thedrifter
11-28-06, 11:46 AM
4 US Marines in rape case hold Thanksgiving dinner
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Posted date: November 28, 2006
AS THEY await the verdict, the four accused US Marines in the Subic rape case managed to host their own Thanksgiving dinner last week inside the US Embassy, according to one of their lawyers.
Charged with raping a Filipino woman 13 months ago, the servicemen observed a “very important tradition” among Americans despite their “prolonged agony” in confinement, lawyer Jose Justiniano told the Inquirer on Tuesday.
“Lest this be misinterpreted, (the celebration) doesn’t mean they have become overconfident about the outcome of the case,” he explained in Filipino. The four US Marines just did what foreign-based American soldiers would do, which was to observe a tradition they miss from back home, he added.
The “agony” is expected to reach its climax on Monday, December 4, the day Makati City Judge Benjamin Pozon will hand down his verdict. Pozon originally set the promulgation on November 27 but had the date moved by a week.
Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier underwent a four-month trial for the alleged rape of ”Nicole,” then a 22-year-old college graduate, inside a moving van at the Subic Freeport close to midnight of November 1, 2005.
As to where the four Marines should be detained -- whether in a US or Philippine facility -- became a contentious diplomatic issue for both countries during the early, pre-trial stages of the landmark case.
That row seems a distant memory now, what with Smith and the others apparently able to engage in activities they probably would not be able to do had they been locked up in a Filipino-run jail instead.
“We were invited, all the lawyers were there as well as the soldiers’ custodians, and we were all in one long table,” Justiniano recalled of the early Thanksgiving dinner held Thursday last week.
Ellie
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Posted date: November 28, 2006
AS THEY await the verdict, the four accused US Marines in the Subic rape case managed to host their own Thanksgiving dinner last week inside the US Embassy, according to one of their lawyers.
Charged with raping a Filipino woman 13 months ago, the servicemen observed a “very important tradition” among Americans despite their “prolonged agony” in confinement, lawyer Jose Justiniano told the Inquirer on Tuesday.
“Lest this be misinterpreted, (the celebration) doesn’t mean they have become overconfident about the outcome of the case,” he explained in Filipino. The four US Marines just did what foreign-based American soldiers would do, which was to observe a tradition they miss from back home, he added.
The “agony” is expected to reach its climax on Monday, December 4, the day Makati City Judge Benjamin Pozon will hand down his verdict. Pozon originally set the promulgation on November 27 but had the date moved by a week.
Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier underwent a four-month trial for the alleged rape of ”Nicole,” then a 22-year-old college graduate, inside a moving van at the Subic Freeport close to midnight of November 1, 2005.
As to where the four Marines should be detained -- whether in a US or Philippine facility -- became a contentious diplomatic issue for both countries during the early, pre-trial stages of the landmark case.
That row seems a distant memory now, what with Smith and the others apparently able to engage in activities they probably would not be able to do had they been locked up in a Filipino-run jail instead.
“We were invited, all the lawyers were there as well as the soldiers’ custodians, and we were all in one long table,” Justiniano recalled of the early Thanksgiving dinner held Thursday last week.
Ellie