Filipino who accused Marine of rape changes story

[marinemom]

Filipino who accused Marine of rape changes story
Published: 3/18/09, 10:06 AM EDT
By HRVOJE HRANJSKI
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Filipino woman whose accusations of rape led to the conviction of a U.S. Marine has altered her testimony and emigrated to the United States, saying she was no longer certain that a crime took place, a lawyer said Wednesday.

The case has strained U.S.-Philippine military relations amid calls for the scrapping of a pact allowing U.S. troops to train Filipino soldiers, and has become a rallying point for anti-American protests.

Three years after Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was convicted of rape and sentenced to 40 years in jail, his accuser submitted a five-page affidavit to an appeals court Tuesday saying she now doubts her own version of events.

"My conscience continues to bother me realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith ... that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply just got carried away," the woman said in the statement.


She described the two were drinking, kissing and dancing at a bar at the former U.S. Naval base at Subic Bay before moving to a van, where she originally told the court she was raped while she passed out. Smith had insisted the sex was consensual.

The turnabout has shocked her supporters, including lawyer Evalyn Ursua, who said her client terminated her services this week then moved to the U.S. to start a new life and was no longer willing to talk.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the woman could be charged with perjury and her affidavit may not be admitted as new evidence because it should have been introduced during the 2006 trial.

"I am not happy with her because her accusations divided the nation, then she turns her back on everything," he said, adding the case had affected the country's foreign policy.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila is consulting with American government legal experts in Washington on the case, embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said, without elaborating. She refused to comment on reports that the woman had gone to the United States.

Smith, 23, from St. Louis, Missouri, has been detained at the U.S. Embassy while his case is on appeal. Last month, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled he should be serving his sentence in a Philippine jail but left it to the government to negotiate his transfer with Washington. Smith is appealing his conviction.

[thewookie]

You got figh dolla I make you holla -

[DWG]

Must have forgotten to tip!

[KawiGunny]

You got figh dolla I make you holla -

Inflation..... what ever happened to 2 buckie?

[thewookie]

Inflation..... what ever happened to 2 buckie?

Sorry Gunny, I was there in the 90's you must be talking about the 80's prices..... SF Marine

[thewookie]

On the subject - ain't this sumtin - you know they put those boys on lock-down after this happened, and now it turns out that she was lying.

What a shame.

All that libo wasted in the PI.

[SSgt Ramsey]

I sincerely hope this Marine is vindicated and exhonerated of this crime...and paid restitution by the Government of PI as they were the prosecuters and wrongfully convicted this poor kid.

Regardless, you can't give him back the time he lost while locked up in prison...monetary compensation means nothing in this arena...

[nvusmcsgt]

I sincerely hope this Marine is vindicated and exhonerated of this crime...and paid restitution by the Government of PI as they were the prosecuters and wrongfully convicted this poor kid.

Regardless, you can't give him back the time he lost while locked up in prison...monetary compensation means nothing in this arena...

And all of the back pay from the Marine Corp. Man what a mess. Poor guy.

[GySgtRet]

Smith, 23, from St. Louis, Missouri, has been detained at the U.S. Embassy during all of this. It would appear that he hasn't lost anything except maybe time in grade and I would imagine he will get that back in short order. Once he is cleared he will gone on about being a Marine once again. If he were at the embassy all of this time he had a SNCOIC that can probably have written pro and cons to help him along. But you talk about a kangaroo court, DAMN...!!!

Gunny out
Semper Fi

[SSgt Ramsey]

Gunny...I read this differently, maybe I'm wrong, but the Marine was sentenced to 40 years in jail and I'm sure a Dishonorable Dishcharge / felony conviction which precludes any hopes of benefits he earned.

The "detained at the US Embassy while his case is on appeal" meaning that he was previously in a military correctional facility.

Again, it could be me just reading it wrong and getting a different intrepretation of the story.

Regardless, the guy got screwed at least twice over that ordeal...

[GySgtRet]

He did indeed get screwed. I of course read that he has been detained at the embasy all of this time? I can only hope that this Marine has a speedy release as speedy or speeder than his conviction.

Gunny out

[SGT7477]

Hope all goes well for that Marine, all over that pussy,daamn.