July 1909 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
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G.R. No. 4960 July 17, 1909 - UNITED STATES v. CIRIACO HERRERA
013 Phil 583:
013 Phil 583:
EN BANC
[G.R. No. 4960. July 17, 1909. ]
THE UNITED STATES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CIRIACO HERRERA, Defendant-Appellant.
Tomas Sison, for Appellant.
Solicitor-General Harvey, for Appellee.
SYLLABUS
1. Assault; "Lesiones Menos Graves;" Mitigating Circumstance; Loss of Reason and Self-Control. — Where two individuals have been wrestling together and after being separated one of them follows up the other and wounds him on the buttock with a penknife as he was entering a vehicle, and without the wounded party noticing it until after he was so wounded, the aggressor can not claim in his favor that the previous struggle produced in him entire loss of reason or self-control, for the existence of such excitement as is inherent in all who quarrel and come to blows does not constitute said mitigating circumstance; it is necessary that the guilty party must have acted under the impulse of special motives which may be classified according to the attending circumstances. (Decisions of the supreme court of Spain of October 27, 1883, and January 10, 1870.)
D E C I S I O N
ARELLANO, C.J. :
The crime under consideration by the court consists in that the accused wounded Silvestre Bautista at the moment when the latter was getting into his vehicle after a fight between them, in which they wrestled together without using any weapon.
After they were separated for the third time, Silvestre Bautista recovered his hat, and just as he was getting into his vehicle Ciriaco followed him up and wounded him in the right sacrolumbar region, causing a lesion which necessitated medical attendance for more than eight days. Bautista testified:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"I was wounded in the buttock when I was already in the carretela [vehicle]; I did not see the accused when he struck me, but as I turned around I saw him running away with a penknife in his hand."cralaw virtua1aw library
The Court of First Instance of the city of Manila found the accused guilty of lesiones menos graves and sentenced him to three months of arresto mayor, to indemnify the injured party in the sum of P37 for medical expenses incurred by him, or to suffer subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs. From said judgment the accused has appealed.
At the hearing of the appeal before this court the defense claims that as the injured party was not incapacitated for work for more than eight days, the accused can not be prosecuted as guilty of lesiones menos graves, but simply for misdemeanor, and that circumstance 7 of article 9 of the Penal Code should have been taken into account, that is, that the accused acted under such powerful excitement that it naturally produced entire loss of reason and self-control.
While the injured party may not have been rendered unable to work, the fact is that he required medical attendance for more than eight days, which is a sufficient reason to classify he deed as the crime of lesiones menos graves according to article 418 of the Penal Code.
Mitigating circumstance No. 7 of article 9 can not be considered in this case, because it is an established rule of jurisprudence that, in order to consider said rule, the existence of that excitement which is inherent to all persons quarreling and coming to blows is not sufficient, but that it is necessary that the guilty party shall act under the impulse of special motives which may be classified according to existing circumstances. (Decisions of the supreme court of Spain of October 27, 1883, and January 10, 1870.)
Therefore, the judgment appealed from should be affirmed with the costs of this instance against the Appellant.
Torres, Mapa, Johnson, Carson and Moreland, JJ., concur.
After they were separated for the third time, Silvestre Bautista recovered his hat, and just as he was getting into his vehicle Ciriaco followed him up and wounded him in the right sacrolumbar region, causing a lesion which necessitated medical attendance for more than eight days. Bautista testified:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"I was wounded in the buttock when I was already in the carretela [vehicle]; I did not see the accused when he struck me, but as I turned around I saw him running away with a penknife in his hand."cralaw virtua1aw library
The Court of First Instance of the city of Manila found the accused guilty of lesiones menos graves and sentenced him to three months of arresto mayor, to indemnify the injured party in the sum of P37 for medical expenses incurred by him, or to suffer subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs. From said judgment the accused has appealed.
At the hearing of the appeal before this court the defense claims that as the injured party was not incapacitated for work for more than eight days, the accused can not be prosecuted as guilty of lesiones menos graves, but simply for misdemeanor, and that circumstance 7 of article 9 of the Penal Code should have been taken into account, that is, that the accused acted under such powerful excitement that it naturally produced entire loss of reason and self-control.
While the injured party may not have been rendered unable to work, the fact is that he required medical attendance for more than eight days, which is a sufficient reason to classify he deed as the crime of lesiones menos graves according to article 418 of the Penal Code.
Mitigating circumstance No. 7 of article 9 can not be considered in this case, because it is an established rule of jurisprudence that, in order to consider said rule, the existence of that excitement which is inherent to all persons quarreling and coming to blows is not sufficient, but that it is necessary that the guilty party shall act under the impulse of special motives which may be classified according to existing circumstances. (Decisions of the supreme court of Spain of October 27, 1883, and January 10, 1870.)
Therefore, the judgment appealed from should be affirmed with the costs of this instance against the Appellant.
Torres, Mapa, Johnson, Carson and Moreland, JJ., concur.
