Strategy issues dog Pemberton case

From the Manila Standard Today (Dec 25): Strategy issues dog Pemberton case

THE case against US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, accused of murdering transgender Jennifer Laude, might be hampered by disagreements over legal tactics between state prosecutors and the private lawyers of the victim’s family.

The prosecution panel led by Olongapo City Prosecutor Emilie Delos Santos and the private prosecutors led by UP law professor Harry Roque Jr. are taking different approaches in handling the Laude case.

This became apparent after the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 granted the motion of Pemberton to suspend the trial pending a ruling by the Justice Department on his petition for review and the dismissal of the murder charge.

In an interview, Delos Santos admitted that they would have to wait for the ruling on Pemberton’s petition for review, adding that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is well aware that the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States requires that the trial be finished in one year.

“We will wait for the DOJ ruling. Once it is issued and our findings are affirmed, we will file a motion to proceed, although it should be automatic on the part of the court upon receipt of the DOJ resolution,” Delos Santos said.

But Roque said the 60-day suspension was too much and it would eat up a significant part of the one year allowed for the trial under the VFA.

“We will file a motion for reconsideration. We can’t afford a suspension,” he said.

In its resolution, the RTC used as basis Rule 116 of Rules of Court, which provides that arraignment of accused in criminal cases shall be suspended for 60 days at most from the filing of a petition for review,

It was not the first time Delos Santos and Roque took opposing strategies since the case was filed in court Dec. 15.

Roque earlier filed two motions asking the court to allow live media coverage of the hearings and to transfer Pemberton to a regular jail.

Delos Santos did not support both pleadings, saying the issue of custody of the accused is a matter under the VFA that is beyond the business of prosecutors. In fact, it was Delos Santos who announced the RTC’s denial of both motions.

The two prosecutors also hold separate press conferences after court hearings.

The two camps agreed on only one move so far—to seek the inhibition of Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde because she was a classmate of Pemberton’s lead defense counsel Rowena Garcia-Flores, when they were in the San Beda School of Law.

During the preliminary investigation, Roque had sought Delos Santos’ inhibition over her alleged bias in favor of the US government.

Roque said private prosecutors have an important role to play.

“It bears stressing that while all criminal prosecutions are carried out on behalf of the state, the reality is that private prosecutors, as a matter of practice, are delegated the prosecution of the case subject to the ‘direct control and supervision of the public prosecutor,’” he said.

“This control and supervision is proof that where a private complainant retains a lawyer for the civil aspect of the case, private prosecutors are allowed to actively prosecute the case for and in behalf of the state. It is only in high profile cases that public prosecutors opt to directly participate in the prosecution for obvious reasons,” he said.

“My problem with Chief De Los Santos is from Day One, she has been antagonistic towards us because of her alleged prior unpleasant experience with the private prosecutor in the Smith rape case. But despite this, I tried all the tricks I knew to convince De los Santos that I am not a carbon copy of the private prosecutor that she had disagreements with. I finally gave up when I learned that in my absence, she has not stopped her public tirades against me,” Roque said.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/12/25/strategy-issues-dog-pemberton-case/