U.S. Marine jailed in Philippines for killing transgender woman

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A Philippine court on Tuesday found a U.S. Marine guilty of killing a transgender woman, jailing him for six to 12 years in a case that has reignited debate over the American military presence in the country.

He will serve a minimum of six years and a maximum of 12 years in jail. Laude had been charged with murder but was convicted of the lesser offense of homicide, which does not require malicious intent.

He can appeal against the verdict and sentence.

An appeal can be expected as he has denied killing the woman in question.

Pemberton had earlier admitted in court to choking, but not killing, Laude.

He told the court he acted in self-defense after he discovered that a man was giving him oral sex, not a woman.

I wonder how he found out?


They're in the midst of deciding where he will serve out his time.


To be honest, I thought 6-12 years was a pretty lenient sentence.

But it's homocide apparently, not murder with malicious intent...

Makes sense, all he did was strangle her to death, surely that rules out malicious intent. /sarc

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Strangled? do you mean with his hands? or maybe...after all it was oral!


Like your avatar, made me laugh

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

He told the court he acted in self-defense after he discovered that a man was giving him oral sex, not a woman.

Ridonkeylous! LOL

Words can't express...What a loser? killing someone over sex because she was not what he'd expected...what a sicko get a life sentence.

What does one expect in the Philippines, when one can't tell the difference between transgenders and females. It's simply not worth taking someones life over..silly bugger.

a reply to: VoidHawk

You're right it says choked not strangled.

But risky that, one bite and it's all over.


Thanks, Hawk, it's a throwback avatar from last Christmas.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Actually the cause of death was asphyxiation by drowning, not strangulation.

For better or worse, this is one of those times when it's "not what you know, it's what you can prove." I don't think, legally speaking, they had enough to prove a murder charge. Homicide, yes. Murder, dicey. Add to that a heavy dose of "American dollars will disappear" and there ya go.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

The American Bar Association has issued a resolution calling for the abolition of the gay and trans panic line of defense that this guy unsuccessfully attempted to use. It has been outlawed in California.

This case has been on-going since August. Here are a few more in-depth stories:

Marine Who Allegedly Killed Trans Woman Claims He Was Defending His Honor

The Failed Logic Of “Trans Panic” Criminal Defenses

a reply to: Shamrock6

No malicious intent when drowning someone...

I need to rember that. Might come in handy.

a reply to: Freija

I had no idea that was a thing.

Ridiculous.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Holy hell the comments on that article...

Sounds like he choked, like with his hands, this person until she lost conciseness and then took her to the shower to try and revive her...
Then dipped out and left her to be, maybe left her in some water that wasn't/couldn't drain for some reason?

Doesn't take much water to drown if your mouth and nose are in it.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Except she wasn't found IN water, just NEAR water. And drowning can absolutely be unintentional, whereas choking is much less likely to be accidental. I would point you to sremmos' post.

And there's your reasonable doubt.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

If I discovered someone was a man and not a woman and they didn't disclose that information then I would probably be in jail too. It sounds like voluntary manslaughter to me. The guy didn't plan to kill this person, but acted out of extreme anger when it was discovered that this person was not what they pretended to be.

It should be a crime to not disclose that information and really for your own sake you should tell people if you are pretending to be a woman because this reaction won't be uncommon when high emotions are involved.

ETA: I would never be in that situation because I am not promiscuous, but I can't imagine the rage I would have if this had happened to me.

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
m.aol.com...=3204476

A Philippine court on Tuesday found a U.S. Marine guilty of killing a transgender woman, jailing him for six to 12 years in a case that has reignited debate over the American military presence in the country.

He will serve a minimum of six years and a maximum of 12 years in jail. Laude had been charged with murder but was convicted of the lesser offense of homicide, which does not require malicious intent.

He can appeal against the verdict and sentence.

An appeal can be expected as he has denied killing the woman in question.

Pemberton had earlier admitted in court to choking, but not killing, Laude.

He told the court he acted in self-defense after he discovered that a man was giving him oral sex, not a woman.

I wonder how he found out?


They're in the midst of deciding where he will serve out his time.


To be honest, I thought 6-12 years was a pretty lenient sentence.

But it's homocide apparently, not murder with malicious intent...

Makes sense, all he did was strangle her to death, surely that rules out malicious intent. /sarc

Literally just had a conversation with my fellow vets at school about this assclown. The decision was unanimous among all of us that they guy should be spending life in the Phillipines worst prison.

I may not understand Trannys, and maybe it's a bit messed up that she led him on without telling the Marine, but she didn't deserve to be strangled and drowned in a toilet, he should have just told her to leave and rubbed one out, would make a funny story.

Hopefully some Fillipino prison gangs can do the same to him, it's assholes like that that make US service members look like a bunch of impulsive, immature, violent dumb Americans.

He'll get what's coming to him.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Well in the name of fairness, I was implying he left the person in some water. Different articles were saying different things on where the body was found. Well at least in what I was reading.

As well as a confession to a fellow marine, the defense of course denies that.
Well kinda, think it was something to the sort of "I think I just killed a he/she."

“I think I killed a he/she,” Pemberton was quoted as having told Rose

www.theguardian.com...

Same article just talks about him dragging to the shower and then leaving after seeing breathing.

a reply to: Metallicus

And I would agree you would have the right to be angry, but not sure a right to 'defend' your self over it. Unless you are attacked first of course.
Not sure about a crime, that would be like a law on lying...

I think there was an agreement for money here as well that may have lead to the struggle, as in him not wanting to pay anymore and with services already rendered, I imagine payment was still wanted.

originally posted by: Metallicus
It should be a crime to not disclose that information and really for your own sake you should tell people if you are pretending to be a woman because this reaction won't be uncommon when high emotions are involved.

I'm sure that men "pretending to be women" probably exists somewhere? I also think the notion that all transgender people are "pretending" is likely to rub some folks the wrong way.

a reply to: Sremmos80

And in the interest of fairness, you postulated a reasonable doubt scenario.

Is it what happened? Doubt it. I think he offed her. I don't think it was malicious, as opposed to emotional. But again, it's not what you know...

a reply to: chuck258

Not to step in and be the PC Police or anything and you might not even know but the word "tranny" is considered a slur and highly offensive to some.

Otherwise, I mostly agree with your sentiment.

a reply to: Shamrock6
Ah think I see what you are getting at. That even if he did leave her in some sort of water that pooled up it wasn't with the intent of killing her. More of an act of negligence and not realizing that could cause her dearh?

If you agree to consent to have sex with a woman and then you find out he's a she. In my mind is a form sexual assault or rape. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, if you're not giving a man the consent to blow you or have sex with you, you've pretty much been raped.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Metallicus

And I would agree you would have the right to be angry, but not sure a right to 'defend' your self over it. Unless you are attacked first of course.
Not sure about a crime, that would be like a law on lying...

I think there was an agreement for money here as well that may have lead to the struggle, as in him not wanting to pay anymore and with services already rendered, I imagine payment was still wanted.

I would argue that not disclosing your gender before sexual activity is rape and therefore a defensive response is justified.