GR 44932; (July, 1936) (Digest)
G.R. No. 44932 ; July 31, 1936
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. TAN GAN, ET AL., defendants. TAN TIOK NEE, appellant.
FACTS
The accused-appellant, Tan Tiok Nee, together with accomplices, at midnight of July 12, 1935, used a ladder to enter the inhabited house of Hao Ni in Manila. Once inside, they broke into rooms, gagged and tied the occupants, assaulted and maltreated them, and robbed them of cash and jewelry valued at over P250. The accused was apprehended two days later. The trial court convicted him of robbery in an inhabited house and imposed an indeterminate penalty.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court erred in imposing the indeterminate penalty of four years and two months of prision correccional as minimum to eight years and one day of prision mayor as maximum.
RULING
The Supreme Court modified the penalty. The crime is robbery under Article 299, paragraph (a), subsection 1 of the Revised Penal Code, committed in an inhabited house, with arms, and by means of scaling (use of a ladder), with the value taken exceeding P250. The prescribed penalty is prision mayor in its medium period to reclusion temporal in its minimum period (8 years and 1 day to 14 years and 8 months). With the aggravating circumstance of nocturnity and no mitigating circumstance, the penalty should be imposed in its maximum period (12 years and 1 day to 14 years and 8 months). Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law ( Act No. 4103 , as amended), the minimum must be within the range of the penalty next lower in degree, which is prision correccional in its medium period to prision mayor in its minimum period (2 years, 4 months and 1 day to 8 years). The trial court’s minimum of 4 years and 2 months is within this range and valid. However, the maximum must be the proper maximum under the Code, which is 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal. Thus, the accused is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 4 years and 2 months of prision correccional as minimum to 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal as maximum. The judgment is affirmed in all other respects.
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