GR L 5818; (December, 1910) (Digest)
G.R. No. L‑5818, 24 December 1910
FACTS
– In August 1900 Lorenzo Laopoco was murdered in Manila.
– Bernabe Santos was tried, convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Manila (1901).
– While awaiting execution, Santos escaped on Thanksgiving night, 1901, and remained at large for about eight years.
– In October 1909 the police arrested a man in Tondo who claimed he was not the escaped convict.
– The CFI held a “trial of identity” to determine whether the arrested man was the same Bernabe Santos convicted in 1901. WitnessesJudge W.A. Kincaid, Capt. Jose Crame, Anastasio Carmona, Sgt. Jose Fernandez, among othersidentified the appellant as the convicted murderer.
– The defense presented expert testimony (Professors Miguel Zaragoza and Rafael Enriquez) comparing photographs, asserting the appellant was not Santos.
– The CFI found the prosecution’s identification convincing and affirmed the conviction; the appellant appealed.
ISSUE
1. Does the appellant have a right to appeal the judgment of the “trial of identity” notwithstanding that he was not tried again for murder?
2. Is the appellant, beyond reasonable doubt, the same Bernabe Santos convicted of the 1900 murder, thereby subject to the death sentence imposed in 1901?
RULING
1. The Court held that an appeal is proper because the identity of the accused is a “vital element” of the criminal case; without a correct identification the conviction cannot stand. The appellant is thus entitled to the same procedural safeguards as in the original murder trial.
2. The Court affirmed the CFI’s judgment. Relying on the testimony of the presiding judge, police officials, and other eyewitnesses who personally knew and had custody of Santos, the Court found the prosecution’s evidence “fully and clearly sustained” and that the expert photographic comparison did not create reasonable doubt.
Disposition: The judgment of the Court of First Instance is affirmed; the appellant is identified as Bernabe Santos, the convicted murderer, and is remanded to the authorities for execution of the death sentence.
Concurrence: Chief Justice Arellano and Justices Torres, Mapa, Johnson, and Carson concurred.