Sep 09 2020 09:39 AM | Updated as of Sep 09 2020 09:55 AMMANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte "upon his own volition" pardoned a US soldier who killed a Filipina transgender--a decision that "surprised" even Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, he said Wednesday.
American Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton has been in prison since the October 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude, whom he met at a bar while on break from military exercises in the northern city of Olongapo.
The justice department on Monday questioned a court ruling that Pemberton qualified for early release due to good behavior, just hours before Duterte announced the absolute pardon for the US lance corporal.