Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence > Year 1909 > September 1909 Decisions > G.R. No. 4973 September 18, 1909 - UNITED STATES v. BERNABE CATIPON, ET AL.

014 Phil 188:

The evidence of record sustains beyond a reasonable doubt the findings of the trial judge as to the guilt of the appellant of the complex crime of robo con lesiones graves (robbery with grave physical injuries), committed by an armed band, the physical injuries inflicted upon the offended party being such as to render his left leg useless for life, and the commission of the offense being marked by the aggravating circumstances of nocturnity and of its commission in the house of the offended party. The crime thus committed is defined and penalized in subsection 3 of article 503, read together with article 504 of the Penal Code, and the penalty prescribed therefor is the maximum degree of cadena temporal, that is to say, from seventeen years and four months to twenty years of cadena temporal. The crime thus defined and penalized having been marked by two aggravating circumstances, to wit, nocturnity and the commission of the crime in the house of the offended party, and no extenuating circumstances, this penalty should be imposed in its maximum degree. The maximum degree of the maximum degree of cadena temporal is from nineteen years, one month, and eleven days to twenty years’ cadena temporal.

The trial court imposed the penalty of seventeen years, four months, and one day of cadena temporal, evidently treating the fact that the crime was committed by an armed band as merely one of several aggravating circumstances necessitating the imposition of the penalty prescribed for the crime defined and penalized in subsection 3 of article 503 in its maximum degree, and neglecting the provisions of article 504, which penalize the robberies referred to in subsection 3, 4 and 5 of article 503, when committed by an armed band, with the maximum degree of the penalties prescribed in those subsections, so that in determining the penalty to be imposed when there are other aggravating or extenuating circumstances, the maximum degree of the penalties prescribed in those subsections is itself to be divided into three separate degrees and the penalties imposed accordingly.

The judgment of the trial court should be modified by imposing the penalty of nineteen years, one month, and eleven days of cadena temporal, this penalty being the maximum of the maximum degree of the penalty prescribed in subsection 3 of article 503, instead of the penalty of seventeen years four months and one day of cadena temporal therein imposed, and thus modified the judgment and sentence of the trial court should be and are hereby affirmed, with the costs of this instance against the Appellant.

Arellano, C.J., Torres, Johnson and Moreland, JJ., concur.