G.R. No. L-7635 / October 18, 1912
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FACUNDO AGUSTIN, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

The defendant, Facundo Agustin, was charged and convicted of the crime of robbery. The trial court found that he was armed at the time of the robbery and that he entered the inhabited house he robbed “through an opening not intended for ingress or egress.” The value of the property taken did not exceed 1,250 pesetas. The trial court sentenced him to ten years and one day of imprisonment, along with the accessory penalties. The commission of the crime was attended by the aggravating circumstance of nocturnity, with no extenuating circumstance.

ISSUE

Whether the trial court correctly imposed the penalty for the crime of robbery committed under the specific circumstances.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court modified the penalty. The applicable law is Article 508 of the Penal Code. For an armed person who commits robbery in an inhabited house by entering through an opening not intended for entrance, the prescribed penalty is presidio mayor in its medium degree to cadena temporal in its minimum degree, but only if the value of the property taken exceeds 1,250 pesetas. Since the value in this case did not exceed 1,250 pesetas, the penalty should be one degree lower: presidio correccional in its medium degree to presidio mayor in its minimum degree.

Considering the presence of the aggravating circumstance of nocturnity and the absence of any extenuating circumstance, the penalty should be imposed in its maximum period. Therefore, the correct penalty is eight years of presidio correccional. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction but modified the sentence by imposing eight years of presidio correccional in place of the ten years and one day imprisonment.