Title
People vs. Dano
Case
G.R. No. 117690
Decision Date
Sep 1, 2000
Appellant convicted of homicide, not murder, after claiming self-defense in brother's killing; Court ruled inadmissible confession, absence of treachery, and mitigating factors.
homicide
family defense
unlawful aggression
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 117690)

Chronology of Events and Trial Evidence

The prosecution evidence, as summarized from the trial record, established that on March 16, 1994, at about 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., prosecution witness Wilfredo Tapian, a carpenter, was resting at the house of Neneng Miras in Tiguian, Margosatubig. Teresita Dano, the victim’s widow, approached Wilfredo and asked for help. Teresita informed him that her husband Emeterio had attacked his brother Alberto at the latter’s house.

Wilfredo immediately went to the accused’s residence, about one hundred meters away. Upon arriving, Wilfredo saw the victim pacing in the accused’s front yard. Emeterio was armed with a scythe and shouted at the accused to come down so they could fight to the death. Wilfredo attempted to pacify the victim, who continued repeating the challenge while striking the scythe on the ground. The accused also advised his younger brother to go home, but Emeterio refused.

The incident escalated suddenly. Wilfredo witnessed Emeterio leap at the accused, who was standing with his head out of the window. Emeterio slashed at the accused with the scythe, but the accused evaded the blow. Wilfredo then left for his home because he feared being hit in the fray and believed his efforts to stop the quarrel were futile.

Around the same evening, Demosthenes Peralta, then barangay captain of Tiguian, was informed by Wilfredo and Fernando Teves that the Dano brothers were quarreling. Demosthenes went to the accused’s house to investigate. On the way, Demosthenes met the accused, who told him that he had killed Emeterio and had voluntarily surrendered to him. Demosthenes then left the accused in Wilfredo’s house and went to the accused’s residence, where he saw the bloody corpse of the victim sprawled near the stairs, bearing multiple hacking and slashing wounds.

Demosthenes fetched the accused from Wilfredo’s house and brought him to the police station. In the early morning of the next day, Demosthenes fetched a doctor from the town proper of Margosatubig to examine the victim’s body, which remained in the accused’s yard. At the request of the police station commander, Demosthenes took photos of the corpse and later turned over the photos to the police. He also examined the scene and found a bloodstained scythe beneath the accused’s house. The scythe’s wooden handle had the name Alberto Dano carved on it. Demosthenes turned over the scythe to the police. The necropsy report established that the cause of death was acute blood loss secondary to multiple hacking wounds.

The prosecution also relied on statements attributed to the accused. When interrogated by police, the accused, without assistance of counsel, admitted he killed his brother. The police blotter entry, read into the record without objection, described the accused’s version as indicating that Emeterio was drunk and provoked him for a scythe duel, after which the accused allegedly boxed first his brother and then hacked several times due to “evil thought(s).”

As to the weapon, Teresita admitted that the scythe used by her late husband was returned to her by some people in their barangay. She did not turn over the scythe to the police.

Defense Evidence and Appellant’s Theory

The defense presented the accused and his spouse. The accused claimed self-defense and defense of relatives. He testified that at about 6:30 p.m. on March 16, 1994, while preparing to go to bed, he heard someone shout a call to fight to the death. He initially tried to ignore it, but when the challenge was repeated, he looked out of the window and saw Emeterio outside armed with a scythe. He told Emeterio to go home, but Emeterio appeared disturbed and did not heed the instruction. Emeterio allegedly kept hitting the ground with the scythe.

According to the accused, Emeterio, without provocation, suddenly leaped at him and attacked him with the scythe, which the accused said he evaded. Emeterio then ascended the stairs and tried to open the bamboo door on the porch leading to the living room, which partially opened after repeated slamming. The accused asserted that his wife and children screamed in fear. He further testified that he held and twisted Emeterio’s wrist to disarm him. He and Emeterio grappled over the scythe in the porch, and they tumbled down the stairs. The victim allegedly died when they hit the ground. The accused claimed he did not know how many times he struck or how many wounds he inflicted. He also said he was not in a normal state of mind. He stated that he threw the scythe under the house and surrendered to the barangay captain.

The accused’s spouse corroborated the accused’s narrative of the initial fraternal scuffle, but she stated that she did not see how Emeterio was killed because they were inside the house and her eyes were closed in shock and fear. The accused also denied owning the scythe found beneath his house and claimed he did not know why his name was engraved on the wooden handle, although he asserted it was the same scythe Emeterio carried during the incident.

The accused explained a prior misunderstanding with Emeterio over the purchase of a horse from their cousin Doroteo Oliver on installment basis. He claimed that Emeterio wanted to buy the horse, but the accused bought it ahead, which Emeterio allegedly resented.

RTC Conviction and Appellant’s Assigned Errors

The RTC disbelieved the accused’s version and convicted him of murder qualified by treachery, imposing reclusion perpetua. In its reasoning, the RTC considered the police blotter entry containing the accused’s admissions to carry weight and high probative value, characterizing them as spontaneous and made shortly after the accused surrendered. The RTC gave less weight to the accused’s later testimony on the witness stand.

On appeal, the accused assigned several errors, including that the RTC erred in concluding that treachery existed, in disregarding self-defense and/or defense of relatives, in relying on evidence allegedly not objected to by the defense, and in giving undue credibility to the widow’s testimony regarding ownership of the scythe.

The Supreme Court distilled the issues into three main questions: (1) whether the trial court erred in admitting the extrajudicial confession; (2) whether it erred in failing to appreciate self-defense and/or defense of relatives; and (3) whether it erred in convicting the accused of murder qualified by treachery.

Appellate Ruling on the Extrajudicial Confession

On the first issue, the accused argued that his constitutional and statutory rights during custodial investigation were violated because the police allegedly took his statements without the assistance of counsel. The Court recalled the constitutional guarantees for persons under investigation under Art. III, Sec. 12(1), including the right to remain silent, to competent and independent counsel, and to be informed of these rights. It also emphasized that these rights could not be waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel. It further recited the requisites for admissibility of a confession: that it be voluntary; made with the assistance of competent and independent counsel; express; and in writing.

The Supreme Court examined the records and found a critical evidentiary defect. It stated that it found no mention of Exhibit E in the list of exhibits and the prosecution’s offer of evidence. Instead, the prosecution offered the testimony of SPO3 Jesus Reales regarding authenticity of entries in the police blotter. The Court noted that the defense had objected to SPO3 Reales’ testimony because he allegedly admitted he was not the one who entered the events in the police blotter, he had no knowledge when the entries were made, and he had no direct personal knowledge of the entries.

The Court further observed that there was no showing that the accused was assisted by counsel during custodial investigation. On that basis, the Supreme Court held that the RTC erred in relying on the alleged extrajudicial confession in the police blotter. It ruled that extrajudicial confessions must conform to constitutional requirements and that a suspect’s confession taken without counsel, without a valid waiver, is inadmissible even if the confession was voluntary. It rejected the RTC’s reliance on the presumption of regular performance of official duties when there were positive averments of constitutional violations. It also ruled that evidence not formally offered cannot be considered by the trial court.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court struck down the RTC’s reliance on the questioned police blotter entry in convicting the accused.

However, the Court declined to acquit the accused altogether. It held that the accused’s admission to Demosthenes Peralta, a barangay captain and not a police officer or law enforcement agent, was a different category. The Court held that the constitutional requirements on custodial investigation did not apply to a spontaneous admission made in a voluntary manner where the accused orally admitted authorship of the crime. The Court distinguished between prohibited compulsory or coercive disclosure of incriminating facts during custodial investigation and voluntary spontaneous statements made to a barangay official.

Appellate Ruling on Self-Defense and Defense of Relatives

On the second issue, the accused invoked self-defense and, alternatively, defense of relatives. The Court restated that when an accused invokes self-defense, the burden of proof shifts to him to show that the killing was justified. The Court also emphasized that self-defense is inherently weak when fabricated and that, to prosper, the accused must prove by clear and convincing evidence the concurrence of unlawful aggression on the part of the victim, reasonable necessity of the means employed, and lack of sufficient provocation by the person defending himself.

For defense of relatives, the Court required unlawful aggression by the victim, reasonable necessity of the m

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