Case Digest (G.R. No. 33877)
Facts:
The People of the Philippine Islands v. Juan N. Gimena, G.R. No. 33877, February 06, 1931, the Supreme Court, Ostrand, J., writing for the Court.The prosecution charged Juan N. Gimena (defendant and appellant) with parricide for the fatal attack on his wife, Crispina Diana. On the morning of April 9, 1930, in Ronda, Cebu, the defendant had been assisting his father-in-law, Gregorio Diana, in cleaning bamboo. After returning home he found his wife and their two‑week old child sleeping on the floor. Shortly thereafter the wife cried for help; Gregorio ran to the defendant’s house and found the defendant attacking Crispina with a bolo. With help from the defendant’s brother, Teodulo Gimena, Gregorio disarmed and tied the defendant to a post. Authorities (the justice of the peace, the chief of police, a sanitary inspector and a policeman) were summoned. The defendant explained he attacked his wife because she had given P2.70 to one Apolinar Sereno, whom the defendant suspected of illicit relations with his wife. Crispina died the same day; the examination disclosed ten wounds in different parts of her body.
After trial the court below found the defendant guilty of parricide, but, considering the mitigating circumstances of obfuscation and lack of instruction, sentenced him to fourteen years, eight months, and one day of cadena temporal, imposed the accessory penalties prescribed by law, and ordered him to pay costs. From that judgment the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court. At trial the defendant had asserted a defense of somnambulism; by order of the trial court he was placed under observation by Dr. Luis B. Gomez, who did not discover ...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Was the plea of somnambulism established such that it negated criminal liability for the killing?
- Should the conviction and sentence for parricide be affirmed on the...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)