Pemberton Asks De Lima to Dismiss Murder Case

Murder suspect US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton now runs to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and asked to dismiss the case filed against him for the killing of Filipino transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Olongapo City.

In a petition for review filed by Pemberton’s counsel on Monday, he asked De Lima to set aside the Dec. 15, 2014 resolution of the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office charging him with murder.

Earlier, the prosecutors who handled the preliminary investigation decided to file a murder case against Pemberton because of the presence of treachery, cruelty, and abuse of superior strength.

Pemberton’s plea said “Not only is the assailed resolution full of logical leaps and unwarranted conclusions, it also disregarded the fundamental principles pertaining to treachery as a qualifying circumstance in the crime of murder,”

Pemberton’s camp added there must first be a “deliberate or conscious choice of a means of execution that insures the offender’s safety from retaliatory act” from the victim before an act can be considered as a qualifying circumstance in murder.

The 33-page petition also cited the Supreme Court ruling in the case of People v. Cajurao, which states that “treachery cannot be supposed where no particulars are known as to how the killing began.”

Also they said there was no direct evidence presented during preliminary investigation to show how the alleged attack was commenced and executed. The plea said “mere surmises and conjectures from supposed witnesses were used during the initial probe, even as the object and documentary evidence presented were inadmissible.”

Pemberton also added there is cruelty only when the other injuries or wounds are inflicted deliberately by an offender, which are not necessary for the killing of the victim.

“Further, the victim must be alive when the other injuries or wounds were inflicted,” read the petition.

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

Source: GMA News Online