This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2003-07-22 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
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| The argument has no merit. CORDERO voluntarily entered a plea of "not guilty" when he was arraigned on 22 August 1994. By so pleading, he submitted to the jurisdiction of the trial court, thereby curing any defect in his arrest, for the legality of an arrest affects only the jurisdiction of the court over his person. Besides, his act of entering a plea when arraigned amounted to a waiver of the right to question any irregularity in his arrest. It is too late for CORDERO to protest his arrest because a valid information had been filed against him, he was properly arraigned, trial commenced and was terminated, and a judgment of conviction had been rendered against him. Besides, his illegal arrest, if such was the fact, did not have any bearing on his liability since an allegation of an invalid warrantless arrest cannot deprive the State of its right to prosecute the guilty when all the facts on record point to his culpability. Any irregularity in his arrest will not negate the validity of his conviction duly proven beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecution.[21] Regarding the amendment of the Information, the same was amended to conform to what the evidence showed as the total amount of money undeposited and unaccounted for by appellant after the requisite audit examination was further conducted in the Treasurer's Office. The amendment stated with specificity something that was already charged in the Information, and which added nothing essential for convicting appellant for the crime charged. It did not involve a variance of the nature of the offense committed but only a change in the amount involved as the alleged converted public funds. It did not cause a change in the basic theory of the prosecution which would require the appellant to prepare his defense anew. Neither did it expose appellant to a charge that called for a higher penalty beyond that stated in the law. The defense available to appellant under the original Information as it originally stood was still available to him after it was amended.[22] Hence, such amendment was only in form and not in substance, to which no double jeopardy can be said to have attached. | |||||