MANILA, Philippines ? (UPDATE 3) The Court of Appeals has acquitted an American marine of raping a Filipina, saying the soldier and his accuser shared a ?spontaneous, unplanned romantic episode.?

In a 71-page decision, the appellate court said Lance Corporal Daniel Smith and the victim, identified in court only as Nicole, were both intoxicated after a night out and were ?carried away by their passions.?

The court also said Nicole flirted with Smith and led him on with ?reckless abandon? and that there was ?no evidence? that she was forced into sex.

Smith has been ordered ?released immediately unless held for other lawful cause,? read the decision penned by Associate Justice Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa of the CA?s special 11th division.

?What we see was the unfolding of a spontaneous, unplanned romantic episode with both parties carried away by their passions and stirred up by the urgency of the moment caused probably by alcoholic drinks they took, only to be rudely interrupted when the van suddenly stopped to pick up some passengers,? the court said.

During the marathon trial in 2006, Nicole claimed that Smith raped her at the back of a van in the evening of November 1, 2005, while three other US servicemen, cheered him on.

Nicole recanted the allegations in an affidavit dated March 8, saying she was too drunk to recall what happened. The court said the recantation was not considered in its decision to acquit Smith.

?Suddenly the moment of parting came and the marines had to rush to the ship. In that situation, reality dawned on Nicole ? what her audacity and reckless abandon, flirting with Smith and leading him on, brought upon her,? the court said.

?That must have been shattering, but added to this was the mocking moments she heard from inside the van; ?leave that bitch!? or words to that effect-which really broke her as she shouted back in denial: I am not a bitch,? it said.

The court said: ?No evidence was introduced to show force, threat and intimidation applied by the accused upon Nicole even as prosecution vainly tried to highlight her supposed intoxication and alleged unconsciousness at the time of the sexual act.?

The appellate court division was comprised of three women associate justices: Remedios Fernando, chairman of the Special Eleventh Division; Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal and Arevalo-Zenarosa who penned the decision.

Smith is detained at the US embassy in Manila. His acquittal, two years after his conviction at the Makati regional trial court, removes an irritant in the implementation of the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement, months after US President Barack Obama called up President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to emphasize the importance of the VFA in the two countries? relations.

The VFA came under fire for its alleged lopsided provisions when the Philippine government surrendered custody of Smith to the US embassy even after his conviction, based on a provision in the VFA, which stated that the US embassy would retain custody of American servicemen pending all legal proceedings on any offenses they might have committed.

The Makati regional trial court had sentenced Smith to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.

The court had acquitted three of Smith?s co-accused ? Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier and Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominique Duplantis.