Our correspondent in Manila reported that President Rodrigo Duterte has pardoned a US marine (Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton) who was convicted of killing Jennifer Laude (a transgender woman). President Duterte issued the pardon on Monday to Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who had been in prison since 2014. The US marine (Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton) had served more than half of the 10-year sentence for the murder and last week, a local court granted him early release for behaving well in the prison. The court’s decision was held pending an appeal by lawyers for the family of the deceased but President Duterte’s pardon has negated the process. In 2014, Scott Pemberton met the deceased (Jennifer Laude) in a bar in Olangapo while he was on leave after joint US-Philippines military exercises. She was found dead the following day in a hotel the two checked in. The US marine (Pemberton) testified in court that he attacked Jennifer Laude when he found out that she was transgender, but claimed she was still alive when he left the room. Some rights groups and Jennifer Laude’s family have criticised President Rodrigo Duterte’s pardon, calling it a mockery of the country’s justice system.
Source: Viewers Corner News.