fighter. Yes. You sent it to your buddy with a text, good story behind this, got him with my haunting knife. Yes. I'm just wondering what the experience was sitting in the courtroom thinking really which I hadn't done that. Yeah. I mean, obviously I wish I hadn't of text that from the get go. Why did you text it to him? He's one of my best friends. I don't eat each other for since my first platoon. And it was just one of those, it's like a joke, like joking back and forth. It's like dark humor. It was a stupid text to send him. I just was like joking around. And yeah, I wish I wouldn't have. Once the trial began, there wasn't much for Gallagher to do, but hope that the jury gets the joke. Funny thing is, that photo doesn't even get talked about that much at the trial. It just kind of hovers over it. A piece of evidence that you can't really contest. It is what it is. And that makes the hill Eddie Gallagher's attorneys have to climb a trial that much steeper. What happens when you look back at that picture now? Are you in a different mindset and can you see? No, I don't, if I look at the picture now, I don't have any, I still don't have any compassion towards that dead body. What I see now is a two year nightmare because of that picture that happened to my family. Like that's what I see in that picture. There's something else you should know. After that iceous prisoner died that day, Eddie Gallagher wasn't the only one who took a trophy photo with the body. It wasn't even the first. I think boredom kicked in because we were still out there and guys started taking pictures with the body as like, you know, trophy pictures or just messing around or like, you know, they're pointing the gun at his face or like holding them up just the same way. And then we took a group photo with him. There are seven men from Alfa Platoon in that group shot standing in the back row kneeling in the front and lying in the center, a corpse and the dirt. A class photo. Most don't smile posing instead with a seriousness you'd see back when photos were rare, a privilege. Just their presence here is the point. The enemy is dead and they're alive. Bond had now for life. By all accounts, any bond they felt in that moment began to break down almost immediately. Chipped away by regret for the picture and by accusations that any honor implied in their poses is fake, that the prisoner was killed against the rules of war and by the man who was supposed to be leading them all. On today's episode, the men in that photo testify. Some against their chief, some in support and one who at first seemed clear as to which Saudi was on. And then he opened his mouth on the stand. I'm Dan Tabersky. This is The Line. This is not a real courtroom scene. It's a TV one, black and white. It's Perry Mason, the eponymous show that aired in the 50s and 60s that in its day came to define how viewers understood just how things went down inside a criminal courtroom. He killed my husband. No, he didn't, Mrs. Reed. You killed your husband. I think you're out of your mind. In Perry Mason world, every trial ends in a surprise. The person you least suspect making a dramatic, on-the-stand confession, shocking everyone. "Seem forever with that elevator not moving. And it came down, down, down, and the doors opened. He saw me and he saw the gun and I. She shot him. In the same way that CSI dumbs down forensics, Perry Mason, as good as it was, so oversimplified the criminal trial process that American viewers began to internalize all those things and think that they were true. Some even call it Perry Mason syndrome. So people began trying to represent themselves in court because, hey, I watch Perry Mason, I know how it works, rather than hiring a proper lawyer, like one probably should. And people came to actually think that a person accused of murder is never the one who really did it. And that inevitably some other witness at the trial, the one you least suspect is going to stand up and say, "I did it. I killed him." But of course, it's not really how it works, right? In real life, no one confesses on the stand. That would be ridiculous. I had originally wanted to go into the Jag Corp when I was on active duty that didn't work out. I didn't meet their strings. engine entrance requirements. Tim Parletore heads up Eddie Gallagher's defense team. He's the one we've been hearing in the courtroom audio. He's a civilian attorney, but turns out he had aspirations to become a military lawyer, early in his career. We had many qualified applicants this year and it was very competitive and you weren't selected, you know. Huh. Yeah. That's interesting. It is interesting because if you're looking for a little poetic justice to go with the courtroom kind, going head to head with the Jag Court, in the highest profile military trial in the last quarter century, they'd be a great way to get it. And after that, we had a pretty good first day. On most days after court, while the Jags prepare for the next day, Parletore talks to the press in the parking lot outside the courthouse. Oh, yeah, the witnesses. I mean, look, each one of these witnesses is going to come in and tell their own individual story. And we're going to have to go through each one of them exposed each one of them for lying. Are you concerned that someone might change their story? Sure. As far as defense attorneys go, Parletore is the flashier kind. In his shirt tie combos and in his choice of clients, he has wrapped mob guys. He has wrapped mob wives from the VH1 reality show. I'd say Tim Parletore doesn't mind a little bit of controversy. And here's Exhibit A, his opening statement at the trial. Defense, do you deserve to make an opening statement at this time? Yes, sir. He gets up, he walks over to the jury and he says this. My knee gross. Craig's done some good work making progress with handling the Diablo situation. It is incredibly notable that the first thing you said to the jury was my knee gross. And you said it in the context of quoting a text, but you, you say it very loud. What was behind that? That choice? Because you didn't have to choose that text. It could have been any text. I wanted to write off the bat, grab the jury's attention. The prosecution has just told you a story, a rather clinical story, but I want you to understand who their witnesses are. The person that comes in and is in their dress white uniform and all pre-emptive proper and yes or no, sir, let's start off to see what these guys are like when they're not being watched. How they're really talking to one another and what they're talking to each other about. He's talking about the sewing circle, the gnome to WhatsApp for the group of seals and alphabetune who pursued the allegations most doggedly. When this all began, none of them thought their accusations would turn into an actual war crime's trial for murder. An internal review, perhaps. Gallagher being removed his chief, maybe. But the very public circus, it had become no way. And actually, you could say the same for the prosecution. Their lead up to the trial was hardly masterful. In fact, the judge had just sh*t canned the lead prosecutor for Ledgemas conduct, leaving the underlings just two weeks to prepare the case on their own. No one on the team had ever even tried a war crimes case. Now, a trial, all eyes were on the men who were there that day in Mosul. We will hear the testimony from four of them. Pretty much the entire case, hinging on what they are about to say on the stand. Their testimonial evidence. And that is a no small part because the physical evidence of the crime is so underwhelming. We have two crime scenes. Ron Martinelli was the lead forensics expert on the prosecution side. So one is the physical location and environment where this murder takes place. That's the compound where the seals were that day. And where the prisoner died. A crime scene in the middle of a war zone. Investigators didn't even make it there until 16 months after the alleged crime. Pretty much pointless by them. And the second one is the guy. The body itself is a crime scene. Now, what's the big challenge? The big challenge is we have a body we didn't have an autopsy. Yeah. And by the way, that body stayed around for five days. Holy smokes. Yeah, they just took it and they drug it off to another part of the compound. And there's no record of where the body went. No. So we had no autopsy, no victims, no nothing. But there is an alleged murder weapon. Gallagher's knife. Custom made with a three inch fixed blade. The one on display in Gallagher's trophy shot. They did a forensic examination of the knife and the sheath. They found no blood. No, there's no traces of blood. Well, they did find DNA. Middle Eastern descent, brown hair, black eyes, fair skin, no fron. They found skin cells. All that says is that somebody of Middle Eastern descent touched the knife. Which by the way, is everybody that Chief Gallagher was working with on that deployment. Our partner force, the Iraqi year AD that the seals were fighting with, presumably they're all Middle Eastern. The skin cell DNA on that knife could have come from any of them. So no usable DNA evidence, nobody, no autopsy. One of the science that might help us connect the dots in a regular murder trial. But what they do have is photographic evidence, pictures from the crime scene. To set up this piece of evidence, the prosecution calls a seal who is at the scene of the crime. If you'd call your next witness. Thank you, Your Honor. Government calls SO1 Bernd. SO1 Bernd was one of the medics in the platoon. Mosul was Bernd's first combat deployment. In fact, Gallagher says Bernd was the only seal in the platoon he had hand picked himself. In that group trophy photo, Bernd is positioned right in front on one knee, next to Chief Gallagher and the body. Now Bernd is testifying against his chief about what happened before that photo was taken. When he helped Gallagher treat the ISIS prisoner when he was brought in, wounded but alive. Can you describe the condition as you witnessed it of the ISIS detainee when you saw him brought into your compound? Sure. The detainee was seen in and out of consciousness, but he was definitely having respiratory distress at the time. At first, it's Bernd and Gallagher working on the prisoner. They think he has blast lung from the air strike he had escaped from, making it hard to breathe. So Gallagher does a crick, a breathing tube inserted into an incision in the throat. Did you witness Chief Gallagher perform the crick upon the patient? I did witness that. They do a lot of medical procedures, actually. Bernd says they inject him with ketamine, a sedative. They do a crick. They do needled decompressions to relieve pressure in his chest cavity and they do a chest tube. Who was directing the particular medical treatments you described so far? Chief Gallagher was the lead medic on scene. After a few minutes and after another platoon medic arrives to help out, that's when Bernd says that he steps away from a scene. Did you check his condition at all prior to departing the scene? I noticed there was a condensation in the chest tube. What did that indicate to you? That the patient was alive. How long were you away from the patient? It's between 10 and 15 minutes. And what did you see when you came back to that patient? The patient was no longer alive. So there's our window. It's in those few minutes where that prisoner either died from the wound he came in with or was murdered by someone there on the scene. This here is where the crime scene picks come in. Images taken from a seals helmet cam just after the prisoner died. If you can move your monitor S01 Bernd back, do you recognize this photograph? I do, yes. In one shot, the body is split out in a T shape in the sand. Brown pants, black tank top, eyes closed. In another shot, there's actually a hand reaching in, checking for a pulse. Within these images, you can also see all the medical gack attached to and around the body, needles, tubes, wrappers, evidence. That allows the prosecution to see and account for all the procedures that were performed on that prisoner. And there's two things in the picture that can't be accounted for. That S01 Bernd says weren't there when he left, but were there when he returned to a dead prisoner. First, blood. There's blood spatter on the right shoulder and going down the arm, and a pool of blood below him, seeping into the ground. And second, a combat bandage on the right side of the neck, covering a place where no procedure had been done and exactly the place where Galger is accused of stabbing him. So what's under the bandage? Stab wounds created by Galger and his knife and then covered up to hide the deed. Unfortunately, you can't peek under the bandage in a picture. Some of them would have to have had to see underneath it in the moment. >> You're wearing the cell in the true, the whole true, nothing but the truth of the hearing outfending, so hope you got it. >> Thank you, Stab. >> Please be seated. >> Thanks, sir. >> My name is George Yo Curlo. I'm a staff sergeant in the Ring Corps. I'm stationed at first Marine Raider Support Department, Camp Pendleton, California. >> Good afternoon, Stab, sir. >> Dr. Incer. >> Good afternoon, sir. Staff Sergeant Geo Carrillo is not a seal, but he was attached to the platoon. He was their intelligence guy. Corillo says he didn't particularly like Chief Gallagher when they were in Mosul. But when the charges came up, he sided with Eddie. "You see a picture on your screen there?" "I don't know." "That is me." It was Corillo, who was the first to pose for a trophy shot with a body. A dubious distinction for sure, but one that might have given him an up-close look at the body right after the death, including that bandage on the corpse's neck. Tim Puro-Tori questioned him about it on the stand. "Now, what did you do before taking the picture with Chris? "I was fairly strong at the time and I just wanted to see how heavy he was. I lifted him up by his hair about six or eight inches off the ground. Not all the way up off the ground, but just the top of his body." "Did you see anything when you did that?" "It did. I saw a bunch of holes in this guy from a tube in his side. It looked like a tube in his right side and his crack." "What about that bandage?" "The bandage lifted up and stayed stuck to his shirt when I picked him up. I looked all the way down this man's neck and I didn't see anything." "There was no stab on the top of the neck?" "Not a single one." "It's certainly a convenient piece of testimony. If I were the prosecution, I'd be asking why he happened to register that detail in his brain in the first place, especially since when he took that pick, as far as he knew, no one was accusing anyone of anything. You would have no reason to notice stab wounds or a lack of them." The prosecution never gets a good answer on that. In fact, then, they never even ask. But they do bring up another piece of evidence that is less convenient for Carillo. Audio evidence. Again, from the helmet cam video. This time, from when the detainee was still alive, and Gallagher was about to treat him. "I'm going to play another flip and so I'm now playing prosecution's unit 16 at 36 seconds." "Hey, he's about to put him out, dude." "Yeah." "And that was you that said, "Hey, he's about to put him out, dude." Isn't that right, yes, sir? "He's about to put him out, dude." That is what he says, as they're hovering over the ISIS fighter. Does it mean Eddie's about to put him out as in "give him a sedative?" Or Eddie's about to put him out as in "kill him?" The jury never finds out, because the prosecution never asks that question either. Prosecutions never able to make much hay out of physical or photographic evidence at all. So in the end, the case hinges on eyewitness testimony. The two seals who told investigators that they saw Gallagher stab that prisoner with their own eyes. S.O.1 Corey Scott, the other platoon medic who helped treat the detainee before he died, and S.O.C. Craig Miller. Craig Miller was chief Gallagher's number two in the platoon. They called him the sheriff because he was so by the book. And it runs in the family. His father was a seal as well. At the sewing circle had a leader, it was Miller. He was the one who pushed the accusations the hardest. When they were getting hizemaned by the leadership of the teams who didn't want to hear it. "I went down." When NCIS finally jumped on the case and investigated, you will remember that Miller's recorded statement was the most raw for sure, the most nerve-wracked. And I see Eddie playing over on with the knife sitting on his neck. As he described, walking into the scene and seeing Gallagher stab that prisoner. "And I've ever taken like a man, he knows that I know this." But a seal showing that much emotion, it also made him a target. Eddie's wife Andrea, who had seen the video as part of Trial Prep, was trolling Miller on Instagram about it just the week before the trial, even before jury selection, calling him "Crying S.O.C. Miller." Along with that meme of James Vanderbueck, ugly crying in Dawson's Creek. "Welcome back, we continue with the government's case. Government you may proceed." "Thank you, Ryan." "The government calls S.O.C. Craig Miller." Remember, Miller is a government witness. So when the prosecution begins their questioning, this is the easy part. Or should be. "You recall approximately how far away you were from the detainee. Give me when I walked around it, around the Humvee." "That's right. How close I got to the scene or how far I was away when I noticed." I guess. At even the simplest part of the story that Miller has to tell, how close were you to what happened? He and the prosecution just can't seem to get it out. When you describe perhaps in relation to the judges, the military judges bench, it probably be close to that right corner right there, the one on the right, that's probably not right. The right corner where the bench angles off, back towards the wall, how far is that, maybe 15. Do we have measurements here on? "No, why don't you estimate for the record please?" You might have a better sense of distance than I do. You could blame nerves, but you could also blame the prosecution. They met with Miller several times. He's supposed to be a star witness. But even at the pivotal part, Miller's eyewitness testimony of seeing that stabbing. "How many times did you see Chief Gallagher stab that detainee?" "I want to say twice." I want to say twice. If you were on this jury, would you have the certainty to put a man on jail for life for stabbing someone I want to say twice? When temporary gets his turn, it just gets worse for Miller. "Good afternoon. You and I have them met before, have we?" "No, no, sir." "How many times have you met with these prosecutors to pry it to that?" "How many times have I met with?" "The prosecution team, several times." "Keep all pocket?" "10 times?" "No." "6?" "I'm not sure exactly." "More than 6?" "No, I think so." "More than 4?" "No, no." "What was the last time you met with prosecutors before today?" "Who is the last week?" "What about the time before that?" "I won't show." "So while ago?" "I don't remember exactly." "Two months ago?" "Six months ago?" "When?" "Can I ask you a question?" "No." "Technically, that's not how it's supposed to work." Miller is on the stand for three and a half hours. "Okay. So after you saw your chief's death this Saturday, you went into the building to find Lieutenant Portiers. Is that correct? "Yes it is." "And you told Lieutenant Portiers what you would see, right?" "Yes." "And you told them what happened?" "I told them what happened. I know that." "What was the difference between what happened and what you would see?" "Because if what I've seen maybe would have been a lot, I don't know. I just don't want to answer it wrong. I guess I won't answer it the right way, you know what I'm saying?" "What the jury wants to hear is the truth." "It's hard to imagine that the jury saw Miller's testimony as anything but a watch, putting that much more pressure on the prosecution's remaining eyewitness to the alleged stabbing. Platoon medic, SO1, Corey Scott." We never thought in a million years that he would sacrifice nearly two decades of his life to the war on terror. When Tim Parlatore talks to the press after court, Andrea Gallagher is usually standing right beside him. Our family would let him go on eight combat deployments and at the very last deployment that now he'd be persecuted, not just prosecuted but persecuted by his own government. Andrea Gallagher did not play the long-suffering wife in the story of this trial, in the way that she spoke and in the way that she looked when she showed up to the court every day. I mean, look, first of all, I love fashion. Anyone that knows me can tell you. I love style of fashion and I'm also being photographed by 50 cameras and I do think the way you project to the world makes a difference. I also am not going to show up there like a victim. I'm not a victim. I realize it's weird that when a woman finally shows up in this sausage fest of a series, she starts talking about her appearance, but hear me out. Each day she walks up to the courthouse like she's Heather Lockelier in Melrose Place. And no, I don't care how old that reference is, it fits. She likes bright red jumpsuits and big bold necklaces framed by platinum blonde hair. She looks like winning is a foregone conclusion. It's a little bit defiant. It is. We are very defiant, both Eddie and I. And that is why it sticks out. But on day four of the trial, Andrea goes the other way, a pink floral dress, less the boss, more wife and mother. Here's Eddie. On day four of the trial, you bring your kids to court for the first time. Yeah. And that was on their own requests. But day four was also a pretty pivotal moment in the dream. Yeah, no idea. That was coming on day four either. Get out of here. No. Not one bit. Like, I had a feeling that he was going to say something like, I guess, helpful in my case. Day 4 is the day that Corey Scott, the other platoon medic who helped treat that ISIS prisoner, is scheduled to testify against Gallagher. Gallagher's attorney, Tim Parlatori. So what did you know when you walked into court that day? What did you think was going to happen? I wasn't sure what was gonna happen. I wasn't even sure he was gonna testify. So here's what's going on. For months, Corey Scott's attorney had been negotiating over the details of Scott's testimonial immunity. Saying that Scott wouldn't get on the stand unless he was assured that he could not be prosecuted for anything he testified to under oath. The judge actually ordered brick chasers. If he did not testify, they were going to put him immediately into a van and take him to the brick. They were standing by fort. In that trophy photo of the platoon and the body, Corey Scott is the last on the right in the back row. He's not posing with a weapon like some of the others. His hands are stuffed in his pockets. He's a bit detached from the moment. But maybe that's just me. Reading on his face in that picture, what I know now, what he is about to do on the stand of trial, what he is about to say. Scott is there to testify against Gallagher. And his statement to NCIS the previous year was pretty definitive. Here is some of what he said. And then also maybe just start stabbing the dude. He's just like a stab about right here just in a few times. He's pointing to like the face of your neck or the face of the neck, like going down into the neck. Is there any possible way to what he was doing to be a term for this guy? No. As for what we expect to hear now, well a couple weeks before the trial, the prosecution's forensic guy recreated the crime scene in an office. All the medical equipment, a prop knife, even a stand-in for the prison room, so flying on the floor. He then brought in both Craig Miller and Corey Scott separately to discuss and reenact what they saw that day in Mosul. He and Miller, their statements were fairly close to being identical. They both identified the knife. They both held the knife in the same hand. They both went into a kneeling position next to the victim and they both repeatedly stab the victim in the neck. Okay, the exact same way. So you know, you know, you got something seriously going on. That was just a few weeks ago. So you would expect that his testimony today would be pretty similar. That's what you'd expect. S.O.N. will you prestate your full name spelling your last? Corey, no Scott. My name is SCOTT. S.O.N. Scott, are you testifying under a grant of testimony immunity today? Yes. Does your grant of testimony immunity allow you to lie here on the stand? No, it's not. And it becomes clear pretty quickly. That's something is up. Remember, he's a witness for the prosecution. Who are the two other men on the scene? Chief Gallagher and that's the one burn. And what treatments had you witnessed as you walked up? I don't remember what treatments have been done when I got there or what was done after I got there. It's a basic question that he should have an answer to. We're looking at a transcript from your interview with NCIS, help refresh your recollection. Regardless of this point of what treatments had been completed, it's possible. You're our permission to approach. Scott reads the transcripts of his own words from a year before. It's what the prosecutor is fishing for him to say. That's what it's got to have that good pressure, recollection, so the state of the tree's just sort of been done at the point in which you approached. Not really. And this keeps happening. Scott says he can't remember something. The prosecutor offers to let him read the actual transcript of what he had said previously. Would your previous state that you give NCIS possibly help? Scott reads his own words and then. You still don't remember? No. Scott is least resistant on the stand when he is describing his role in treating the prisoner when he arrived. What did you do in particular once you got there? I got there since the other medics had the scene under control. I took a position near the patient's head and then I monitored his breathing. How did you monitor his breathing? I would hold my thumb near the top of his mouth and then once you had a cry, hold it over the top of the cry and feel the breath. What did you do next? I did next. I stayed at the scene until the ice is fighter. It's a big city. When his temporary is turned to question him, S.O.1 Scott, the reluctant witness magically disappears. You said that during the unit level training that you've got it was very focused on preparing for war. Is it very driven? Yes. Did you remember some of the pretend not like that? Yes. Craig Miller? Yes. Dalton Tolberg? Yes. Don DeLanc? Yes. Did they make clear before you even deploy that they didn't like Chief Gallagher? Yes. Did that hatred of Chief Gallagher continue throughout the plan? Yes. Did they take opportunities to tell other people in the between how much they didn't like Chief Gallagher? Yes. As the question goes on, it becomes clear that Parliamentary is working towards something. If he wasn't wearing a suit jacket right now, he'd be rolling up his sleeves. You're a medic, right? Yes. Okay. It's pretty extensive training, right? Yes. You're very well versed in medicine, aren't you? Yes. And then he zeroes in on the target. You used an interesting word. You said you watched him until he asphyxiated. Yes. Asphyxiated is a combat medic. That means somebody who is deprived of oxygen, doesn't it? Yes. Why is that an interesting word? Asphyxiate doesn't mean he just stopped breathing. It means he was deprived of it. So it's suffocation. And Corey Scott is a medic. So he knows what the word means. Why did you use that word? That was what killed him. You didn't say that Chief Gallagher suffocated him, did he? No. Craig Miller suffocated him? No. Did you suffocate him? Yes. All the things that happened figuratively when something shocking occurs by all accounts happened literally in the courtroom at that moment. When Navy Seal Corey Scott confessed that he is the one who killed that young Isis prisoner, not his Chief, Eddie Gallagher. Jaws really did drop. eyeballs really did bug right out of their heads. Waiting to hear the only thing that everyone in that room wanted to hear at that moment. For Corey Scott to explain how and why. So the jury could decide for themselves whether this entirely new narrative of what happened in Mosul that day that was just dropped on their heads like a safe was even to be believed at all. Next time on the final episode of The Line. You didn't expect him to say that? No, not one bit. I don't know what Corey Scott saw, what he thinks he saw, but just because somebody's not lying doesn't necessarily mean they're telling the truth. And so you can stand up there and you can lie objection or humanity overruled. You can lie about how the fact that you killed the Isis prisoner because you don't want you down to go again. Suddenly we get word and they're like, hey, they risked a verdict and that's when you're like, fuck. How many Navy Seals do you think are crying over dead terrorists? Including Eddie. Did you ever tell the leadership what you're telling me now? No, I didn't talk about it. I knew to keep my mouth shut. The Line is an Apple original podcast produced by Jake Saw Productions. Our producer is Lizzie Jacobs. Investigative producer Diane Hodson, Jody Evergan is our editor. Maria Luisatucker and David Iverson are our associate producers. Emily Van Blarkem is our production assistant. And Natsumi Ajisaka did our fact checking. Rick Kwan is our engineer and our original music is from Mark Orden and John Hancock with additional music from Jeff Baxter and Derek Phillips. The Line is executive produced and written by me, Dan Tabersky. For Jigsaw Productions, executive producers are Brad E. Bear, Stacey Offman, Richard Perillo, Joey Mera, and Alex Gibney. The supervising producer is Whitney Johnson. Our consulting producers are Andy Allen and Jeff Similist. The team also includes Andrew Haffner, Jade Lewis and Eric Mitten. Our interns are Olivia Butler, Zara Khan, Sarah Feynman and Lily Levy Epstein. Legal Services provided by J. Ward Brown and Ballard Spar. Rachel Van Landingham is our consultant on military law. Thanks to the folks at Final Final V2, listen and follow on Apple Podcasts. And a special thank you to the special operators who shared their stories for this project.