Philippine Protests Likely After Verdict In U.S. Marine Murder Trial

Paul Alexander at Stars and Stripes offers a piece on the murder trial of a U.S. Marine in the Philippines.

Protests are likely in the Philippines no matter what verdict is issued Tuesday in the trial of a U.S. Marine accused of killing a transgender woman whom he picked up in a bar and took to a hotel for sex.

The case — which has been heard sporadically since March in a courtroom in Olongapo City, about an 80-mile drive from Manila — has cast a pall over the renewal of military relations between the U.S. and the Philippines, providing fodder for those who object to any American presence.

Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton is charged with killing Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, 26, on Oct. 11, 2014. The two met in a disco in a red-light district of Olongapo — the main city along Subic Bay — while Pemberton was bar-hopping with other Marines after joint U.S.-Philippine military exercises. They checked into a nearby hotel, and Laude’s strangled body was later found in the bathroom.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.stripes.com/news/philippine-protests-likely-after-verdict-in-marine-trial-1.380816

2nd Witness IDs Marine As Checking Into Hotel With Slain Transgender Filipina

Seth Robson at Stars and Stripes reports on the trial of the U.S. Marine accused of murder in the Philippines.

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines — A second witness testified Tuesday that U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton checked into an Olongapo City hotel with a transgender Filipina whose body was found soon afterward.

Pemberton is accused of killing Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, 26, last Oct. 11. Laude’s body was discovered later that evening in a bathroom at the Celzone Lodge – a cheap hotel near the gates of the former U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay.

Media are barred from the trial that began Monday at the Hall of Justice in Olongapo City. Prosecutor Emilie Fe de los Santos described Tuesday’s proceedings to reporters.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.stripes.com/news/2nd-witness-ids-marine-as-checking-into-hotel-with-slain-transgender-filipina-1.336188#