TWO KINDS OF COMPLEX CRIMES

1.COMPOUND CRIME- When a single act constitutes two or more grave or less grave felonies
2.COMPLEX CRIME PROPER- When an offense is a necessary means for committing the other.

COMPOUND CRIME REQUISITES:

1.That only a SINGLE ACT is performed by the offender
2.That the single acts produces
(a) 2 or more grave felonies, or
(b) one or more grave and one or more less grave felonies, or
(c) two or more less grave felonies

♣Light felonies produced by the same act should be treated and punished as separate offenses or may be absorbed by
the grave felony. Ex. When the crime is committed by force or violence, slight physical injuries are absorbed.
♣Example of compound crime: - Where the victim was killed while discharging his duty as barangay captain to protect
life and property and enforce law and order in his barrio, the crime is a complex crime of homicide with assault upon
a person in authority.
♣When in obedience to an order several accused simultaneously shot many persons, without evidence how many each
killed, there is only a single offense, there being a single criminal impulse.

COMPLEX CRIME PROPER REQUISITES:

1.That at least two offenses are committed
2.That one or some of the offenses must be necessary to commit the other
3.That both or all the offenses must be punished under the same statute.

♣The phrase “necessary means” does not mean “indispensable means”

♣In complex crime, when the offender executes various acts, he must have a single purpose.
♣Subsequent acts of intercourse, after forcible abduction with rape, are separate acts of rape.
♣Not complex crime when trespass to dwelling is a direct means to commit a grave offense.
♣No complex crime, when one offense is committed to conceal the other.
♣When the offender had in his possession the funds which he misappropriated, the falsification of a public or official
document involving said offense is a separate offense.
♣No complex crime where one of the offense is penalized by a special law.
♣There is no complex crime of rebellion with murder, arson, robbery, or other common crimes.
♣When two crimes produced by a single act are respectively within the exclusive jurisdiction of two courts of different
jurisdiction, the court of higher jurisdiction shall try the complex crime.
♣The penalty for complex crime is the penalty for the most serious crime, the same to be applied in its maximum
period.
♣When two felonies constituting a complex crime are punishable by imprisonment and fine, respectively, only the
penalty of imprisonment should be imposed.
♣Art. 48 applies only to cases where the Code does not provide a definite specific penalty for a complex crime.
♣One information should be filed when a complex crime is committed.