4 US servicemen to testify in Pemberton trial Tuesday

OLONGAPO CITY—Four American servicemen, three of whom were with Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton before transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude was found dead in a motel here in October last year, appeared in court on Monday but did not take the witness stand due to lack of time, a lawyer for the Laude family said.

Harry Roque, lead counsel for the Laude family, said Sgt. Daniel Pulido, Lance Cpl. Bennett Dahl, Cpl. Jairn Rose and Sgt. Christopher Miller failed to testify in the murder trial of Pemberton because the court took the whole afternoon of Monday to finish hearing the testimony of Dr. Reynaldo Dave, Philippine National Police medico-legal officer.

Pulido, Dahl and Rose had said in their sworn affidavits that they were with Pemberton at Ambyanz Disco Bar, where the latter met Laude, on Oct. 11 last year, Roque said. Miller, a watchman, was left on the ship when Pemberton’s group went barhopping on the night Laude was found dead.

Witnesses have identified Pemberton as the foreigner who was with Laude when they checked in at Celzone Lodge on Magsaysay Drive here. A motel employee discovered Laude’s body after the foreigner left the room.

Roque said the court allowed the four American soldiers and Pemberton, who attended the hearing on Monday, to leave the courtroom at 3:30 p.m.

The four, who came from the US Marine Corps’ base in North Carolina, are expected to take the witness stand today.

The court has barred reporters from the trial and were getting details of the hearing through the lawyers of the Laude family. Pemberton’s lawyers have not granted requests for interview since the trial began in March.

Roque, who briefed reporters at 3 p.m., said Dave conducted the autopsy and prepared the report last year.

“He (Dave) identified this autopsy report in court. He also made several conclusions based on it,” the lawyer said.

He said Dave told the court that Laude had bruises and wounds which could have been caused by mauling or punching.

Dave also confirmed that Laude died due to drowning as shown by the result of a lung examination, he said.

He identified printouts of 64 photographs that he took when he was conducting the autopsy, Roque said.

Lawyer Virgie Suarez, another counsel for the Laude family, said Dave testified that the injuries on Laude’s neck meant there was application of too much pressure to produce bleeding. She said this was Dave’s basis to conclude that Laude was strangled.

“The oozing of fluids in the lungs with bubbles means drowning,” Suarez said, citing Dave’s testimony.

Suarez said Dave also told the court that the injuries showed that Laude was “dragged” and that “very minimal defense could have been made, if any, by Jennifer.”