G.R. No. 1287 : January 5, 1905
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. PEDRO BAGUIAO and JANUARIO BERMUDEZ, defendants-appellants.

FACTS:
On February 12, 1903, a complaint was filed charging Januario Bermudez, Pedro Baguiao, and three others with the complex crime of murder and robbery. It was alleged that around the end of November 1901, the accused broke into the house of Mariano Valera and his wife Agatona Barbadillo in a remote area called Narnara, robbed them, and killed them with cutting weapons. The case proceeded to trial against Bermudez and Baguiao, who pleaded not guilty. The trial court found them guilty of murder and sentenced each to death. The defendants appealed.

ISSUE:
Whether the trial court correctly convicted the appellants of the complex crime of murder and robbery.

RULING:
No. The Supreme Court modified the conviction.
1. On the Crime of Murder: The evidence failed to prove with certainty any of the qualifying circumstances for murder under Article 403 of the Penal Code. The details of the killing were unknown, and no evidence was presented regarding the manner or position of the victims. Therefore, the crime could only be homicide, not murder.
2. On the Crime of Robbery: The evidence for robbery was insufficient. While a witness testified that property disappeared after the killings, the justice of the peace who conducted the preliminary investigation stated that the appellants only confessed to the killing, not to robbery. The alleged robbery was not proven conclusively.
3. On the Complex Crime: Since the robbery was not proven, the appellants could not be convicted of the complex crime of robbery with homicide. The Court could not presume the homicide was committed for the purpose of robbery.
4. On Guilt for Homicide: Notwithstanding their denial, the appellants’ guilt for the homicide was sufficiently established by the testimonies of witnesses, including a provincial governor, to whom they voluntarily confessed to killing the spouses.
5. On Penalty: The crime of homicide was committed with the aggravating circumstance of dwelling (having been committed in the house of the victims), with no mitigating circumstance to offset it. Applying the penalty in its maximum degree, and considering that homicide is included in the charge of murder, the appellants were properly convicted of homicide.

DISPOSITIVE:
The judgment of the trial court was reversed. Appellants Januario Bermudez and Pedro Baguiao were each sentenced to twenty years of reclusion temporal, with the corresponding accessory penalties, to indemnify the heirs of each deceased in the amount of P1,000, and to pay the costs.