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Friday, March 29, 2024

Pemberton loses petition; court affirms 10-year jail sentence

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THE Court of Appeals ruled with finality and upheld the conviction of United States Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton and sentencing him to 10 years in prison for killing Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Olongapo City in 2014.

The court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Pemberton through his lawyer Rowena Garcia-Flores seeking to reverse its April 3, 2017 decision that found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of committing homicide.

The court also rejected the partial motion for reconsideration of the Office of the Solicitor General, which had insisted that Pemberton was not entitled to be given full credit for the time he had spent under preventive imprisonment as he did not voluntarily agree in writing to abide by the same rules imposed on convicted prisoners.

In his appeal, Pemberton sought the reversal of his conviction and insisted that he did not kill Laude, and that the latter was alive when he left him inside their motel room.

The American soldier stressed that the wounds he inflicted on Laude were in self-defense while they were fighting after he discovered that the victim was a transgender.

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Pemberton said the appellate court ‘‘cherry-picked the evidence presented in court in order to sustain his conviction and completely ignored the defense evidence.

He said the appellate court should have given weight to his voluntary surrender as a mitigating circumstance, as well as to the evidence he presented to prove that he never intended to kill Laude.

But the appellate court ruled that the arguments presented by Pemberton and the OSG were mere ‘‘rehash of the issues already discussed in its April 3, 2017 decision.

‘‘With respect to Pemberton’s motion, we maintain our ruling that his invocation of self-defense is an admission of the killing and of its authorship, the court ruled.

“Pemberton’s contention that he was only raising complete and incomplete self-defense in the physical injuries he inflicted upon Jerry Serdoncillo y Laude alias ‘Jennifer’ [Laude] is bereft of rhyme or reason as the former was not charged for any physical injuries but of homicide, the court ruled.

The court noted that, in justifying the circumstance of self-defense, Pemberton was merely trying to exnonerate himself or reduce his penalty from the charge of homicide.

“Consequently, we reiterate that self-defense when invoked as a justifying circumstance implied the admission by the accused that he committed the criminal act, the court said.

It said Pemberton’s  claim of self-defense could not be given weight due to his failure to prove that he was attacked by Laude, and that his life was in peril on the night of the incident.

The court said Pemberton’s immediate escape from Celzone Lodge where Laude was found dead was an indication of guilt.

“The bits of evidence, pieced together, point to Pemberton as the killer of Laude. Ostensibly, our rules make no distinction between direct evidence of a fact and evidence of circumstances from which the existence of a fact may be inferred. Pemberton’s criminal liability for homicide stands, the court said.

The court also upheld the award of loss of earning capacity to the heirs of Laude in the amount of P4.32 million.

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