GR 178512; (November, 2014) (Digest)
G.R. No. 178512 November 26, 2014
ALFREDO DE GUZMAN, JR., Petitioner, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.
FACTS
On December 24, 1997, around midnight, Alexander Flojo was fetching water at his rented house in Mandaluyong City when Alfredo De Guzman, Jr., the brother of his landlady, stabbed him on the left face and chest. Alexander was brought to the hospital, where he sustained two stab wounds: one on the left zygoma and another on the upper left chest which penetrated the thoracic wall and left lung, necessitating a thoracostomy tube. The attending physician testified the chest wound was fatal and could have caused death without timely medical intervention. The petitioner denied stabbing Alexander, claiming they only had a fistfight after he accidentally hit Alexander’s back, and that he only hit Alexander on the cheek. The Regional Trial Court convicted petitioner of Frustrated Homicide, which the Court of Appeals affirmed.
ISSUE
Whether the petitioner was properly found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of frustrated homicide.
RULING
Yes. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty and awarded additional damages. The elements of frustrated homicide are: (1) intent to kill, manifested by the use of a deadly weapon; (2) the victim sustained a fatal wound but did not die due to timely medical assistance; and (3) no qualifying circumstances for murder are present. Intent to kill, a specific intent, was established through the petitioner’s overt acts: the unprovoked attack with a knife, the nature and location of the wounds (one being a fatal chest wound), and the use of a deadly weapon. The victim’s credible testimony and the physical evidence corroborated the prosecution’s case. The Court held that the petitioner performed all acts of execution to produce homicide, but death was prevented by timely medical intervention. However, the indeterminate penalty imposed by the lower courts was erroneous. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law and Article 50 of the Revised Penal Code, the proper penalty for frustrated homicide with no modifying circumstances is an indeterminate sentence of four years of prision correccional, as minimum, to eight years and one day of prision mayor, as maximum. The Court also modified the civil liability, awarding moral damages and temperate damages in addition to the proven actual damages.