SENATE President Vicente Sotto III said Saturday, September 5, that courts should be allowed to decide on the fate of US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was convicted for killing transgender woman Jennifer Laude in 2014.
In a message sent to reporters, Sotto stressed that Pemberton was imprisoned “in accordance with the law.”
"As regards Pemberton, he was imprisoned in accordance with the law, and his release should also be under our laws," Sotto said.
“We are a government of laws, and not of emotion. They must apply to all with Lady Justice blindfolded, without regard to nationality,” he added.
In October 2014, Laude was found dead, with her head leaning on the rim of a toilet bowl, half naked. Autopsy reports later revealed that she drowned.
Authorities found Pemberton guilty after the publicized trial.
On September 2, the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 74 granted Pemberton a good conduct time allowance (GCTA).
The court said Pemberton has a total accumulated time served with entitlement of GCTA of 10 years, one month and 10 days, which is more than the 10-year maximum penalty imposed by the court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
“Thus, he is now entitled to be released for he had already served the 1-year maximum of his penalty,” read the order signed by Presiding Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde.
For Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who once served as private prosecutor for Laude's family, the court’s decision was an instance of “judicial overreach.”
“So speaking as spokesperson, mukha pong taliwas sa ginawang rekomendasyon ng BOC ang ginawang desisyon ng korte sa mga naghahawak po sa mga pagkatao ni Pemberton. Hayaan niyo naman bigyan niyo ng pagkakataon na mag move for recommendation ang Executive branch dahil ang desisyon naman po for allowance of good conduct is an Executive function,” he said.
“So ‘yung ginawa po ni judge na siya po ang nag desisyon kung paano siya bibigyan ng credit for good conduct is an instance of judicial overreach,” Roque added. (Jove Moya/SunStar Philippines)