This case has been cited 6 times or more.
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2007-06-07 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| On the other hand, Juliana's arrival to help her husband was unexpected. When Juliana rushed to her wounded husband and begged appellant to stop, appellant left, but suddenly reappeared with a letter opener and stabbed Juliana at the back. Appellant's momentarily leaving the scene did not give him enough opportunity to fully contemplate on his resolution to kill Juliana. We stress the importance of the requirement in evident premeditation of sufficiency of time between the criminal act and the resolution to carry out the criminal intent,[54] affording such opportunity to coolly and serenely think and deliberate on the meaning and the consequences of what appellant had planned to do, an interval long enough for the conscience and better judgment to overcome the evil desire and scheme. In the stabbing of Juliana, this element was wanting.[55] | |||||
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2004-07-05 |
PER CURIAM |
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| The essence of evident premeditation is that the execution of the criminal act must be preceded by cool thought and reflection upon the resolution to carry out the criminal intent during a space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm judgment.[39] For it to be appreciated, the following must be proven beyond reasonable doubt: (1) the time when the accused determined to commit the crime; (2) an act manifestly indicating that the accused clung to his determination; and (3) sufficient lapse of time between such determination and execution to allow him to reflect upon the circumstances of his act.[40] | |||||
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2004-02-23 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
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| The victim's brother, Bentley, testified that the vehicle stopped after it bumped the victim, but it moved forward and ran over the prostrate body of her sister. From his narration, we find that no sufficient time elapsed for appellant to decide to commit the crime and reflect on its consequences. Moreover, there was no showing that appellant performed other overt acts to show that he was determined to commit murder. The essence of evident premeditation is that the execution of the criminal act must be preceded by cool thought and reflection upon the resolution to carry out the criminal intent, during the space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm judgment.[5] These circumstances do not obtain in the case at bar. | |||||
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2003-01-28 |
CALLEJO, SR., J. |
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| Qualifying circumstances such as treachery and abuse of superior strength must be alleged and proved clearly and conclusively as the crime itself. Mere conjectures, suppositions or presumptions are utterly insufficient and cannot produce the effect of qualifying the crime.[68] As this Court held: "No matter how truthful these suppositions or presumptions may seem, they must not and cannot produce the effect of aggravating the condition of defendant."[69] Article 14, paragraph 16 of the Revised Penal Code provides that there is treachery when the offender commits any of the crimes against the person, employing means, methods or forms in the execution thereof which tend directly and especially to insure its execution, without risk to himself arising from the defense which the offended party might make. For treachery to be appreciated as a qualifying circumstance, the prosecution is burdened to prove the following elements: (a) the employment of means of execution which gives the person attacked no opportunity to defend himself or retaliate; (b) the means of execution is deliberately or consciously adopted.[70] Although the victim may have been defenseless at the time he was seized but there is no evidence as to the particulars of how he was assaulted and killed, treachery cannot be appreciated against the accused.[71] In this case, the victim was defenseless when seized by Marlon and Ronald. However, the prosecution failed to present any witness or conclusive evidence that Modesto was defenseless immediately before and when he was attacked and killed. It cannot be presumed that although he was defenseless when he was seized the victim was in the same situation when he was attacked, shot and stabbed by the malefactors. To take advantage of superior strength means to purposely use force that is out of proportion to the means of defense available to the person attacked.[72] What is primordial, this Court held in People v. Rogelio Francisco[73] is that the assailants deliberately took advantage of their combined strength in order to consummate the crime. It is necessary to show that the malefactors cooperated in such a way as to secure advantage from their superiority in strength.[74] In this case, the prosecution failed to adduce evidence that Marlon and Ronald deliberately took advantage of their numerical superiority when Modesto was killed. The barefaced facts that the malefactors outnumbered Modesto and were armed while Modesto was not does not constitute proof that the three took advantage of their numerical superioty and their handguns when Modesto was shot and stabbed.[75] | |||||
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2002-11-13 |
VITUG, J. |
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| Article 248[17] of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7659, makes a person guilty of murder if the killing is attended by, among other circumstances (but not here appurtenant), treachery or evident premeditation. An essence of treachery is not only the swiftness and the surprise in the attack upon an unsuspecting victim but also the attendance of two concurring conditions, i.e., that the malefactor must have employed means, method or manner of execution that would insure his safety from the retaliatory act of the victim, and such means, method or form of execution are consciously and deliberately adopted by the malefactor. The qualifying circumstance of evident premeditation, on the other hand, requires that the execution of the criminal act be preceded by cool thought and reflection upon a resolution to carry out the criminal intent during the space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm judgment.[18] Evident premeditation needs proof of the time when the intent to commit the crime is engendered in the mind of the accused, the motive which gives rise to it, and the means which are beforehand selected to carry out that intent. All such facts and antecedents which make notorious the pre-existing design to accomplish the criminal purpose must be proven to the satisfaction of the court.[19] | |||||
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2002-04-11 |
PANGANIBAN, J. |
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| The essence of premeditation is that the execution of the criminal act must be preceded by cool thought and reflection on the resolution to carry out the criminal intent during a space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm judgment.[20] | |||||