Appellate court reaffirms Pemberton’s conviction for death of transgender

August 20, 2017

The Court of Appeals has upheld with finality the conviction of United States Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton for killing a Filipino transgender in 2014.

In a 12-page resolution, the appellate court affirmed Pemberton's sentence of maximum 10 years of imprisonment for the death of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Olongapo City.

The CA denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Pemberton through his lawyer Rowena Garcia-Flores seeking a reversal of its April 3, 2017 decision, which found American serviceman guilty beyond reasonable doubt of committing the crime of homicide.

The appellate court also dismissed the partial motion for reconsideration of the Office of the Solicitor General, insisting that Pemberton is not entitled to be given full credit of the time he spent under preventive imprisonment inside a military camp as he did not voluntarily agree in writing to abide by the same rules imposed upon convicted prisoners.

Pemberton insisted that he did not kill Laude and the wound he inflicted on him were in self-defense after discovering that the Filipino was a transgender.

According to the CA, Pemberton's appeal were mere “rehash of the issues” already discussed in its earlier ruling.

It also upheld the award of P4.32 million for Laude's heirs. DMS