UPDATED::U.S. Marine Claims 'Trans Panic' in Murder of Trans Filipina Jennifer Laude | Advocate.com

UPDATE::  U.S. Marine convicted of killing transgender Filipino files appeal

A U.S. Marine has asked a Philippine court to reverse his conviction in the killing of a transgender Filipino and sought a bail and a reduction of his six to 12-year jail term.

Attorney Rowena Garcia-Flores said she would insist that her client, Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, did not kill Jennifer Laude in a motel room after they met in a disco bar in October 2014 and that his sentence should be eased because he surrendered to authorities.

In December a judge convicted Pemberton of homicide, not the more serious charge of murder as prosecutors sought — and sentenced him to a lighter jail term than what the victim’s family sought.

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U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton admitted in a Philippine court Monday that he strangled transgender woman Jennifer Laude to death inside a motel room near Manila last October, Al Jazeera reports.

Reports from inside the courtroom indicate that Pemberton is advancing a "trans panic" defense, claiming that upon discovering the 26-year-old Laude to be a transgender woman, the 19-year-old Marine "feared he would be raped," according to Al Jazeera. That fear prompted Pemberton to fly into a violent rage, manually strangling Laude before dragging her lifeless body into the bathroom, according to tweets from Harry Roque, the attorney representing Laude's family.

U.S. Marine Claims 'Trans Panic' in Murder of Trans Filipina Jennifer Laude | Advocate.com

UPDATE::Philippine Government Charges U.S. Marine With Murder of Trans Woman | Advocate.com

U.S. Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton was formally charged with murder by the Phillipine government today for the death of 26-year-old trans Filipina woman Jennifer Laude, reports the Associated Press.

Earlier this week, the Philippine government completed its investigation into Laude's murder, partly relying on closed-circuit television footage, according to the New York Times. Pemberton's charges were successfully argued as "murder" by chief prosecutor Emiline de los Santos due to their aggravated violence, rather than the lesser charge of "homicide."

"There was aggravated treachery, abuse of superior strength, and cruelty," de los Santos explained to the Times. "You can see the cruelty she endured, the injries she sustained. We believe we have a strong case."

Pemberton, 19, now faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. He will face the decision of a Phillipine judge, as there is no jury system in the Phillipines. He is currently being held in a modfied shipping container on a military base in Manila, guarded by both Phillipine and U.S. sentries.

Philippine Government Charges U.S. Marine With Murder of Trans Woman | Advocate.com

UPDATE::Custody Of U.S. Marine Suspected Of Killing Transgender Filipino Woman Transferred To Philippine Military - The New Civil Rights Movement

Nineteen-year-old Private Joseph Pemberton (left) has been identified as the chief suspect in the murder of a 26-year-old transgender Filipino woman, Jennifer Laude Sueselbeck. (below right) Time Magazine is reporting that Private Pemberton has been taken by helicopter from the USS Peleliu where he was being detained, to Camp Aguinaldo, military headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in Manila.
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The Marines quickly detained a suspect, Private Joseph Pemberton of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Private Pemberton was held aboard the USS Peleliu, which was in the Philippines for joint war exercises with the Philippine military. They also detained three Marine who were witnesses.
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Sensitive to the mood of the country, the Marines have now worked out a compromise, transferring Private Pemberton to an air-conditioned van inside Camp Aguinaldo. The vehicle will still be guarded by U.S. forces, but the perimeter will be will be located inside a fenced-off portion of the camp guarded by Philippine personnel.

Custody Of U.S. Marine Suspected Of Killing Transgender Filipino Woman Transferred To Philippine Military - The New Civil Rights Movement

U.S. Marine Charged with Murder of Trans Filipina Woman | Advocate.com

Joseph Scott Pemberton, a U.S. Marine, was formally charged with murder today for the fatal strangulation of 26-year-old Jennifer Laude Sueselbeck, a transgender Filipina woman.

The crime was allegedly committed while Pemberton was stationed in the Philippines for Marine training exercises. Military sources had concealed Pemberton's name until he was formally charged today.

Earlier this week, Filipino human rights advocates and elected officials demanded Pemberton be turned over to local Philippine authorities, but Reuters reported yesterday that he would remain in U.S. custody. The decision was disparaged by Filipino human rights activists.

"Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, the custody of the erring soldiers stays with Americans," Philippine General Gregorio Catapang said in a statement yesterday after meeting with U.S. Pacific Command officials. However, the Philippines still have criminal jurisdiction and could try the suspect in local courts, Catapang noted.

U.S. Marine Charged with Murder of Trans Filipina Woman | Advocate.com

Veteran Offers Up His Burial Plot So That A Lesbian Couple Can Rest In Peace | ThinkProgress

Kudos to U.S. Army Col. Barry Johnson (ret.) for righting a cruel wrong:

But now a fellow veteran is stepping up and offering a chance for Taylor and Mixner to reside beside each other forever. U.S. Army Col. Barry Johnson (ret.) wrote in an open letter to the Idaho Statesman that he believes that Taylor had served her country and deserves the same rights as everyone else.

“I’ll tell you what,” Johnson wrote. “I will donate the plot I earned in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to you and Jean. I am happy to give my fellow veteran that small peace of mind. And I do it to honor all the great Americans I’ve served with along the way – gay, straight, whatever.”

“I honestly couldn’t care less if somebody is gay, or ‘straight’ for that matter, just as I couldn’t care less about somebody’s anti-LGBT views,” Johnson wrote. “People seem to want you to be uptight one way or another about it, and I am content to simply respect somebody’s differences without a lot of fuss as long as there’s no harm done. Unfortunately, harm often is done, though, to people like Madelynn, and then I do care.”



Veteran Offers Up His Burial Plot So That A Lesbian Couple Can Rest In Peace | ThinkProgress

Idaho won’t let 74-year-old lesbian navy veteran be buried with her wife | Gay Star News

74-year-old US Navy veteran Madelynn Taylor wants to be buried with her wife Jean Mixner’s ashes but Idaho’s state military cemetery won’t let her while that state retains its ban on same-sex marriage.

Taylor had been in a relationship with Mixner beginning in 1995 but she died of emphysema in 2012 and was cremated – leaving Taylor to think about what she would like to have done when she died.

She decided she wanted to be interred with Mixner’s ashes but when she contacted Idaho Veterans Cemetery in November to reserve a plot she was told that they could not be buried together.

It’s not even an issue of space. Taylor wants to be cremated too and both women’s ashes could easily fit in the same niche in the cemetery.

But the Idaho state constitution bans any recognition of same-sex marriage so the couple’s 2008 California marriage cannot be recognized by the cemetery.

Idaho won’t let 74-year-old lesbian navy veteran be buried with her wife | Gay Star News

US Military suicides continue to climb, reaching record in 2012 — RT

Very disturbing,,,

The official website of the US Department of Defense has published preliminary reports of at least 177 potential active-duty suicides and 126 potential non-active-duty suicides in 2012. The report reveals a marked surge in suicides since 2011, when 165 confirmed active-duty and 118 non-active-duty suicides were registered.

In all, 349 servicemembers in all branches of the US Military committed suicide in 2012, up 15 percent from 301 suicides in the military in 2011, AP reported, citing a Pentagon source. The number of US Military suicides in 2012 exceeded the total combat fatalities in Afghanistan in 2012, which the AP calculated at 295 deaths.

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David Rudd, a military suicide researcher and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Utah, told AP that he is not optimistic about further anti-suicide developments. “Actually, we may continue to see increases,” Rudd explained, adding that Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans commit suicides because of PTSD, depression, alcohol and substance abuse, while those not deployed take their lives because of problems with relationships, finances or the law.
 
US Military suicides continue to climb, reaching record in 2012 — RT