US Marine Who Killed Trans Woman Gets Presidential Pardon
The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has pardoned US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was convicted for the killing of a trans Filipino woman in 2014.
Teodoro Locsin Jr, the Philippine foreign secretary, tweeted that Rodrigo Duterte had “granted an absolute pardon” to L/Cpl Joseph Scott Pemberton “to do justice”, but did not elaborate. Duterte was to deliver televised remarks on Monday night where he would discuss Pemberton’s case, a presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, said.
A human rights group, Karapatan, immediately condemned the pardon as a “despicable and shameless mockery of justice and servility to US imperialist interests”.
According to ‘The Guardian’, Pemberton was convicted of homicide and has been serving a prison sentence of six to ten years for the killing of Jennifer Laude in a motel in Olongapo city, north-west of Manila. His lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, told the Associated Press that Pemberton had already been aware of Duterte’s decision when she called him.
“I heard the news,” Garcia-Flores quoted Pemberton as saying. “I’m very happy.”
Roque, who once served as a lawyer for the Laude family, said the presidential pardon would mean the immediate release of Pemberton from detention.
“The president has erased the punishment that should be imposed on Pemberton. What the president did not erase was the conviction of Pemberton. He’s still a killer,” Roque said.
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