US Marine charged in Filipino transgender slaying

[Jazzy]

US Marine charged in Filipino transgender slaying

Philippine government prosecutors charged a U.S. Marine with murder Monday in the killing of a Filipino, saying the suspect acknowledged attacking the victim after he found out she was a transgender woman.

Prosecutor Emilie de los Santos said there was "probable cause" that Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, who has been detained since shortly after the October incident, killed Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey, in the motel room where the victim's body was found in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila. She had apparently been strangled and drowned in a toilet bowl.

Among the evidence submitted by de los Santos and other prosecutors were statements by Pemberton's three Marine colleagues who went bar-hopping with him on Oct. 11 in Olongapo, a former liberty town when the U.S. Navy was at the vast Subic Naval base, now a bustling commercial Freeport and recreation hub.

Pemberton and some of his colleagues later picked up women at a disco bar and separately checked in at nearby motels, then returned to their ship after midnight. Witnesses saw Pemberton check in with Laude at a motel room, where he was seen leaving shortly before the discovery of the killing, prosecutors said in their statement to the court.

Marine Lance Corporal Jairn Michael Rose, who went out with Pemberton that night, acknowledged that the suspect later confided back at their ship that he attacked the woman he was with by choking her after discovering that she was a transgender when she undressed, according to the prosecutors.

The new details are likely to spark renewed condemnation by left-wing and transgender groups, which have labeled the attack a hate crime.

In your opinion, do you label this a hate crime? Why / Why not?

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

All crimes committed on someone are hate crimes. Hate crime laws are stupid. Just prosecute for the actual crime instead of some kind of feeling of what the persons motives might have been.

 

[Dee]

Well, deep in the root of the reasoning, hate and anger is fear of something. Yes, I'd label this as a hate crime, and I'm glad he's getting prosecuted for the death of someone who didn't deserve it.