Case Digest (G. R. No. 12120)
Facts:
People of the Philippines v. Simplicio Agito, G.R. No. 12120. April 28, 1958, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bautista Angelo, J., writing for the Court.The respondent, Simplicio Agito (defendant/appellant), was charged before the Court of First Instance of Occidental Mindoro with triple homicide and serious physical injuries through reckless imprudence. Upon arraignment he pleaded not guilty but later withdrew that plea and pleaded guilty. The trial court found him guilty under Article 365, paragraph 6, subsection 2, of the Revised Penal Code and sentenced him to suffer an indeterminate penalty of one year and one day to three years, six months and twenty-one days, with costs; he was credited with one-half of the time he had been detained as preventive imprisonment.
The information alleged that on January 7, 1954, while driving a bus at full speed and attempting to pass another truck, Agito struck a coconut tree, completely smashing the bus and causing the instantaneous death of three persons and serious injuries to three others. The information did not expressly name the Motor Vehicle Law as the specific statute violated.
Despite his plea of guilty, Agito appealed, raising questions of law particularly challenging the propriety of the penalty imposed on the ground that the information did not allege a violation of the Motor Vehicle Law; the case w...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the omission in the information of an express allegation that the accused violated the Motor Vehicle Law render improper the application of the penalty prescribed in Article 365, paragraph 6, subsection 2, of the Revised Penal Code?
- Did the trial court err in refusing to treat the plea of guilty (and related voluntary-surrender-type considerations) as a mitigating circumstance...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)