Manila, Philippines – A 21-year-old U.S. Marine faces 40 years in prison after being convicted Monday of rape in a landmark case that has become a symbol for women’s rights and national sovereignty in the Philippines.
Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon rejected Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith’s claim that the woman was a willing partner, saying she was too drunk to have consented to sex.
Three other Marines were acquitted of complicity for allegedly cheering on Smith in the back of a moving van.
As the verdict was read, cheers and applause broke out in the courtroom, and the 23-year-old Philippine woman began weeping as supporters embraced her.
“I’m sad that three were acquitted, but I’m also happy because one was convicted,” the woman told ABS-CBN television.
But as the convicted Marine was exiting the courtroom, a scuffle broke out between U.S. Embassy guards and Philippines police as both tried to take Smith away, underscoring the territorial dimension in the case, which has consistently made headlines. Filipino guards eventually secured the Marine’s custody.
The U.S. Embassy had retained custody of Smith, whose hometown is St. Louis, during the prosecution, in line with a treaty governing foreign troops in the former American colony after the closing of U.S. bases in the early 1990s.
The woman accused Smith, who had just participated in joint military exercises, of forcing himself on her in the back of a moving van after a night of drinking at the former U.S. naval base at Subic Bay. She claimed three Marines cheered him on before he dumped her on the street with her pants around her ankles.
Smith was ordered to pay her $2,000 in compensatory and moral damages. The judge ruled that he would be temporarily held in a Philippines jail in Makati while he appeals.
