Laude lawyers get access to NCIS reports

OLONGAPO CITY—The judge handling the murder trial of US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton has allowed lawyers of the family of slain transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude to get copies of reports prepared by the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the agency that conducted a separate probe of the killing last year.

“After several oral arguments, [Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde of the Regional Trial Court Branch 74] has finally allowed us to get copies of the NCIS report, the Soco (the police’s Scene of Crime Operations) report, the autopsy report and other evidence [and documents used in the trial],” Virgie Suarez, one of the counsels of the Laude family, told reporters on Tuesday.

“I argued that if the accused is given the legal rights to be presented with all the evidence, all the more that the Laudes should get a copy of all the evidence,” she said.

NCIS resident agent Michael McCarver took the witness stand as the hearing resumed on Tuesday. He was the second NCIS agent who testified for the prosecution after Brian Platt

appeared in court on Monday.

McCarver, Suarez said, interviewed Pemberton after the American soldier was implicated in Laude’s slaying.

Laude’s body was found inside the toilet of Celzone Lodge here after her companion, whom witnesses identified as Pemberton, left on the night of Oct. 11.

3 volumes

Suarez said McCarver presented to the court the NCIS report on its investigation. “The NCIS report has three volumes so [the court] will spend the rest of the hearing to focus on [the testimony of] McCarver and the NCIS report,” she said.

On Monday, the prosecution presented Platt, the NCIS agent responsible for the photographic documentation of Laude’s

remains at the morgue of St. Martin’s Funeral Homes here.

Lawyer Harry Roque, lead counsel of the Laude family, said the photographs that Platt took were those of the bruises or wounds found on Laude’s body.

He said Platt took 217 photos of Laude’s body and produced 107 printouts. “He (Platt) was able to observe how the autopsy on Jennifer’s body was conducted,” he added.

Roque was providing reporters with details that transpired during Monday’s proceedings, but he said he was not allowed to interpret the testimonies or facts presented in court.

He said Platt, who is not a doctor, told the court that he was present during Laude’s autopsy, which was conducted by Dr. Reynaldo Dave, medico legal officer of Philippine National Police regional crime laboratory office in Camp Olivas, Pampanga.

Citing Platt’s testimony, Roque said the NCIS agent told the court that it was Dave who concluded that Laude died of asphyxia by drowning.

Aside from McCarver, the prosecution presented SPO2 Rick Quejado as its witness on Tuesday. Quejado was the second police officer who responded to the crime scene after receiving a report that a body was found inside the Celzone Lodge on Oct. 11.

Quejado, who already took the stand on Monday, was cross-examined by the defense.

Suarez said Quejado described Laude’s body as he saw it in the toilet.

30 witnesses

The prosecution also called to the stand PO1 Leonard Pasamonte, the first police officer to arrive at crime scene.

“He (Pasamonte) immediately cordoned off the room where Jennifer’s body was found so no other people could enter it,” Suarez said.

Since the trial began on March 23, the prosecution has already presented 10 of its more than 30 witnesses, including Laude’s friend, “Barbie,” who was among the last people to see Laude alive on the night of Oct. 11.

Suarez said Laude’s mother, Julita, and sister, Marilou, are scheduled to testify next week.