U.S. Marine Sentenced to 40 Years In Rape of Filipino Woman
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MANILA, Philippines — An American Marine was convicted yesterday of raping a Filipino woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison, ending an emotional trial that has strained American-Philippine ties and tested a joint military pact.
Three other Marines and their Filipino driver were acquitted of complicity.
Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, 21, from St. Louis, was the first American soldier convicted of wrongdoing in the Philippines since the country shut down American bases here the early 1990s. His lawyer, Ricardo Diaz, said he would appeal.
Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, Lance Corporal Keith Silkwood, and Lance Corporal Dominic Duplantis, who had been accused of cheering Smith on, were freed.
Smith, who was in the country for joint training, did not deny having sex with the 23-year-old woman but testified that it was consensual.
The court said the woman, known publicly by her pseudonym “Nicole,” was so intoxicated that she could not have consented to sex, pointing to testimony that Smith carried her to a van where the incident occurred on November 1, 2005.
“He was the one who was on top of the complainant, who resisted his kisses, pushed him and fought him back until she lost consciousness because of alcoholic drinks she had taken,” the decision by Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court said. A court employee read the decision live on national television.
Judge Pozon said in English that the severe penalty was aimed “to protect women against the unbridled bestiality of persons who cannot control their libidinous proclivity.”
Some cheers and applause broke out in the courtroom, and Nicole began weeping as supporters embraced her.
“We’re very happy. We laud Judge Pozon for showing courage and judicial independence,” the woman’s lawyer, Evalyn Ursua, said.
About 100 protesters had gathered outside the courthouse, demanding the government scrap the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement that allows American troops to train with Philippine troops after the Philippine Senate ordered American bases shut down in the early 1990s.
Under the pact, the Marines were placed under American custody during the court proceedings.
The American military presence in the Philippines has been credited with helping Filipino troops crack down on Islamic militants in the country’s South, but activists have rallied against the treaty, saying it favored Washington.