Amid criticisms, US Embassy says Pemberton fulfilled his sentence

Amid criticisms, the United States Embassy on Sunday insisted that Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, the US Marine who was convicted of killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude and later on pardoned by President Rodrigo Duterte, fulfilled his jail sentence.

"All legal proceedings in the case took place under Philippine jurisdiction and law. Lance Cpl. Pemberton fulfilled his sentence as ordered by Philippine courts and he departed the Philippines on September 13," the embassy said in a statement, nearly two weeks after the serviceman was ordered release from detention.

The Department of Justice authorized the release of Pemberton on September 1 and, on September 7, Duterte granted him an “absolute pardon."

He was deported Sunday after the presidential pardon cut short his detention, sparking outrage from Laude's family, and criticisms of a military accord, called the Visiting Forces Agreement, that covers the presence of American troops in the Philippines.

Pemberton was found guilty of homicide in 2015 and sentenced to a six- to 10-year imprisonment. —KG, GMA News