US Navy SEAL 'happy' at being acquitted of Iraqi murder

A Navy SEAL acquitted of killing a wounded Iraqi prisoner of war says he's "happy and grateful", AP reported on Tuesday.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher spoke briefly with reporters moments after a military jury in San Diego found him not guilty of murder and all but one other charge.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday in San Diego and could still face up to four months confinement after being convicted of a single charge of posing for photographs with a dead war casualty.

But Gallagher could be eligible to receive credit for the more than six months he served awaiting trial.

Gallagher reportedly cried tears of "joy" and "freedom" after being acquitted of murder.

The Navy SEAL was accused of fatally stabbing an Islamic State group prisoner who had been wounded by an airstrike in Iraq in 2017 and other crimes. He was also charged with attempted murder.

The jury listened to a recording of Lt. Thomas MacNeil, the first witness in the court-martial of Gallagher, who described hearing the Navy SEAL say "he's mine" on the platoon radio after learning there was a prisoner who had been wounded in an airstrike.

MacNeil testified about seeing the prisoner alive and then returning later when he was dead.

MacNeil also testified about a custom knife that Gallagher always carried or would hang on the wall of the room they shared.

Gallagher pleaded not guilty to all charges.