Thread: US marine in Subic Bay Ladyboy slaying identified

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Now what about the other 7 hours and 55 minutes of the day?
.

Lunch, fishing, golf, lapdances, you know, Judge stuff....

A new twist. Although the trial is not scheduled to start until March 23rd, there was a meeting between both sides yesterday.

According to news reports, the prosecution offered a plea bargain. Details are not known other than it would allow the government to avoid a lengthy trial, get Pemberton less time in jail, make some payoff money for the ever-venal Laude family, and presumably get the cash cow ship visits, complete with shore leave, back on track.

The defense has not yet replied.

More later.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

A new twist. Although the trial is not scheduled to start until March 23rd, there was a meeting between both sides yesterday.

According to news reports, the prosecution offered a plea bargain. Details are not known other than it would allow the government to avoid a lengthy trial, get Pemberton less time in jail, make some payoff money for the ever-venal Laude family, and presumably get the cash cow ship visits, complete with shore leave, back on track.

The defense has not yet replied.

More later.

that's pretty much standard procedure. the reason that it is done varies, but, the primary one is to let the government get the conviction without having to take a chance on a jury, and the expense of a trial.
in this case, how it would make any payoff money for anyone is obviously suspect

Ah, 'Justice' . . . What a wonderful concept

^I believe another factor is that fat, bottom-feeding scum 'celebrity' lawyer Roque has lost interest in the case. He took the case pro-bono, not because he gave a shit about the case, but simply as a platform to attack the VFA and get his name in the press.

The President has said that the VFA stands as is, the publicity has dwindled, and I don't think scum Roque, who has pretty much faded back into the sewer from whence he slithered, wants to be tied up in a nine-month trial.

Scum Roque is the adviser to the venal Laude clan, who are so fucking dumb they do anything he says. I suspect he told them to be happy with Pemberton getting significant jail time, and to take the money and run.

^Perhaps it was the attraction of Pubic-bay for him Davis?

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I believe another factor is that fat, bottom-feeding scum 'celebrity' lawyer Roque has lost interest in the case. He took the case pro-bono, not because he gave a shit about the case, but simply as a platform to attack the VFA and get his name in the press.

That would make sense . . . being a star for a week is different from working for seven months

Thanks for the update, Davis.

He will get off lightly, because it is in the interest of Philly Security.

It is like that

VFA is an issue

.

A couple of blog reports today say that the ever-venal Laude family is willing to settle for US$500,000.

No clue on where a Marine Lance Corporal from a depressed East Coast industrial area is going to come up with a half a million dollars.

Nothing in mainstream news yet.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

A couple of blog reports today say that the ever-venal Laude family is willing to settle for US$500,000.

No clue on where a Marine Lance Corporal from a depressed East Coast industrial area is going to come up with a half a million dollars.

Nothing in mainstream news yet.

why is the family entitled to any money ?

^Marcus: Do you live in Asia, or have you ever spent any time here? Not being insulting, but it's rather a strange question.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^Marcus: Do you live in Asia, or have you ever spent any time here? Not being insulting, but it's rather a strange question.

Been right there in the Phills.

So murdered people's families are entitled to windfalls simply because they are poor ? I was not aware of this.

Next we will have staged murders inside these shortime rooms.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

A couple of blog reports today say that the ever-venal Laude family is willing to settle for US$500,000.

No clue on where a Marine Lance Corporal from a depressed East Coast industrial area is going to come up with a half a million dollars.

Nothing in mainstream news yet.

Still nothing in the news on this; may have just been a blog blip.

Couple of news articles today. Appears the plea bargain offer will include a reduction of the charge from murder to manslaughter. This would potentially reduce his jail time from 40 to 20 years, or less.

Pemberton would plead guilty, saving the cost of a trial, make a public apology to the family and to the Philippine people, and pay 'blood money' of an unstated amount to the family, who are whining about their loss of income now that their son can no longer prostitute himself.

No response yet from the Pemberton camp.

I always thought the murder charge was a real stretch...it now looks like it may have been lodged simply to lay the ground for a plea bargain in which the ever-venal Laude clan will make money.

Where Pemberton is going to come up with any money is a huge unknown.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Couple of news articles today. Appears the plea bargain offer will include a reduction of the charge from murder to manslaughter. This would potentially reduce his jail time from 40 to 20 years, or less.

Pemberton would plead guilty, saving the cost of a trial, make a public apology to the family and to the Philippine people, and pay 'blood money' of an unstated amount to the family, who are whining about their loss of income now that their son can no longer prostitute himself.

No response yet from the Pemberton camp.

I always thought the murder charge was a real stretch...it now looks like it may have been lodged simply to lay the ground for a plea bargain in which the ever-venal Laude clan will make money.

Where Pemberton is going to come up with any money is a huge unknown.

Soldiers don't have any kind of liability insurance ? Would the military not be interested in putting this case to bed full stop ? 500k is chicken feed to the US military. This is a good idea. The family will be happy with the money and the US military will be happy that they are spending it. And the young buck gets a few less years in the slammer.

Perhaps the family hasn't quite thought it through yet...

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

No clue on where a Marine Lance Corporal from a depressed East Coast industrial area is going to come up with a half a million dollars.

Interviews, book rights etc . . .

^Perhaps the Military will pay out?

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

doubt that young Marines carry 'killing male prostitutes in the toilet' insurance.

It's an interesting idea though. A "liability" policy to cover damages and pay compensation for any violent crimes that I may commit.

We need to work on this.....I'll call Lloyds later today.....

Trial started today. Little substantive news. Fat scum lawyer Roque again petitioned the court to remove and replace the government prosecutor. Roque, who represents only the ever-venal Laude family in civil matters, has been unhappy with the prosecutor not sharing everything with him - even though it is the government prosecutor who is trying the criminal case, not Roque.

Expect the court to ignore his theatrics, as they have in almost every case in the past.

I will update when there is any significant news.

Does the prosecution have to disclose evidence to the defense as in US?

I'm not sure of the law, but both sides have made public their respective witness lists. As far as 'discovery', it's a very simple case, albeit largely circumstantial. I doubt there will be surprises from either side.

First prosecution witness today was the room clerk, who placed them in the hotel together. No press is allowed, so what actually transpired day-to-day will only slowly leak out. With court in session only on Mondays and Tuesdays, this is going to be a long, drawn out, affair unless a plea bargain is reached.

Re the plea bargain, confusion reigns, with each side claiming the other raised the question of a deal.

Today's witness on Day Two of the trial was Mark Clarence Gelviro, aka "Barbie". "Barbie" is a tranvestite and was Jeff Laude's cruising partner when they went out together to offer themselves as male prostitutes dressed as women.

"Barbie" placed Pemberton in the bar where Laude was lurking, disguised as a woman, looking for prey. "Barbie" also placed Pemberton with Laude in the short-time dive, where "Barbie" also was until he went off to another room to suck some Filipino queer's dick.

All previously known and documented in pre-trial testimony.


Alleged plea bargain crap continues. Rabid anti-American women's group Gabriella protested what they called "The US government's offer of $500,000 to buy Filipino pride". The Laude family's private lawyers, including the fat, bottom-feeding scum Roque, claimed the Laude family had turned down the offer, quoting Jeff's mother as saying " Not even a million dollars could ever compensate me for the years I devoted to raising my daughter, only to have her taken from me." (She somehow missed the fact that her kid was male, and a male homosexual prostitute who dressed up in women's clothes.....but I guess the money Jeff gave her from his fag German "fiance", and other fag customers, clouded her memory.)

The defense continues to claim that no financial offer was ever made - and why would the USG pony up a penny? No idea.

That's it for the two court days this week. Basically, nothing that wasn't already known and documented in pre-trial.

BTW, in case I haven't mentioned it previously, the prosecution gets to go first, and will call all of their witnesses before the defense starts calling their line-up.

I'm unclear how, or if, cross-examination of witnesses works.

Maybe since it's not a jury trial, but will be judged by one judge only, lawyer theatrics are not so much in demand.

As I said, I don't know how this part works - it's possible that after each side has called all of its witnesses, the other side may get a crack at cross....will just have to wait and see.

I expect no surprise witnesses from the prosecution. So, it's going to be a long wait until we see if the defense has anything up its sleeve.