GR 1509; (February, 1904) (Digest)
G.R. No. 1509 , February 16, 1904
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. NICOLAS GLORIA, defendant-appellant.
FACTS:
On May 23, 1903, the Provincial Fiscal of Bulacan filed an information charging Nicolas Gloria with the crime of homicide. The charge stemmed from an incident on the night of April 7, 1903, in Bambang, Bulacan. A quarrel arose between Gloria and Tiburcio de la Cruz over some rice straw, which escalated into a fight. During the struggle, Gloria inflicted a wound on Cruz’s left side above the abdomen with a pocketknife. Cruz died from the wound a few hours later. The medical examiner, Dr. Pedro Paguia, testified that the wound was mortal, piercing the peritoneum and intestines, causing a fatal hemorrhage. The trial court, however, convicted Gloria of the crime of lesiones (assault) with mitigating circumstances and sentenced him to six years and one day of prision mayor. Gloria appealed the decision.
ISSUE:
Whether the trial court erred in convicting the accused of the crime of lesiones (assault) instead of homicide.
RULING:
The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court. The facts established constitute the crime of homicide under Article 404 of the Penal Code, not lesiones. The evidence conclusively showed that Gloria, during a fight, willfully inflicted a mortal wound upon Tiburcio de la Cruz, which caused his death. The Court held that in crimes of personal violence, the law looks to the material result of the unlawful act, and the aggressor is responsible for all consequences. The claim of self-defense was rejected as improbable and unsupported by evidence, notably the failure to present an alleged eyewitness, the accused’s brother.
In imposing the penalty, the Court considered two mitigating circumstances in favor of Gloria: 1) his minority, being under 17 years of age (Article 85, Penal Code), and 2) his personal condition as a minor (Article 11, Penal Code). No aggravating circumstances were present to offset these. Applying the penalty immediately below that prescribed for homicide, the Supreme Court sentenced Nicolas Gloria to six years and one day of presidio mayor, with the corresponding accessories, and ordered him to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the amount of 1,000 pesos and to pay the costs of both instances. The case was remanded to the trial court for execution.