A U.S. Marine was convicted, imprisoned and fined on Tuesday in a Philippines court for killing a Filipino transgender woman past year after he learned of her sexual status in a local hotel room.
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The court, presided by Branch 74 Judge Roline M. Jinez-Jabalde, sentenced Mr. Pemberton to a minimum of six years to a maximum of 12 years in prison.
Pemberton, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was on a break after participating in joint military exercises in the country.
Laude, 26, met Pemberton, who was then 19, at the Ambyanz disco bar in Olongapo on October 11, 2014.
Laude’s mother, Julita, told the Associated Press she was not pleased with the short jail sentence and had hoped Pemberton would be found guilty of murder, which could have resulted in a 40-year sentence. Once inside the room, Pemberton apparently realized Laude was transgender and attacked her, breaking her neck and drowning her inside a toilet bowl.
A US Marine has been found guilty of killing a woman he took back to a hotel room in the Philippines after discovering she was transgender. He said he then choked her, characterizing this as self defense, then brought her to the bathroom to revive her with water from the shower. In her grief, she misgendered Laude, saying “My son’s life is not wasted”.
“The United States has worked with Philippine authorities to ensure that justice is served in this case”, she added.
The case is also providing fodder for nationalists who are asking the Supreme Court to scrap a new 10- year defence pact between Manila and Washington which would help build up USA presence in the region.
But private prosecutor Harry Roque disclosed a legal problem immediately developed when the USA military escorts of Pemberton refused to turn him over to the Philippine National Police in line with the court order for his commitment to the national penitentiary.
A protester holds a slogan with a picture of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Lance Corporal Pemberton was accused of killing the individual previous year in the Philippines after meeting the victim and going to a hotel together about 30 minutes later.
Pemberton had told the court he acted in self-defense after he discovered that a man was giving him oral sex, not a woman. After the haggling dragged on until almost 7 p.m., the judge ordered Pemberton returned to Camp Aguinaldo, a Philippine military base in Manila where he has been guarded by USA personnel during the trial.
Pemberton has the right to appeal the verdict and the sentence.
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President Barack Obama recently signed an agreement with the Philippines to allow US forces to pre-position disaster relief supplies and other materials in the country.
