GR L 1994; (January, 1906) (Digest)
FACTS:
The defendant, William George Hollis, was charged and convicted in the Court of First Instance of Occidental Negros for the crime of falsification of a public document. The document in question was a U.S. Treasury check payable to Captain James D. Fauntleroy. The prosecution alleged that Hollis forged Fauntleroy’s endorsement on the check and collected the money. During the trial, the check (marked as Exhibit 2) was presented as evidence, along with testimonial and expert handwriting analysis comparing the forged endorsement to Hollis’s known handwriting.
ISSUE:
Whether the Supreme Court can proceed to review the conviction given that the principal evidence (Exhibit 2, the allegedly forged check) is missing from the record on appeal.
RULING:
No. The Supreme Court declined to rule on the merits of the appeal. It held that the original check (Exhibit 2) constituted the principal evidence necessary for the Court to independently examine and verify the alleged forgery. Since the document was lost and not part of the record, the Court could not properly adjudicate the case. Accordingly, the Court ordered the case remanded to the trial court for a new trial.