It caught wide media coverage and achieved political and international significance because of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines, which had been the subject of protests from the beginning.
She said that just before midnight of November 1, 2005, Smith raped her inside a moving Hyundai Starex van at Alava Pier in the Subic Bay Freeport where the Marines' ship was docked.
[3][4][5] Following the submission of the affidavit, on April 23, 2009, the Court of Appeals headed by three Filipino female Justices, Associate Justices Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa, Remedios Salazar-Fernando and Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal, reversed the decision of the lower court and ordered Smith's immediate release, stating that "...a careful and judicious perusal of the evidence on record does not convince the prudent mind about the moral certainty of the guilt of the accused, hence we must acquit."
The Court of Appeals stated that "If Nicole was really drunk, she would have had a hard time rising up, much more standing up, or she would have just dropped, a common experience among Filipino girls."
[6][7][8][9] Nicole, who grew up in the Southern Command in Zamboanga City, was invited to Subic Bay by a friend, US Navy Petty Officer Christopher Mills, together with her stepsister, Anna Liza.
[12] However, some Filipinos and expatriates believe that Suzette was just an extortionist, whose rape story was just a lie which militants were willing to use to pressure the government on the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement.
"[13] Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of rape by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 139 on December 4, 2006.
[14] The court found him guilty on the premise that Suzette was severely intoxicated that night and was therefore deprived of reason to consent to sex and incapable of sensing or fighting off danger.
[15] Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
According to Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Suzette flew to Japan and that they didn't have a record of her connecting flight to the US.
[16][27] According to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, all he knew was that Suzette wanted assistance from the Philippine Government in securing a visa for Italy where her brother reportedly stays.
He also said that Suzette could face a perjury case for lying under oath which was contradicted by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Antonio Cuenco.
[29][30] Justice Secretary Gonzalez further stated that he should have granted Suzette's wish to remove the "meaty" portions of her affidavit in 2005 when she filed the rape case against Smith.
[31][32][33]He added that he suspects that anti-US military groups in the country might have originally pressured and "brainwashed" Suzette to pursue the alleged rape charges against Smith and that everybody was "taken for a ride.
[5] The leftists and militant groups Gabriela (with Lisa Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan), Bayan Muna (with Teodoro "Teddy" Casino, Joel Virador and Satur Ocampo), Akbayan (with Riza Hontiveros), EnGende Rights (with Clara Rita Padilla), Volunteers Against Crimes and Corruptions (with Dante Jimenez), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (with Renato Reyes Jr.), Task Force Subic (with Princess Nemenzo), The Public Interest Law, Quezon Congressman Lorenzo Tañada III, Senators Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Rodolfo Biazon, Francis Escudero, Manny Villar and Francis Pangilinan, Quezon City Congressman Matias Defensor and Congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza, Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman, Makati Mayor Jejomary Binay, Dr. Quintin Doromal, Lawyers Evalyn Ursua, Romulo Capulong and Harry Roque, Clara Padilla, and Former Senators Jovito Salonga, Francisco Tatad and Wigberto Tanada were among Suzette's supporters on her rape lawsuit against Smith and they are known to be anti-VFA.
Suzette told them that she fired her lawyer and that she wished to accept the 100,000 Pesos (equivalent to US$2000) that Judge Pozon ordered Smith to pay her for moral and compensatory damages in December 2006.
[47] On March 23, 2009, Manila Times, a Philippine newspaper, published the draft acquittal of the Court of Appeals in favor of Smith even without Suzette's recantation.
[49][50][51] In May 2008, Court of Appeals Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo, the senior member of the division, did not sign the Dizon ponencia[48] and asked for two months to review the case.
With the subsequent raffle of the case, the new ponente[52] replacing Dizon was Zenarosa, with Justices Mariano del Castillo and Apolinario Bruselas as members.
Several appellate court justices who talked to Manila Times on condition of anonymity said that most of them support the acquittal of Smith on the basis of the Dizon's draft.
The Manila Time source said that the current ponente[52] of the case, Justice Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa vowed to issue her ruling before her retirement in August 2009.
The court said: "No evidence was introduced to show force, threat and intimidation applied by the accused upon Nicole even as prosecution vainly tried to highlight her supposed intoxication and alleged unconsciousness at the time of the sexual act.
"[7][8][9] "As in this case, a careful and judicious perusal of the evidence on record does not convince the prudent mind about the moral certainty of the guilt of the accused, hence, we must acquit," read the CA decision.
The CA said the Makati Regional Trial Court ignored and overlooked circumstances surrounding the intoxication of Nicole and contusions on her body when it convicted Smith of the crime of rape.
Under article 266-B of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by the Anti-Rape Law of 1997,[53] the court sentenced Smith to reclusion perpetua and ordered his temporary detention at the Makati city jail.
An agreement was then signed that as the case was not final and closed because it could be brought up to the Philippine Court of Appeals, the custody of Smith should be transferred back to the US embassy in keeping with the provisions of the VFA.
The agreement referred was that signed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and US Ambassador Kristie Kenney on December 22 stating that Smith should be held at the US Embassy compound.
[65] On September 19, 2008, attorneys representing Nicole's filed an indirect contempt motion against the government's transfer of Smith from Makati city jail in December 2006, to the Embassy of the United States in Manila.
[66] During the oral arguments, Associate Justice Presbeterio Velasco raised the possibility that the petitioners represented by Agabin could be liable for forum shopping because they had also filed another petition related to the Smith case before the Court of Appeals.
Partly as a result of the Volunteers Against Crimes and Corruptions controversy growing out of this case, especially on the custody issue, the Congress of the Philippines has considered terminating the VFA.