Military prosecutors in the case of a Navy SEAL charged with killing an Islamic State prisoner in Iraq in 2017 installed tracking software in emails sent to defense lawyers and a reporter in an apparent attempt to discover who was leaking information to the media, according to lawyers who told The Associated Press that they received the corrupted messages.
The defense attorneys said the intrusion may have violated constitutional protections against illegal searches, guarantees to the right to a lawyer and freedom of the press.
"I've seen some crazy stuff but for a case like this it's complete insanity," said attorney Timothy Parlatore. "I was absolutely stunned ... especially given the fact that it's so clear the government has been the one doing the leaking."
"In this case, discovery of the requested items is important to ensuring the prosecution in this case did not take any part in arranging or permitting an intrusion into Lt. Portier's attorney-client relationship."
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