G.R. No. 4498, August 5, 1908

FACTS: Leocadio Salgado, after being denied a shirt, rice, and cigarettes by Gonzalo Lamaira, ambushed Lamaira and his father while they were investigating barking dogs. Salgado struck Lamaira on the head, neck, and arm, causing his immediate death. The lower court found Salgado guilty of murder with treachery, aggravated by nocturnity and commission in an uninhabited place, and sentenced him to death.

ISSUE: Whether the crime was properly qualified as murder with treachery and whether the aggravating circumstances of nocturnity and commission in an uninhabited place were correctly appreciated.

RULING: The Court affirmed the finding of treachery, thus maintaining the qualification as murder, BUT reversed the trial court’s imposition of the death penalty. The Court held that the aggravating circumstance of uninhabited place was not applicable because there were houses nearby. As to nocturnity, the Court held that, under the facts of the case, it constituted the manner or form used to ensure treacherous execution, thus integral to the treachery itself. Therefore, the death penalty was vacated, and Salgado was sentenced to life imprisonment cadena perpetua.