Four U.S. Marines refused to answer rape charges against them Friday in the Philippines, prompting the judge to enter a not guilty plea for them
It seems the Judge for the case threw out the motion of the DOJ for the 3 (Silkwood, Carpentier and Duplantis) to be just an accessory to the crime and (Smith) be the only one charged.
Pozon said he could not allow a downgrade of charges against the three "on the basis of the evidence not yet presented."
Lance Cpl Daniel Smith was actually the supposed date of the rape victim then others joined the two of them in the disco then subsequently inside the van were the alleged rape took place.
The defendants belong to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. They had finished counterterrorism maneuvers with Filipino troops when the alleged rape occurred in a van at the former U.S. Subic Bay naval base near Olongapo city, west of Manila. U.S. officials have refused to disclose their hometowns.
Well, under the Visiting Forces Agreement, US authorities don't have to turn over the American servicemen facing criminal charges. And that's why there's been lots of protest here for the scraping of the VFA.
The court hearing was the first public appearance by Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier since the alleged Nov. 1 rape of a 22-year-old Philippine woman.
(By the way, the second and the third one looks cute.. hehehe. Yay).
Anyhow, there were actually six that was initially charged (Albert Lara and another one which I forgot the name). But due to lack of evidence, the prosecution dropped the charges against the two servicemen. I think they went back to Okinawa.
Rape is serious and if these men were guilty, they should be meted proper punishement but if they're not...let them go. They were here for some military exercise and then had some relaxation I guess. They probably shouldn't have gone out of the USS(whatever cos I dunno the name) or their quarters.
Many servicemen go to [war]torn places and they've had enough to deal with as it is. Not that I'm defending them over my own race but like I said if they're guilty punish them if not.. set them free (hehe, it's not like they're inside a jail though, but they've been inside the Embassy for the several months now I think).
The thing I don't get it is that, if you're a girl and then knowing that a lot of servicemen go to that bar you're going to wouldn't it be obvious that there's gonna be bad connotation about you(ie: bar girl), then you'd have avoided it. Not that I'm saying the girl is such..but of course even if..it's still not an excuse to commit rape.
Punish the guilty. If not..set free.
Okay enough, I know nobody reads my blogs thats why I bravely share my thoughts and opinions and I keep blabbing. Hehe.
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