US Marine found guilty of killing transgender Filipino

President Barack Obama recently signed an agreement with the Philippines to allow USA forces to pre-position disaster relief supplies and other materials in the country.

Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton choked Jennifer Laude because he realised she was transgender while performing oral sex. “My son’s life is not wasted”.

Harry Roque, an attorney for the Laude family, called the U.S. Marine verdict a “bittersweet victory” because Pemberton was not found guilty of murder. In addition to his prison sentence, Pemberton was ordered to pay the equivalent of about $100,000 to Laude’s family, most of it as compensation for income lost because of her death.

In convicting the US Marine, the court took into consideration the admission of Pemberton that he “killed a he/she” to his friends.

The prosecution had claimed Pemberton ought to be convicted of murder, but this was downgraded by the court to homicide.

Dozens of protesters celebrated after the verdict was announced near the court by burning an effigy of Uncle Sam and shouting “Justice for Jennifer!” The demonstrators were held back by police, fire trucks and iron railings, according to the wire service. Authorities said Pemberton, who was on shore leave in Olongapo City during joint military exercises, killed Laude one night in October 2014 after he discovered she was transgender.

Pemberton earlier alleged that another person was able to enter the room after he left, but the Olongapo City lower court said “there was insufficiency amount of genetic data” that could prove his defense.

“He was so enraged and in the heat of passion arm-locked, dragged him [Laude] inside the bathroom and dunked his head in the toilet bowl”, the court said, noting all that happened immediately after he discovered that Laude was a man.

He will serve up to 12 years, with a minimum of six years, in jail.

The case has fueled public clamor for a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries, and a pending defense accord that would increase the number of us military personnel in the country for war games. She ordered that he be brought to the national penitentiary, in accordance with local laws, until it is decided where he should be permanently held.

The court said Pemberton’s surrender could not be considered voluntary because a warrant of arrest had been issued before his appearance in court.

“We are aware of media reports indicating that LCPL Pemberton was tried in a Philippine court under the rules and procedures of the Philippine justice system and found guilty of homicide by a Philippine judge, and received a sentence within the guidelines of the Philippine penal code”, State Department spokesperson Julia Mason told the Washington Blade on Tuesday.

A 19-year-old U.S. Marine from New Bedford was convicted by a Philippine court of killing a transgender woman with whom he had a tryst last year.

Pemberton, who was in the Philippines for US military exercises, and Laude went to a hotel room after meeting in the nightclub, according to testimony at the trial.