GR L 951; (November, 1902) (Digest)

G.R. No. L-951, November 13, 1902
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. JUAN SALANDANAN, defendant-appellant.

FACTS:
One afternoon, while the defendant Juan Salandanan was away, Domingo Alba Clemente entered his house, proposed illicit intercourse to Salandanan’s wife, and upon her refusal, attempted to rape her. He seized her and was about to throw her to the ground when Salandanan returned upon hearing his wife’s screams. Alba, seeing Salandanan, wounded the wife in the forearm with a bolo and then immediately attacked Salandanan, wounding him in the breast. A hand-to-hand struggle ensued, during which Salandanan managed to snatch the bolo from Alba and inflicted a fatal wound upon him. The trial court convicted Salandanan of homicide, applying the mitigating circumstances of immediate provocation and obfuscation, but rejected the complete defense of self-defense on the ground that the means employed were not reasonably necessary after the bolo was taken from the aggressor.

ISSUE:
Whether the defendant acted in complete self-defense under Article 8(4) of the Penal Code, thereby exempting him from criminal liability.

RULING:
Yes. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of conviction and acquitted the defendant. The Court held that all the elements of self-defense were present: (1) there was unlawful aggression by the deceased, who attacked with a bolo, wounded both the defendant and his wife, and attempted rape; (2) there was no provocation on the part of the defendant; and (3) the means employed were reasonably necessary. The Court reasoned that the hand-to-hand struggle did not necessarily cease when the defendant disarmed the aggressor. Given the continuing struggle, the serious wound the defendant had already sustained, and the rapid, instinctive nature of self-preservation in such a violent encounter, the defendant’s use of the bolo to incapacitate his aggressor was a reasonable and necessary act of defense. Therefore, the defendant is exempt from criminal liability under Article 8(4) of the Penal Code. The acquittal is ordered, with costs de oficio.