On October 11, 2014, Jennifer Laude (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈlaʊdɛ]), a Filipina trans woman, was killed by Joseph Scott Pemberton, a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps in Olongapo, Philippines.
Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, met Joseph Scott Pemberton, a United States Marine Corps lance corporal from New Bedford, Massachusetts at the Ambyanz disco bar in Olongapo on the evening of October 11, 2014.
Staff found Laude's naked body, partially covered from the waist down, with her neck blackened with strangulation marks and her head in a toilet bowl.
While having a drink with her friend Barbie Gelviro at the Ambyanz Disco in Olongapo, on October 11, 2014, she met an American military foreigner and agreed to go with him to a "short time" hotel called the Celzone Lodge.
[20] Following the death of Laude, Pemberton was detained by the U.S. Navy, first on board his ship and then inside Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, located in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Julita Cabillan, Laude's mother, said they had rejected the offer, since "No amount of money could pay for the years I spent raising my child".
[25] One of the Laude family's attorneys, Harry Roque, told the press that he had been barred by Prosecutor de los Santos from the trial.
[27] On December 1, 2015, the Olongapo Regional Trial Court found Pemberton guilty of homicide, citing mitigating circumstances including Laude not revealing her biological sex, and sentenced him to 6 to 12 years in jail.
[33] On September 2, 2020, Branch 74 of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court granted Pemberton's partial motion of reconsideration, thereby releasing him from prison.
The Laude camp opposed the decision, saying, "Pemberton, who lives comfortably and only his liberty is restricted—cannot reasonably and justifiably claim good conduct”.
[34][35][36] On September 7, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte granted an absolute pardon to Pemberton,[37] which was justified by his spokesman Harry Roque, who was once a legal counsel for the Laude family.
[45] The absolute pardon given by Duterte has been called "a grave injustice to the Filipino people", "a travesty of Philippine sovereignty and democracy", "a mockery of [the] judiciary and legal system", and "a shameless sell-out".
[49] On September 14, 2020, during the daily COVID-19 press briefing, Philippine presidential spokesman Harry Roque claimed that according to US authorities and the American Marine Corps, Pemberton would be facing a 'court martial' upon his return in the United States.
A columnist for The Philippine Star wrote that the case provides for an "opportunity to further gender sensitivity, promote LGBT rights, and encourage tolerance and acceptance.
"[56] In 2018, director PJ Raval released the documentary Call Her Ganda, following the three women intimately invested in the case: an activist attorney, a transgender journalist and Laude's mother.
[57] In October 11, 2024, the 10th anniversary of Laude's murder, the UP Cinema, activists and League of Filipino Students held a candlelight vigil at the UP Oblation after the film screening of PJ Raval's documentary Call Her Ganda.