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FIRST
DIVISION
THE
PEOPLE OF THE
PHILIPPINES,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
G.
R. No. 49121
September
29, 1944
-versus-
CONRADO DE
MESA
Y RACI,
Defendant-Appellant.
D
E C I S I
O N
OZAETA,
J :
Appellant pleaded guilty
to the following Information:
"The undersigned
accuses
Conrado de Mesa y Raci of the crime of murder, committed as follows:
"That on or about
the
7th day of October, 1943, in Diliman District, City of Manila,
Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Court, the above-named accused,
Conrado
de Mesa y Raci, with evident premeditation and treachery and taking
advantage
of the night- time which was purposely sought by him, voluntarily,
maliciously,
illegally and criminally treacherously attacked and assaulted Mateo
Alvarez,
a duly qualified member of the Metropolitan Constabulary while in the
performance
of his duties, to wit: while on patrol in the barrio of Balara, Diliman
District, Manila, by shooting said Mateo Alvarez from behind with a .45
caliber pistol, inflicting upon said Mateo Alvarez serious gunshot
wound
perforating the left lung and other vital parts of his body which
caused
his death as a consequence. All contrary to law."
and was then and there
sentenced to suffer reclusion perpetua and to indemnify the
heirs
of the deceased in the sum of P2,000.
From that sentence,
he appealed to this Court. His attorney de oficio finds no
error
in the sentence of the trial Court and in effect recommends its
confirmation.
But as the Solicitor
General correctly observes, the crime charged in the body of the
Information
was not simple murder but the complex crime of murder with assault upon
an agent of authority, for which the penalty provided by law is death,
an indivisible penalty which cannot be affected by the mitigating
circumstance
of plea of guilty. The Solicitor General further observes:
"It is evident,
however,
that the crime charged and described in the information has not been
correctly
apprehended. Both the prosecution and the defense, as well as the
court,
understood that the crime of which the accused pleaded guilty is
murder,
all having been obviously misled by the descriptive designation
'murder'
appearing at the caption of the information, and failed to take into
consideration
the allegations contained in its body, which allegations constitute the
real and true crime charged, to wit, murder with assault upon an agent
of authority. Had the accused been fully apprised of the gravity of the
offense and the consequent penalty, he would have perhaps not entered
the
plea of guilty. Upon this ground we believe that the record should be
remanded
for a new arraignment and trial."
We
fully agree with the
Solicitor General. Following the case of U. S. vs. Agcaoili, 31 Phil.,
91, inasmuch as the Information charges a capital offense and there is
possibility that the accused misunderstood its gravity on account of
the
misleading introductory paragraph of the Information wherein the
offense
charged was qualified as simple murder, the trial Court should have
explained
to the accused the true nature of the offense charged and the penalty
involved
in order to avoid all reasonable possibility of the accused's entering
a plea of guilty improvidently or without a clear and precise
understanding
of its meaning and effect, and should have taken the prosecution's
evidence
in support of the allegations of the information in order to be able to
judge correctly the extent of defendant's guilt.
The sentence appealed
from is set aside and the case is ordered remanded to the trial Court
for
new arraignment and trial, with the costs of this instance de oficio.
Yulo, C.J.,
Horrilleno, Paras, and Bocobo, JJ., concur.
Moran, J.,
concurs
in the result. |
