That’s the only crime he was convicted of. He was charged with many. And the prosecution crumbled when a colleague most likely perjured himself and made a statement that was not made in any of the previous interviews.
Gallagher texted about killing the child with his knife when he sent the photo with his corpse. Threatened his teammates to stay silent. This is not contested, nor in the stories you quote, I guess there’s no reason to present all the facts save the ones presented by his hi power legal team (one of whom he is apparently stiffing). Perhaps Navy prosecutors did screw up, if so it’s a shame.
Nothing about this smells good. And just because one is not found guilty, doesn’t mean someone is innocent. And the standard of conduct for military isn’t just avoiding convictions but also the situations that get into the realm of criminal or even just ‘unbecoming’.
Only thing that got his ‘attention’ was that CinC was told by TV people to do something. He listens to the TV people.