The new year brings some updated news in the Jennifer Laude case, and the clock is ticking on it.. Under the Visting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines, the case nust be resolved within a year. The prosecution filed murder charges against Joseph Pemberton back on December 15.
The trial proceedings have also been halted at the request of the Pemberton defense team by the Olongapo regional trial court has suspended proceedings for up to 60 days.
The Pemberton camp wants the US Justice Department to review the probable cause finding that led to the murder charge.
NCIS investigators discovered Pemberton's fingerprint on one of the condom wrappers found at the scene of the crime..
Pemberton before he was raken into custody aboart the USS Peleliu told a fellow marine the he had attacked Laude after discovering she was a transwoman and allegedly said to that marine: “I think I killed a he/she.” Pemberton was subsequently transferred from the USS Peleliu docked in Subic Bay to be held in a US facility in the Philippine run Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
There's also some controversy involving the judge handling the case, Roline Ginez-Jabalde. Harry Roque, the Laude family attorney, is going to file a motion seeking the removal from this case of the judge.
The reason? Judge Ginez-Jabalde was a law school classmate of Rowena Garcia-Flores, Pemberton's attorney
Earlier in the proceedings the court rejected the Laude family’s motions for live media coverage of the hearings, and to transfer Pemberton to a regular Philippine jail.
Stay tuned to these TransGriot pages for continued updates on the Laude trial, because like our transpinay sisters in the Philippines and transpeople around the world, I'll be watching this case to see if justice was served.
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