Case Digest (G.R. No. 11718)
Facts:
United States v. Lorenzo Macasaet, G.R. No. 11718, October 31, 1916, the Supreme Court, Carson, J., writing for the Court. The plaintiff-appellee was the United States and the defendant-appellant was Lorenzo Macasaet.On the night of April 10, 1915, at about 7:00 p.m., Macasaet stood outside a neighbor’s house talking with a friend about his upcoming marriage two days later. Without warning, one Raymundo Briones approached from behind and struck Macasaet over the shoulder with a cane. Briones was armed not only with the cane but also with a heavy iron whip attached to his left wrist; jealousy over the same woman to whom Macasaet was betrothed was the apparent motive for the assault.
Macasaet testified he tried to flee but was pursued and did not draw his knife until it became necessary to protect himself; the lone eyewitness (the friend) testified that when Briones struck, the cane slipped from the assailant’s hand and Macasaet immediately drew his pocketknife and stabbed Briones several times, resulting in the latter’s death. The facts above were not disputed.
At trial the judge credited the eyewitness rather than the accused’s escape narrative, found unlawful aggression by the deceased but concluded there was no “reasonable necessity for the means employed” and convicted Macasaet of homicide, sentencing him to prisi...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was Macasaet exempt from criminal liability because he acted in legitimate self-defense?
- Did the fact that Macasaet inflicted several wounds (after an initial fatal blow) defeat a claim of reasonable necessity and thus preclude a finding ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)