Transwoman's Murderer Granted Early Release For 'Good Conduct'

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 2) — A local court ordered the release of Joseph Scott Pemberton, the US Marine Lance Corporal convicted of killing Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude in 2014.

According to the September 1 decision of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court's Branch 74, Pemberton should walk free for good behavior.

Pemberton has served a total of 2,142 days or over five years and eight months in prison, but the court credited to him a good conduct time allowance of 1,548 days or more than four years. This yields an accumulated jail time of 10 years, one month, and 10 days, the court said.

“Thus he is now entitled to be released for he had already served the ten (10) year maximum of his penalty,” the order, signed by Presiding Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde read. The Court of Appeals initially sentenced Pemberton up to 12 years of imprisonment, but this was later reduced to a maximum of ten years.

How Pemberton's jail time was cut short:

Pemberton in June filed an urgent motion for the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to compute the time he served in jail by applying the good conduct time allowance law. In August, Pemberton appealed for his immediate release, claiming that the BuCor failed to give him a year’s worth of GCTA since it did not include in its computation his preventive imprisonment from October 22, 2014 until November 30, 2015.

The Olongapo court granted Pemberton’s partial motion for reconsideration and ruled that he should be given GCTA during the one year period. The court also took note that Pemberton already paid the Laude family the full amount of ₱4.65 million for civil damages.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who previously served as counsel for the Laude family, deplored the commuted jail sentence.

“Laude’s death personifies the death of Philippine sovereignty and the light penalty imposed on Pemberton proves that despite the President's independent foreign policy, that Americans continue to have the status of conquering colonials in our country,” Roque said in a statement.

Rowena Flores, lawyer for Pemberton, meanwhile stressed that her client deserves to walk free since the court already said that he has “exceeded his sentence.” She also said that Julita Cabillan, Laude’s mother, already agreed on Pemberton’s release on parole as early as 2017.

In October 2014, Laude was found dead in an Olongapo City motel room after a night out with Pemberton. Laude's neck was blackened with strangulation marks, head rammed into a toilet.

 

Source:https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/9/2/Pemberton-release-order-Laude-killing.html

[moonsago 7,285]

Wow... so you can literaly kill someone, do 6 years of prison time and then be let free to live your life... wow

edit: but have someone smoke p*t or do something not even CLOSE as bad as this serve years oppon years OKKK world ok 

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

Just now, moonsago said:

Wow... so you can literaly kill someone, do 6 years of prison time and then be let free to live your life... wow

Basically. This is so disgusting. What that asshole did to Jennifer was inhumane.

[Xoxo Adriana 15,040]

the fact that these people think they’ve done their job

i think every country needs a new justice system, protesting a new injustice on the daily in almost every country is getting so exhausting

[Dirkje 751]

Murder is murder and if the penalty is prison for life, it means prison for life. This is not fair for the family an loved ones of the woman that got killed.

[alsemanche 97,803]

And they ask why people don't trust the judiciary system. This is disgusting. 

[Economy 52,858]

1 hour ago, moonsago said:

Wow... so you can literaly kill someone, do 6 years of prison time and then be let free to live your life... wow

edit: but have someone smoke p*t or do something not even CLOSE as bad as this serve years oppon years OKKK world ok 

Is simply smoking pot that many years tho?

 

I always thought it was suppliers who got hit with higher sentences not simply smoking it. Or is the US just that extra?

 

Edit: On topic, murder is the worst crime one commit. I don't get how these light sentences exist

 

Only in situations where it was some circumstance of a complete manslaughter accident (say a workplace accident) would a less severe sentence make sense, and even then some degree of accountability for neglegence should be given but I understand a lot less time tho for such circumstances. However anything causing death due to hate and lack of control (even if it wasn't pre-meditated murder) cannot be let off so lightly

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

1 minute ago, Economy said:

Is simply smoking pot that many years tho?

 

I always thought it was suppliers who got hit with higher sentences not simply smoking it. Or is the US just that extra?

Here in the Ph, you can get killed for smoking pot. The president ordered the authorities to do so. During the first two years of Duterte's presidency, there's tons of cases where you can just find dead people on the streets with a cardboard sign taped around them that says 'Wag tularan, pusher ako' (Don't be like me, I'm a pusher). Most of the time, these people were never proven to be pushers or even smoke pot. The issue is not apparent anymore, but I'm not sure if it's because the killings have slowed down or the media just chose to not pay attention to it anymore.

[Economy 52,858]

Just now, Daylight Jokers said:

Here in the Ph, you can get killed for smoking pot. The president ordered the authorities to do so. During the first two years of Duterte's presidency, there's tons of cases where you can just find dead people on the streets with a cardboard sign taped around them that says 'Wag tularan, pusher ako' (Don't be like me, I'm a pusher). Most of the time, these people were never proven to be pushers or even smoke pot. The issue is not apparent anymore, but I'm not sure if it's because the killings have slowed down or the media just chose to not pay attention to it anymore.

Killed by who the police?

 

That's beyond excessive. I don't get these harsh sentences for stuff like pot but then such light sentences for more serious stuff. Here in Canada sometimes weird things happen too, tho I think who u get as a judge matters too, some are just harsher in general than others. Theres usually a pretty wide range of sentence time that the judge has at his/her discretion for different crimes and situations

 

I think at least some of this gap can be explained by comparing lighter sentences by more lax judges for serious crimes vs less serious crimes but a tough judge that likes to go for the max

 

That doesn't often get mentioned much but I'm sure that adds to the discrepancy as well. A lot of these judges giving harsh sentences for small crimes are probably not the same judges letting murderers off easy, they likely are really tough with them as well

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

Unbelievable. A murderer will be on the streets soon ready to do it again. 

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

America...

 

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

2 minutes ago, TimisaMonster said:

America...

 

This wasn't committed in America, but in the Philippines. The suspect is American tho. That's why this statement:

1 hour ago, Daylight Jokers said:

'Laude’s death personifies the death of Philippine sovereignty and the light penalty imposed on Pemberton proves that despite the President's independent foreign policy, that Americans continue to have the status of conquering colonials in our country,'

Speaks volumes.

[CautiousLurker 19,709]

1 hour ago, Economy said:

Is simply smoking pot that many years tho?

 

I always thought it was suppliers who got hit with higher sentences not simply smoking it. Or is the US just that extra?

Well...

Jonathan Magbie's story is a stunning example of the cruelty that can accompany an arrest for medical marijuana. Paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a drunk driver at the age of four, Magpie was charged with marijuana possession in 2004 after cops found a joint and a loaded gun in a vehicle in which he was the passenger. Though he had never been convicted of a criminal offense and required medical assistance 20 hours a day, he was given a 10-day sentence in a DC jail. With no ventilator to sustain his breathing, he died in jail four days later.

Also this:

Oklahoma mother of four Patricia Spottedcrow learned firsthand how a small-time pot bust can completely derail an offender’s life. A $31 pot sale got her a stunning 12-year prison sentence. In the two years she has been incarcerated, she has seen her children only twice. What’s more, her good behavior behind bars, including completing her GED and other self-improvement programs, has not reduced the confusing back-and-forth from the Pardon and Parole Board.A judge recently reduced Spottedcrow’s sentence to eight years, because “she needs more time to prepare and mature.”

https://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/ten_worst_sentences_for_marijuana_related_crimes/

I guess technically those 10 year long sentences are only given out to 'traffickers'