SC allows Pemberton to withdraw conviction appeal

MANILA, Philippines — With four years left to serve his 10-year prison sentence, the US Marines serviceman who killed Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude in 2014 will no longer appeal his conviction for homicide.

Lance Cpl. Joseph Pemberton was allowed by the Supreme Court to withdraw his appeal to overturn the jail term meted by an Olongapo court in March 2016.

Pemberton appealed his conviction to the high court in October 2017, after the Court of Appeals upheld the verdict. But on June 2, he withdrew his appeal.

—Dona Z. Pazzibugan