Murder raps filed vs. Pemberton in Jennifer Laude slay

(UPDATED 4:16 p.m.)  The Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office on Monday has found probable cause to file a murder case against US Marine Private First Class Scott Joseph Pemberton for the killing of Filipino transgender woman Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude.

 

City Prosecutor Emilie delos Santos confirmed to reporters in Olongapo City that a 23-page resolution of the preliminary investigation recommended murder raps against the serviceman.

 

Delos Santos said it was still "premature" to say if Pemberton's custody should be transferred with the filing of a criminal case in court.

 

The city prosecutor said there were "aggravating qualifying circumstances" that convinced the panel there was probable cause to charge Pemberton.

 

The prosecutors, in their resolution, said the crime was qualified as murder because there was treachery, abuse of superior strength, and cruelty.

 

They said Laude was deprived of the chance to defend herself because she was choked from behind. 

 

"A sudden attack against an unarmed victim constitutes treachery.... The means employed by Pemberton show it was employed to discount any possibility of retaliation or escape," read the resolution.

 

The ruling said that the abrasions, bruises, and contusions on Laude's body showed "how greatly she suffered in the hands of her attacker."

 

The prosecutors also said there was cruelty in how Laude was killed because the suspect deliberately and inhumanely "augmented" the victim's suffering.

 

"He did not stop at badly beating her up and choking her. He made sure she suffered to her death. He deliberately and repeatedly plunged her head down the toilet until she breathe her last," read the resolution.

The case was raffled off and went to the sala of Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74.

Evidence from US side

The resolution also adverted to evidence gathered from the US side. 

It said that Pemberton was quoted as telling a US corporal, "I think I killed a he/she."

Evidence gathered by the US Naval Criminal Investigation Service or NCIS also showed that Pemberton's fingerprint was on one of the condom wrappers found at the scene of the crime.

Pemberton, who is accused of killing the 26-year-old transgender woman, was earlier transferred from the US Navy ship USS Peleliu docked in Subic to a US facility in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

 

The US Embassy in Manila maintained Pemberton is still under US custody despite being detained in a Philippine facility.