GR L 38756; (November, 1984) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-38756 November 13, 1984
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ROMUALDO CAPILLAS and AQUILINO PACALA, accused-appellants.
FACTS
Accused-appellants Romualdo Capillas and Aquilino Pacala, both inmates on death row at the New Bilibid Prison, pleaded guilty to the charge of murder for the killing of fellow inmate Patricio Gallardo on September 9, 1971. The information alleged the qualifying circumstance of treachery and the aggravating circumstance of recidivism. Despite their guilty pleas, the trial court, following the doctrine in People vs. Daeng, ordered the presentation of evidence to determine the degree of culpability. The evidence established that Capillas, as a gang leader, initiated the unprovoked stabbing of the victim, who was seated and pleading for mercy, and Pacala joined in the attack. The trial court appreciated the mitigating circumstances of plea of guilty and voluntary surrender but imposed the death penalty, primarily on the ground of quasi-recidivism.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly imposed the penalty of death on the accused-appellants.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court modified the penalty. The Court clarified that the special aggravating circumstance of quasi-recidivism under Article 160 of the Revised Penal Code applies only when the offender commits a new felony after having been convicted by final judgment. The records showed that at the time of the stabbing, the appellants’ prior convictions for robbery with homicide were still under automatic review by the Supreme Court and thus not final. Therefore, quasi-recidivism was not present. The allegation of recidivism in the information was also disproven by the evidence, which prevails over the appellants’ admission via their guilty plea.
The penalty for murder is reclusion temporal maximum to death. For Capillas, the Court, concurring with the Solicitor General, found two mitigating circumstances (plea of guilty and voluntary surrender) with no aggravating circumstances, warranting a reduction of the penalty by one degree to prision mayor maximum to reclusion temporal medium. He was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 10 years of prision mayor, as minimum, to 14 years of reclusion temporal, as maximum. For Pacala, only the mitigating circumstance of plea of guilty was appreciated, with no aggravating circumstances, making the penalty imposable the minimum period of the prescribed penalty. He was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 12 years of reclusion temporal, as minimum, to 20 years of reclusion temporal, as maximum. The indemnity was increased to P30,000.00.