Rodrigo Duterte granted an absolute pardon to Pemberton last week. The deportation was arranged by the U.S. embassy and the U.S.
government paid for Pemberton’s flight out, according to the Washington Post.Pemberton met the victim, Jennifer Laude, when he was stationed in the Philippines.
Pemberton used a ‘trans panic’ defense in his trial, saying he feared Laude would rape him after he discovered she was transgender.The AP report in 2015 after Pemberton was convicted: “Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted of homicide by first strangling Jennifer Laude and then dunking her head into a toilet bowl in the hotel they had checked into after meeting in a disco bar in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila.