In stunning move, the Navy's top officer has taken over Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's court-martial

[rangerrebew]

In stunning move, the Navy's top officer has taken over Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's court-martial
Carl Prine, Military Times


    The Navy's top officer took court-martial authority from the command that was considering a sentence for Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL acquitted of murder charges this summer.

    The decision by Adm. John Richardson does not remove the verdict reached by the military court, but "previous post-trial action has been rescinded," the Pentagon said.


In a stunning move Saturday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson removed all court-martial authority from Navy Region Southwest, the command that had been weighing a sentence for Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward "Eddie" Gallagher.

https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-cno-takes-over-navy-seal-eddie-gallagher-court-martial-2019-8

[PeteS in CA]

I wonder if this is part of the backstory:

Admiral Who Oversaw SEAL Prosecution Implicated in 'Fat Leonard' Probe, Documents Indicate

SAN DIEGO -- Redacted Navy documents and the command history of Navy Region Southwest Commander Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar indicate she was investigated in connection with the so-called "Fat Leonard" scandal and had received gifts from the contractor in 1998.

A female officer on-board the salvage ship Salvor accepted gifts in the form of a hotel room, dinner, drinks, entertainment and a golf outing in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, in August 1998, according to a memo signed by Adm. Philip S. Davidson in July 2017.
...
Scores of Navy officials were alleged to have attended dinners and accepted gifts from contractor Leonard Glenn "Fat Leonard" Francis. All but a select few of their names were redacted from the Navy's public records.

Bolivar's gender and the relatively small size of the salvage community made her identity apparent from the documents.

Her spokesman declined to comment Monday and would not confirm or deny that Bolivar was the subject of the investigation.
...
The JAG Corps also played a key role in the ongoing "Fat Leonard" scandal. Troves of Navy records show that, time and again, JAG officials told Navy officers they were authorized to attend lavish dinners Francis hosted.

JAG officials also were involved in the Consolidated Disposition Authority, which chose which officers would be court-martialed, censured or go unpunished in connection with the "Fat Leonard" scandal.

I don't know that this exactly reached the point of a "culture of corruption", but to use an old term, it does look like a bit of "old boy" networking is in play. Bolivar should not have been allowed anywhere near anything to do with JAG or NCIS, if she was involved in the 1998 corruption scandal. IF she was, she probably is only still in the Navy because the Navy couldn't gut its officer corps by cashiering all who participated in the corruption. IOW, she may have a conflict of interest and could not be relied on to ensure a just process.