GUILTY Philippines - Jennifer Laude, 26, trans woman, slain, US Marine charged, 11 Oct 2015

A 26 year old Filipino transgender woman named Jennifer Laude is said to be murder by a U.S. Marine. She had reportedly checked into the Olongapo City hotel in the Philippines on Saturday night around 11 PM. Witnesses said she was with a “white foreigner”. Her body was found 45 minutes later by a hotel worker. Her head was in the toilet when the worker found her, the cause of death is to be strangulation.
...The Marines have detained a suspect abroad the USS Peleliu. They were in the Philippines for a joint war exercise with the Philippine Navy. Authorities did not reveal the name of the suspect in the beginning as they only said, “He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

A hate crime protest also broke out with activist at the U.S. embassy in Manila on Tuesday. They demanded for U.S. authorities to hand over the suspect in question. With the pressure from the Philippines and a protest for justice, the suspect is revealed to be Private First Class Scott Pemberton.

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Manila has said it will seek to take Pemberton into custody once charges are filed in court.

Under a visiting forces agreement signed in 1998, the Philippines has jurisdiction over crimes committed by US forces unrelated to the training exercises.

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Hotel cashier Elias Galamos said the door of the room was left ajar when he came to check after the suspect had left. He said he discovered the dead Laude naked inside the toilet, partly wrapped in a blanket and with his head resting on the rim of the toilet bowl.

Investigators said Laude bore strangulation marks.

“There was a visible mark of injuries on the victim’s neck, his tongue was protruding and his hair was in disarray,” a report prepared by the Olongapo City Police led by Senior Superintendent Pedrito delos Reyes stated.

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Another gay, Mark Clarence Gelviro alias “Barbie”, 32, told investigators Laude met the suspect at around 10:45 p.m. at the Ambyanz disco bar located along Magsaysay drive in East Tapinac.

At around 10:55 p.m. the victim requested him to accompany them to the motel. It was here that the suspect discovered that his partner was a gay.

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Lulu14 said:

Wanna bet he is in the US already? And that he will be found "not guilty" by a "proper" American court?

I already saw it happening in the murder of Teo Peter.

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The United States said Saturday it would comply with a Philippine prosecutor’s order to produce a murder suspect and four other US Marines in the investigation into the killing of a transgender Filipino.

The prosecutor ordered the five US Marines to give depositions at a formal hearing on Tuesday after police named one of them as a suspect in the October 11 hotel killing in the northern port of Olongapo.


“The United States will continue to assist in the investigation to help ensure justice is served,” US embassy spokeswoman Anna Richey said in an emailed response to AFP’s requests for comment.

“This will include making the suspect, witnesses, and any evidence gathered available to the Philippine authorities.”

Richey said the suspect was being held on board the USS Peleliu pending an investigation into the death of Jeffrey Laude, described by local police as a transgender sex worker.

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Gibbs was convicted by a military jury on 15 counts including the premeditated murder of Mudin, Agha and Adahdad as well as illegally cutting off pieces of their corpses and planting weapons to make the men appear as if they were Taliban fighters.[35][36][37] In November 2011, Gibbs was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years minus the 547 days of pretrial confinement

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Prosecutors in the Philippines have formally charged a U.S. Marine with the murder of a transgender woman in October...

Pemberton was identified by the motel clerk and by Barbie in a photo lineup. He was held on a U.S. assault ship docked off the Philippine coast. But after anti-American protests, he was moved to a Philippine detention camp on land but remained in U.S. custody, according to the AP.

Suspects charged with murder in the Philippines are not eligible for bail.

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A Philippine court has entered a not-guilty plea for a U.S. Marine charged with the murder of a Filipino transgender in a case that has tested Manila's longtime military alliance with Washington.

Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton refused to enter a plea Monday to the murder charge in a court proceeding in Olongapo city northwest of Manila, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Journalists were barred from the arraignment.

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