Francisco Luis A.

Montilla
202321778

On October 11, 2014, Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, was drowned to death by
Joseph Scott Pemberton, a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps in Olongapo,
Philippines. The case of People v. Pemberton CA-G.R. CR No. 38620 demonstrates the
application of several concepts and provisions provided by the revised penal code of the
Philippines, with justifying, mitigating, and aggravating circumstances, being those that stand
out most.

A justifying circumstance Pemberton attempted to argue was the defense of self from the
assault from Laude. However, this was immediately dismissed by the court as he was not able to
prove the existence of unlawful aggression given that his life was never truly in danger the night
of the incident. Later on, this actually even came back in an unfavorable circumstance for
Pemberton when the invocation of self-defense proved to be an admission of the killing and of its
authorship. In proving the elements of self -defense, the accused must rely on the strength of his
own evidence, thus he could no longer assail the weakness of the evidence against him simply
because it cannot be disbelieved after his open admission of responsibility for the killing.

A mitigating circumstance that was awarded to Pemberton in this case was that of passion
and obfuscation. It held that Pemberton was so enraged and incensed by Laude's
misrepresentation and in the heat of passion, he acted violently towards the latter. Likewise, the
trial court found that Pemberton should be accorded the benefit of the mitigating circumstance of
intoxication, because he was inebriated at that time of the incident and in addition, it was not
shown that he is a habitual drinker, thus his drunkenness is not subsequent to a plan to commit a
felony. On the other hand, the trial court did not give merit to Pemberton’s claim that he should
be accorded the benefit of the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender. This is due to the
precise statement in provision of “for the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender to
apply, the following requisites must concur… there is no pending warrant of arrest or
information filed” and the fact that the information relevant to the case was indeed filed before
his so-called “voluntary surrender”.
 Aggravating circumstances were found in this case in the violations of his act committed
with insult or in disregard of the respect due the offended party on account of his sex in this case
and the advantage of superior strength taken. The court with regard to aggravating circumstances
states: “We find such circumstance present in this case, as Pemberton unabashedly plunged
Laude's head in the toilet for the puerile reason that Laude pretended to be a woman. To our
mind, placing Laude’s head inside a toilet shows that Pemberton never thought of Laude as a
human but as fecal matter due to his sexual orientation.” To deter similar offenses from
occurring and promote respect of Filipino citizens despite their orientation, exemplary damages
were justified.

These are but a few of the policies regarding the many circumstances involved in acts of
crime, but they showcase how heavily they each can affect the outcome of a trial and/or ruling.