The Navy has dismissed charges against an officer for allegedly not reporting war crimes by a Navy SEAL who was later acquitted of murder.
A Navy official with knowledge of the decision not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the charges against Lt. Jacob Portier were dropped Thursday.
The action comes a month after a military jury cleared Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of murder in a trial that got President Donald Trump’s attention.
Portier, Gallagher’s platoon leader, faced charges of dereliction of duty, destruction of evidence and holding Gallagher’s re-enlistment ceremony next to the corpse of a teen Islamic State militant the decorated SEAL had been accused of stabbing to death after treating the boy’s wounds.
Gallagher was convicted of a single charge of posing for photos with the 17-year-old militant’s corpse.
