American trans killer now on the loose.
US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton is to be released, with the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court saying he already has a total accumulated time served of 10 years, one month, and 10 days.
This computation is contained in an order dated September 1 and signed by Olongapo RTC Presiding Judge Roline M. Ginez-Jabalde; and which includes the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA), even if his actual time served is only six years.
Pemberton was sentenced to six to 12 years imprisonment by the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 74, in December 2015. He was found guilty of murdering transgender woman Jennifer Laude, who was found dead in a bathroom in a room in Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City on October 11, 2014.
Laude – who was only 26 years old at that time – was found with her head inside a toilet bowl. She was last seen alive with Pemberton.
When the RTC released its decision, it said that Pemberton admitted that he killed a “he-she.”
The RTC also noted that Pemberton already paid the damages awarded to the victim’s family, totaling PhP4.6 million.
“The Director-General, Bureau of Corrections is directed to release accused L/Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton from detention unless he is being held for some other lawful cause or causes,” the court stated in Pemberton’s release paper.
Only a few days ago, the American serviceman – represented by his Filipino lawyer Rowena Garcia-Flores – asked for his immediate release from his special military jail in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
At that time, the lawyer filed an “urgent motion” before Judge Ginez-Jabalde with the claim that the convicted killer already served more than half of the 10 years of his sentence “with good behavior.”
