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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 10) – Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton of the United States Navy was released from jail and subsequently deported Sunday morning after less than six years in prison for the murder of Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude.
Pemberton left the country at 9:14 am aboard a military plane bound for the United States, according to the Immigration Office.
He left his solitary confinement in the Aguinaldo Camp after only serving five years and ten months in detention.
This comes six days after President Rodrigo Duterte shocked the nation by granting Pemberton an outright pardon amid appeals filed by the Laude family and even the Philippines Department of Justice to block his early release for good behavior.
The absolute pardon grants the “total extinction” of the criminal responsibility of Pemberton, restoring his civil and political rights and revokes all the penalties imposed on the US military.
The move was greeted with outrage by members of the LGBTQIA + community, who condemned another injustice committed against their trans sister. Several opposition lawmakers called the move “brazen” and a “betrayal of public confidence.”
The issue also rekindled complaints that the US military receives special treatment in the former US colony and renewed calls by left-wing activists to end the US military presence in the country.
Vice President Leni Robredo criticized the injustice of freeing the rich and well-connected when poor Filipinos languish in jail for less heinous crimes.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra defended Duterte, saying that while his department questions Pemberton’s four years of good time bonus credited to Pemberton, it sees nothing “really very objectionable” in the pardon, as it is an exclusive prerogative. of the president.
A local court granted Pemberton early release on Sept. 1, granting him a privilege granted to detainees who exhibit exemplary behavior in prison. The court said Pemberton’s accumulated jail time already exceeded 10 years due to his good behavior, an issue disputed by human rights groups and several officials, including presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who previously served as a private attorney for the Laude family.
This was quickly challenged when Laude’s field filed a motion for reconsideration, saying there is no proof of Pemberton’s good conduct, except for a certification that came from his guards, one from the U.S. Marine Corps and the another from the Philippine Bureau of Corrections. .
The Secretary of Justice, Guevarra, also presented a similar appeal. However, the granting of an absolute pardon for Duterte was ahead of the court’s ruling.
In October 2014, Laude was found dead in a Olongapo city motel room after a night out with Pemberton, then 19, who confessed to killing her after discovering she had male genitalia. The 26-year-old transgender woman was found alone in the motel bathroom with her neck blackened with strangulation marks and her head smashed into a toilet.
The Court of Appeals initially sentenced Pemberton to up to 12 years in prison, but was later reduced to a maximum of 10 years. In accordance with the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States, Pemberton was detained at Camp Aguinaldo, the Armed Forces headquarters in Quezon City, instead of the New Bilibid Prison.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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