(1 Dec 2015) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBERS: 4014308, 4014322, 4014353
A Philippine court on Tuesday convicted a U.S. Marine of killing a Filipino last year after he discovered she was a transgender woman in a hotel while he was on a break after participating in joint military exercises in the country.
Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted of homicide by first strangling Jennifer Laude and then dunking her head into a toilet bowl in the hotel they had checked into after meeting in a disco bar in October 2014 in Olongapo, a city northwest of Manila.
He was sentenced to 6-12 years in jail and credited with time already spent in detention, said court clerk Gerry Gruspe.
The court also ordered Pemberton, who has been detained at a Philippine military camp for about a year, to pay Laude's family 4.6 million pesos ($98,000) in damages.
The killing sparked anger in the Philippines and reignited calls by left-wing groups and nationalists for an end to America's military presence in the country at a time when the U.S. is reasserting its dominance in Asia and Manila has turned to Washington for support amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.
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