G.R. No. 1726 : March 29, 1905
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. PRUDENCIO SORNITO, ET AL., defendants-appellants.

FACTS:
On September 5, 1903, in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, Isabelo Hechanova, along with his brother Honorato and Eliseo Hermano, were stopped by municipal policemen Prudencio Sornito (Corporal) and Juan Sondia (Private). When Isabelo did not respond immediately to Sornito’s call, Sornito seized him by the neck and struck his forehead with a revolver butt. Simultaneously, Sondia struck Isabelo on the neck and behind the right ear with his gun butt. After Isabelo fell, the beating continued, and he was kicked. Sornito further battered Isabelo’s head against a bamboo post. The severely wounded Isabelo was taken to a nearby house, where he remained bedridden, vomiting blood, suffering from high fever, and unconscious until he died eight days later. An autopsy confirmed the wounds but the doctor could not definitively state the cause of death, though the evidence established Isabelo was healthy prior to the assault. The defendants were charged with homicide.

ISSUE:
Whether the defendants, Prudencio Sornito and Juan Sondia, are guilty of the crime of homicide for causing the death of Isabelo Hechanova.

RULING:
Yes, the defendants are guilty of homicide. The Court affirmed the conviction, finding that the death of Isabelo Hechanova was the direct result of the ill-treatment inflicted by the defendants. The crime is classified as homicide under Article 404 of the Penal Code, as no qualifying circumstances for murder were present. The Court considered the aggravating circumstances of abuse of superior strength (paragraph 9, Article 10) and disregard of the respect due to the offended party on account of his rank (paragraph 11, Article 10), the latter arising from the defendants’ abuse of their authority as police officers. No mitigating circumstances were present. Accordingly, the Court imposed the maximum penalty for homicide: Prudencio Sornito was sentenced to twenty years of reclusion temporal, and Juan Sondia to seventeen years, four months, and one day of reclusion temporal. Both were held jointly and severally liable to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the amount of P1,000, with the corresponding accessories and costs.