Case Digest (G.R. No. 10735)
Facts:
United States v. Francisco Mendac, G.R. No. 10735. August 05, 1915, the Supreme Court, Torres, J., writing for the Court (Arellano, C.J., Johnson, Carson, Trent, and Araullo, JJ., concurring). The United States was the plaintiff-appellee and Francisco Mendac the defendant-appellant.
Between 2 and 3 p.m. on March 8, the victim Anselmo Badan and the defendant were gambling at the house of Nicolasa Pinol in Dumaguete, Oriental Negros, when they quarreled and were separated by the barrio lieutenant, Crispulo Patron, and others. Each returned to his house; about an hour later Mendac left his house, walked along the road by Badan's house, and when Badan saw him asked if he was willing to fight. Both men were armed with bolos. Badan descended from his house with a bolo; the defendant stood in the street ready to quarrel, attacked, and inflicted a slash to Badan's abdomen from which intestines protruded; Badan died about an hour and a half later. The examining physician certified the fatal abdominal wound.
At trial before Judge W. E. McMahon the defendant was convicted of homicide and, by judgment of March 18, 1915, sentenced to fifteen years reclusion temporal, ordered to pay P1,000 indemnity to the heirs of the victim, and assessed costs. The defendant filed an appeal to the Supreme Court contesting (among other things) the denial of a motion to dismiss, the trial court’s finding that he sought to renew the fig...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss during trial erroneous?
- Did the evidence establish the crime of homicide under Article 404 of the Penal Code?
- Were any qualifying circumstances under Article 403 present so as to elevate the killing to murder?
- Was the defendant entitled to the exempting circumstance of self-defense (No. 4, Article 8) or to classification as a duel?
- Were any extenuating circumstances (Nos. 3 or 4, Article 9) or...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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