Pemberton defense presents last witness

From The Standard (Aug 26): Pemberton defense presents last witness

THE lawyers of US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton rested its presentation of evidence after a forensic pathologist disputed on Tuesday the official cause of death of transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude who was found dead in an Olongapo City hotel in October 2014.

Pemberton’s lawyers claimed that the testimony of forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun supported the Marine’s claim that Laude was unconscious but still alive when he left her and that another person could have entered the hotel room and killed Laude.

But private prosecution lawyer Virginia Suarez said the defense failed to establish their assertion and dismissed Fortun’s testimony as incredible because she was paid to testify based on “theories, photographs and documents” without actually examining Laude’s body.

“That’s expected. Fortun admitted the defense paid her services to testify. How can she be considered credible? The Laude family did not pay the prosecution. She has not seen or touched her remains,” she said.

“You cannot just compare a four-page report of Fortun with a comprehensive examination of the forensic expert from the Philippine National Police who actually dissected and conducted external and internal autopsy on Laude,” Suarez said.

“I must say we cannot compare an apple to an orange,” Suarez said, noting that Pemberton only presented himself, his mother Lisa and Fortun to back his claim that Laude was still alive when he left her.

“But they could not establish their assertion [although] that is a good legal tactic for the defense to convince the court that he had no intention to kill her,” Suarez said.

“We have overwhelming pieces of evidence, more than 300 of them with 28 testimonies,” she added, a day after Pemberton testified that he strangled Laude after a fight, but the transgender woman was still alive when Pemberton left.

After the defense rested its case, Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 set closing arguments on September 14 and scheduled December 14 as the deadline of her decision.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is confident that the case against Pemberton was strengthened after he admitted strangling Laude and that reinforced arguments against the downgrade of the murder case to homicide.

“Pemberton’s admission that he strangled Laude certainly helped the prosecution’s case,’’ DOJ Secretary Leila De Lima said, adding that it reinforced the evidence presented by the DOJ prosecutors in the murder case.

“Our prosecutorial stance remains the same— target Pemberton’s conviction for murder, and nothing less,” De Lima assured.

Pemberton testified on Monday that he was a victim of deception by Laude, whom he strangled in self-defense in a fit of “passion and obfuscation,” but did not intend to kill the latter.

The American serviceman had gotten drunk while on furlough in this city and was supposedly deceived into believing that Laude was a female sex worker.

During intercourse, Pemberton said he discovered that Laude was not a woman. Shocked, Pemberton testified that he pushed back Laude, who slapped him, prompting the serviceman to choke the transgender.

His lawyer Rowena Flores explained that Pemberton’s testimony was meant to prove that the qualifying circumstances of treachery, abuse of superior strength and cruelty were not present in the case.

The lawyer said the serviceman “acted in self-defense and to protect his honor and life… and acted in immediate vindication of the wrong done to him.”

“Jennifer succeeded in committing such acts of lasciviousness by deceiving Pemberton or by fraudulent machination,” Flores claimed.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/08/26/pemberton-defense-presents-last-witness/