Case Digest (G.R. No. 10543)
Facts:
Director of Prisons v. Judge of First Instance of Cavite, G.R. No. 10543, January 23, 1915, the Supreme Court En Banc, Per Curiam. The petitioners are the Director of Prisons (through the Attorney‑General acting for the Government); the respondent is the Judge of the Court of First Instance of Cavite.On June 28, 1912 the Court of First Instance of Cavite convicted Roman Malabanan, Mariano Noriel and Luis J. Landas of assassination and sentenced each to death. The defendants appealed; the Supreme Court affirmed the convictions on March 23, 1914, and the affirmance became final on September 14, 1914. The record was remitted to the trial court for execution of sentence, and by an order entered December 24, 1914 the trial judge fixed January 12, 1915 as the date for execution.
On January 11, 1915 the trial judge, upon a motion by the defense to allow time for a petition for executive clemency (pardon or commutation), issued an order postponing the execution from January 12 to January 27, 1915. The Attorney‑General thereupon petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, alleging that the trial court had exceeded its jurisdiction by altering the execution date after it had performed its ministerial duty of fixing the date.
The respondent judge filed a demurrer. At argument the parties agreed the operative facts and that the sole legal question was whether the trial court had jurisdiction to defer a previously fixed execution date to allow consideration of clemency petitions. The Court considered the matter on certiorari (petition) without calling the lower court record under section 217 of Act No. 190 because the parties had stipulated the facts. The Court denied the petition and refused to annul the tri...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of First Instance of Cavite exceed its jurisdiction when, after fixing a definite date for execution of final death sentences, it postponed that date to a later definite day?
- Is the power to reprieve (temporarily postpone execution) of a capital sentence exclusively an executive (pardon) power, or may the trial court grant a temporary postponement to secure legal rights ari...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)