Spadesy
March 24th, 2009, 08:31 AM
I grabbed this and stuck my reply in from another forum.
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CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Philippines rape conviction of an Okinawa-based Marine has taken a bizarre twist.
The woman, now 25 and known publicly only as “Nicole,” changed her story last week and now says she is not sure that Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith raped her in a van in Subic Bay more than three years ago.
In a sworn statement notarized March 12 and submitted to the Philippines Court of Appeals on Tuesday, she said she may have had too much to drink with Smith at a bar called the Neptune Club the evening of Nov. 1, 2005.
“My conscience continues to bother me, realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply got carried away,” she said in a five-page statement posted on several media Web sites.
Court of Appeals officials could not provide Stars and Stripes a copy of the statement Wednesday but confirmed by telephone that it was accurate and released by them.
Smith, now 23, was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in a Philippines prison. He is being held on the U.S. Embassy compound in Manila pending his appeal and negotiations between U.S. and Philippines officials concerning the country’s Supreme Court ruling in February that holding Smith at the embassy was a violation of the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement.
“I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice was served,” Nicole said in the statement.
Smith has always contended the sex was consensual.
It remained unclear Wednesday what effect Nicole’s statement would have on Smith’s appeal.
Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez, the country’s highest-ranking jurist, said Wednesday that such reversals are “rarely accepted” as new evidence in the appeals process, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman.
However, Gonzales acknowledged that Smith’s lawyers “can ask the Court of Appeals to declare a mistrial and then move for a dismissal of the case on the grounds that the evidence is not strong.”
The U.S. Embassy in Manila had no comment on the recent developments.
Nicole said she remembered little of what occurred inside the vehicle, but thought the rape story grew from her embarrassment upon gaining consciousness after being carried out of the van.
“I was so confused and the first thing that entered my mind was how would my mother and boyfriend react if they learn that I was seen with Daniel Smith and that a condom was seen on my pants after Daniel Smith left the van?” according to her statement. “I was scared of losing not only my American boyfriend but the chance of living in the United States.”
On the same day she changed her story, Nicole also fired her attorney, Evalyn Ursua.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Ursua told Stripes that Nicole’s mother told Ursua that the family was tired of the case and “there is no justice in the Philippines.”
The spokesman said Ursua suspected “parties in the Smith camp” had a hand in Nicole’s decision.
According to media reports Tuesday in Manila, Ursua said the lawyer who notarized Nicole’s statement is from the same law firm that represents Smith. Ursua said the statement was signed the same day she accepted 100,000 pesos (about $2,068) from Smith, which was ordered by the trial court in December 2006 as compensatory damages, according to the reports.
“So many irregular things have happened in this case,” Ursua was quoted in press reports. “The victim is no longer Nicole, but the integrity of the court process and the rule of law.”
Nicole was unavailable for comment Wednesday. The Philippines media reported that she moved recently to the U.S. to live with her boyfriend.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted her mother as stating Nicole was not coerced into changing her story, adding that she did so because “she decided to move on” for her sake and the family’s.
“I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident,” Nicole said in her statement. “However ... thinking over and over again how I may have conducted myself at the Neptune Club, I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened.”
I was present for an exercise that occurred in the Philippines in the vicinity of Clark AB last November. Because of this whole "Lance Corporal Daniel Smith Incident," service members were not typically allowed to go out for liberty. As some of you know, Angeles City is very close to Clark AB (Angeles City is the Filipino version of Pattaya, Thailand).
Being with a unit that typically gets some liberty time in all these Asian countries we travel to, our CO had to speak to the Chief of Police of Angeles City in order for us to go out (and he had to pull many disclaimers with his higher ups). There were many restrictions involved, where to go, curfew, etc.
We will be heading back to the Philippines pretty soon.
An interesting thing I was told by one of the contractors that works with us, is that a driver, who may or may not have been witness to what happened with Daniel Smith, said the whole thing was consensual...where Smith effed up was when he dropped her off, alone, without considering her needs. So, this driver reported to the police exactly that - consensual, but bad handling. The police later approached the driver on a different day and pretty much said "uh, no, it WAS a rape, and this is what your testimony will be..."
I don't trust police in southeast Asia. I personally had to bribe a cop in Indonesia 500,000 rupiah ($50) for not carrying my passport on my person while I was in a cab (or else he would've taken me to the station...where I would 'pay for my mistake.') The cab tried to drive away fast once, but I just played the act of a dumb foreigner and let him have his $50 in the end. The same thing happened to our driver as we were driving to an Indonesian Marine base the following morning, he was extorted on the highway.
One of my friends was a sergeant when he went to Indonesia before. Something similar happened and he was detained in a prison for 2 weeks, without the police informing his chain of command...by the time my friend returned, he was demoted by the head General in Okinawa himself, although it wasn't really his fault.
As for the Philippines, a few of my coworkers that were there before had to bribe cops with all of their pesos because one guy was smoking in a taxi, and that wasn't allowed.
And for Subic Bay/Angeles City area...I know for a fact many women there are paid for their "services."
Yeah. I'd say Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was your typical Marine that went to the Philippines on an exercise, did what Marines typically do when they go to a place like that, and ended up getting hosed not only for his bad judgement, but because the Filipina knew she could milk him for all he was worth. She was just looking for an easy ticket to money and going to the states.
Anybody who has been to the Philippines and seen what goes on there can attest to this.
Not saying I know enough to say anything that would change this case...just some food for thought...
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CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Philippines rape conviction of an Okinawa-based Marine has taken a bizarre twist.
The woman, now 25 and known publicly only as “Nicole,” changed her story last week and now says she is not sure that Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith raped her in a van in Subic Bay more than three years ago.
In a sworn statement notarized March 12 and submitted to the Philippines Court of Appeals on Tuesday, she said she may have had too much to drink with Smith at a bar called the Neptune Club the evening of Nov. 1, 2005.
“My conscience continues to bother me, realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply got carried away,” she said in a five-page statement posted on several media Web sites.
Court of Appeals officials could not provide Stars and Stripes a copy of the statement Wednesday but confirmed by telephone that it was accurate and released by them.
Smith, now 23, was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in a Philippines prison. He is being held on the U.S. Embassy compound in Manila pending his appeal and negotiations between U.S. and Philippines officials concerning the country’s Supreme Court ruling in February that holding Smith at the embassy was a violation of the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement.
“I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice was served,” Nicole said in the statement.
Smith has always contended the sex was consensual.
It remained unclear Wednesday what effect Nicole’s statement would have on Smith’s appeal.
Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez, the country’s highest-ranking jurist, said Wednesday that such reversals are “rarely accepted” as new evidence in the appeals process, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman.
However, Gonzales acknowledged that Smith’s lawyers “can ask the Court of Appeals to declare a mistrial and then move for a dismissal of the case on the grounds that the evidence is not strong.”
The U.S. Embassy in Manila had no comment on the recent developments.
Nicole said she remembered little of what occurred inside the vehicle, but thought the rape story grew from her embarrassment upon gaining consciousness after being carried out of the van.
“I was so confused and the first thing that entered my mind was how would my mother and boyfriend react if they learn that I was seen with Daniel Smith and that a condom was seen on my pants after Daniel Smith left the van?” according to her statement. “I was scared of losing not only my American boyfriend but the chance of living in the United States.”
On the same day she changed her story, Nicole also fired her attorney, Evalyn Ursua.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Ursua told Stripes that Nicole’s mother told Ursua that the family was tired of the case and “there is no justice in the Philippines.”
The spokesman said Ursua suspected “parties in the Smith camp” had a hand in Nicole’s decision.
According to media reports Tuesday in Manila, Ursua said the lawyer who notarized Nicole’s statement is from the same law firm that represents Smith. Ursua said the statement was signed the same day she accepted 100,000 pesos (about $2,068) from Smith, which was ordered by the trial court in December 2006 as compensatory damages, according to the reports.
“So many irregular things have happened in this case,” Ursua was quoted in press reports. “The victim is no longer Nicole, but the integrity of the court process and the rule of law.”
Nicole was unavailable for comment Wednesday. The Philippines media reported that she moved recently to the U.S. to live with her boyfriend.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted her mother as stating Nicole was not coerced into changing her story, adding that she did so because “she decided to move on” for her sake and the family’s.
“I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident,” Nicole said in her statement. “However ... thinking over and over again how I may have conducted myself at the Neptune Club, I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened.”
I was present for an exercise that occurred in the Philippines in the vicinity of Clark AB last November. Because of this whole "Lance Corporal Daniel Smith Incident," service members were not typically allowed to go out for liberty. As some of you know, Angeles City is very close to Clark AB (Angeles City is the Filipino version of Pattaya, Thailand).
Being with a unit that typically gets some liberty time in all these Asian countries we travel to, our CO had to speak to the Chief of Police of Angeles City in order for us to go out (and he had to pull many disclaimers with his higher ups). There were many restrictions involved, where to go, curfew, etc.
We will be heading back to the Philippines pretty soon.
An interesting thing I was told by one of the contractors that works with us, is that a driver, who may or may not have been witness to what happened with Daniel Smith, said the whole thing was consensual...where Smith effed up was when he dropped her off, alone, without considering her needs. So, this driver reported to the police exactly that - consensual, but bad handling. The police later approached the driver on a different day and pretty much said "uh, no, it WAS a rape, and this is what your testimony will be..."
I don't trust police in southeast Asia. I personally had to bribe a cop in Indonesia 500,000 rupiah ($50) for not carrying my passport on my person while I was in a cab (or else he would've taken me to the station...where I would 'pay for my mistake.') The cab tried to drive away fast once, but I just played the act of a dumb foreigner and let him have his $50 in the end. The same thing happened to our driver as we were driving to an Indonesian Marine base the following morning, he was extorted on the highway.
One of my friends was a sergeant when he went to Indonesia before. Something similar happened and he was detained in a prison for 2 weeks, without the police informing his chain of command...by the time my friend returned, he was demoted by the head General in Okinawa himself, although it wasn't really his fault.
As for the Philippines, a few of my coworkers that were there before had to bribe cops with all of their pesos because one guy was smoking in a taxi, and that wasn't allowed.
And for Subic Bay/Angeles City area...I know for a fact many women there are paid for their "services."
Yeah. I'd say Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was your typical Marine that went to the Philippines on an exercise, did what Marines typically do when they go to a place like that, and ended up getting hosed not only for his bad judgement, but because the Filipina knew she could milk him for all he was worth. She was just looking for an easy ticket to money and going to the states.
Anybody who has been to the Philippines and seen what goes on there can attest to this.
Not saying I know enough to say anything that would change this case...just some food for thought...