THE Olongapo City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday found US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton guilty of homicide and ordered his immediate commitment to the National Bilibid Prison to serve a term of six to 12 years for killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude in October 2014.
Branch 74 Judge Roline Ginez Jabalde also ordered Pemberton to indemnify the heirs of Laude P4.32 million for loss of earning capacity, P155,250 for funeral and burial expenses, P50,000 for civil damages, P50,000 for moral damages and P30,000 for exemplary damages.
In a statement, the US embassy said: “We will continue to proceed in full compliance with the Visiting Forces Agreement.”
The judge denied the P100 million in exemplary damages sought by Laude family’s, calling it “excessive and outrageous.”
Jabalde ruled that Pemberton was considered a “national prisoner” under Philippine law, and that he must suffer imprisonment at the NBP or any other national penal colony.
The court said Pemberton’s surrender could not be considered voluntary because a warrant of arrest had been issued before his appearance in court.
Jabalde said, however, that Pemberton was not a habitual drinker, and that “he did not have any plan to kill Laude since he [Pemberton] and his buddies were just out on liberty.”
In addition, the judge said, there was no evidence of cruelty, treachery, use of superior strength and premeditated plan in the commission of the crime.
The prosecution failed to establish the elements of murder, including treachery since Laude was facing Pemberton during their altercation, which provoked the US serviceman to kill the Filipino.
The judge also threw out Pemberton’s defense that Laude had committed acts of lasciviousness on him, noting that Laude did not use force or pose any threat to Pemberton’s life.
“The fear or threat on Pemberton is merely imaginary,” the court said.
The court also dismissed Pemberton’s claim of self-defense, and asked why he left Laude gasping for life in Room No. 1 of the Celzone Lodge without asking for help to bring him to a hospital.
The Olongapo judge also anchored her decision on the positive identification of two witnesses—Mark Clarence “Barbie” Caguioa Gelviro, also a transgender, and Elias Aran Gallamos Jr., the motel receptionist-cashier—that Pemberton checked in at the lodge with Laude and was last seen with Laude alive on Oct. 11 last year.
Laude was found dead in the motel room with his head slumped inside the toilet bowl.
The court gave weight to the autopsy reports of doctors of the Philippine National Police in the conviction of Pemberton.
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.
Government and private prosecutors sought a murder conviction for Pemberton, but Jabalde reduced the suit from murder to homicide.
Private prosecutor Harry Roque said they could no longer appeal the court’s decision.
“It is a bittersweet conviction. We welcome the commitment of Pemberton to the NBP. Right now, a commotion is taking place upstairs [at the courtroom] over the refusal of the US guards to turn him over to the Philippine National Police,” he told reporters at a news conference after the promulgation.
Julieta Laude, the victim’s mother, expressed disappointment over the homicide conviction of Pemberton, but said they appreciated the judge’s decision to order his detention at the NBP.
As of 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, another private prosecutor, Virginia Suarez, slammed the Department of Justice for its issuance of a legal opinion to allow the confinement of Pemberton at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
“The lawyer of Pemberton immediately filed a handwritten motion for clarification. What is there to clarify? The order is clear. There is nothing ambiguous or vague [in the judge’s order]. Their motion is frivolous. What saddens us is that the DoJ issued an opinion,” she said.
“Right now, there are 12 US Americans shielding Pemberton at the third floor. Police could not get hold of him.”
Laude, 26, met Pemberton, who was then 19, at the Ambyanz disco bar in Olongapo on Oct. 11, 2014.
They went to Celzone Lodge, where Laude and Gelviro performed oral sex on Pemberton.
Thirty minutes after they had checked in, Pemberton was seen leaving their rented room, where Laude was later found dead.
The Justice Department insisted that Pemberton would remain in detention at Camp Aguinaldo.
“Following promulgation of the Olongapo trial court’s judgment of conviction in the case of Pemberton, he will be transported, under the guard of personnel of the Philippine National Police, to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City,” the department said.
“He shall be received by personnel of the Bureau of Corrections and immediately be detained there until his appeal is decided with finality by our courts,” the Justice Department said.
The Justice Department also hinted at the possibility that Pemberton could be transferred to another detention facility as provided under the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States.
“In any case, his detention shall at all times be carried out within Philippine territory, under the guard by and in line with existing regulations of the BuCor,” it added.
The DOJ cited as basis for the arrangement for the detention of Pemberton on a Supreme Court ruling in which Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was convicted of the 2005 rape of Suzette Nicolas alias Nicole in Subic.