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Aggravating Circumstances
Aggravating Circumstances
Aggravating Circumstances
Aggravating Circumstances
ART.14
Requisites:
1. Offender is public officer
2. Public officer must use the influence, prestige, or ascendancy
which his office gives him as means to realize criminal purpose
When the public officer did not take advantage of the influence of
his position, this aggravating circumstance is not present
Requisites:
1. That the public authority is engaged in the exercise of his
functions.
2. That he who is thus engaged in the exercise of said functions is
not the person against whom the crime is committed.
AGE – may refer to old age or the tender age of the victim.
While one may be related to the other in the factual situation in the
case, they cannot be lumped together. Abuse of confidence requires
a special confidential relationship between the offender and the
victim, while this is not required for there to be obvious
ungratefulness
Except for the third which requires that official functions are being
performed at the time of the
commission of the crime, the other places mentioned are
aggravating per se even if no official duties or acts of religious
worship are being conducted there.
NOTE: When present in the same case and their element are
distinctly palpable and can subsist
independently, they shall be considered separately.
Nighttime is not especially sought for when the notion to commit the
crime was conceived of shortly before commission or when crime
was committed at night upon a casual encounter
In People vs. Ong, et. al. (Jan. 30, 1975), there was treachery as the
victim was stabbed while lying face up and defenseless, and
nighttime was considered upon proof that it facilitated the
commission of the offense and was taken advantage of by the
accused.
At about 9:30 in the evening, while Dino and Raffy were walking
along Padre Faura Street, Manila, Johnny hit them with a rock
injuring Dino at the back. Raffy approached Dino, but suddenly,
Bobby, Steve, Danny, and Nonoy surrounded the duo. Then Bobby
:
stabbed Dino. Steve, Danny, Nonoy, and Johnny kept on hitting Dino
and Raffy with rocks. As a result, Dino died. Bobby, Steve, Danny,
Nonoy, and Johnny were charged with homicide.
Besides, judicial notice can be taken of the fact that Padre Faura
Street is well lighted.
b. Suppose, after the robbery, the four took turns in raping the three
daughters of Danilo inside the latter's house, but before they left,
they killed the whole family to prevent identification, what crime did
the four commit? Explain.
Requisites:
1. The crime was committed when there was a calamity or
misfortune
2. The offender took advantage of the state of confusion or chaotic
condition from such misfortune
Requisites:
1. That armed men or persons took part in the commission of the
crime, directly or indirectly.
2. That the accused availed himself of their aid or relied upon them
when the crime was committed
:
NOTE: This aggravating circumstance requires that the armed men
are accomplices who take part in a minor capacity directly or
indirectly, and not when they were merely present at the crime
scene. Neither should they constitute a band, for then the proper
aggravating circumstance would be cuadrilla.
RECIDIVIST – one who at the time of his trial for one crime, shall
have been previously convicted by final judgment of another crime
embraced in the same title of the RPC.
Requisites:
1. That the offender is on trial for an offense;
:
2. That he was previously convicted by final judgment of another
crime;
3. That both the first and the second offenses are embraced in the
same title of the Code;
4. That the offender is convicted of the new offense.
MEANING OF “at the time of his trial for one crime.” It is employed in
its general sense, including the rendering of the judgment. It is
meant to include everything that is done in the course of the trial,
from arraignment until after sentence is announced by the judge in
open court.
What is controlling is the TIME OF THE TRIAL, not the time of the
commission of the offense.
Exception: If the accused does not object and when he admits in his
confession and on the witness stand.
Par. 10. That the offender has been previously punished for
an offense to which the law attaches an equal or
greater penalty or for two or more crimes to which it attaches
a lighter penalty.
:
Requisites Of Reiteracion Or Habituality:
1. That the accused is on trial for an offense;
2. That he previously served sentence for another offense to which
the law attaches an
a) Equal or
b) Greater penalty, or
c) For two or more crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty than
that for the new offense; and
3. That he is convicted of the new offense
Habituality vs Recidivism
1. As To The First offense
Habituality - It is necessary that the offender shall shall have served
out his sentence for the first offense.
Recidivism - It is enough that a final judgment has been rendered in
the first offense.
2. As to the kind of offenses involved
Habituality - The previous and subsequent offenses must not be
embraced in the same title of the code.
Recidivism - Requires that the offenses be included in the same title
of the code.
Since reiteracion provides that the accused has duly served the
sentence for his previous conviction/s, or is legally considered to
have done so, quasi-recidivism cannot at the same time constitute
reiteracion, hence this aggravating circumstance cannot apply to a
quasi-recidivist.
Requisites:
1. There are at least 2 principals:
- The principal by inducement (one who offers)
- The principal by direct participation (accepts)
:
2. The price, reward, or promise should be previous to
and in consideration of the commission of the
criminal act
Requisites:
The prosecution must prove –
1. The time when the offender determined to commit the crime;
2. An act manifestly indicating that the culprit has clung to
his determination; and
3. A sufficient lapse of time between the determination and
execution, to allow him to reflect upon the consequences
of his act and to allow his conscience to overcome the
resolution of his will.
Requisite
The offender must have actually used craft, fraud, or disguise
to facilitate the commission of the crime.
Ex:
In People vs. San Pedro (Jan. 22, 1980),
where the accused pretended to hire the driver in order to
get his vehicle, it was held that there was craft directed
to the theft of the vehicle, separate from the means
subsequently used to treacherously kill the defenseless
driver.
Ex:
1. Where one, struggling with another, suddenly throws a
cloak over the head of his opponent and while in this
situation he wounds or kills him.
2. One who, while fighting with another, suddenly casts sand
or dirt upon the latter eyes and then wounds or kills him.
3. When the offender, who had the intention to kill the
victim, made the deceased intoxicated, thereby materially
weakening the latter’s resisting power.
Requisites:
1. That at the time of the attack, the victim was not in a
position to defend himself; and
2. That the offender consciously adopted the particular means,
method or form of attack employed by him.
Thus, even if the deceased was shot while he was lying wounded
on the ground, it appearing that the firing of the shot was
a mere continuation of the assault in which the deceased was
wounded, with no appreciable time intervening between the
delivery of the blows and the firing of the shot, it cannot
be said that the crime was attended by treachery.
TREACHERY ABSORBS:
1. Craft
2. Abuse of superior strength
3. Employing means to weaken the defense
4. Cuadrilla (“band”)
5. Aid of armed men
6. Nighttime
Would you say that the killing was attended by the qualifying or
aggravating circumstances of evident premeditation, treachery,
nighttime, and unlawful entry?
Par. 21. That the wrong done in the commission of the crime
be deliberately augmented by causing other wrong
not necessary for its commission
Requisites:
1. That the injury caused be deliberately increased by causing other
wrong;
2. That the other wrong be unnecessary for the execution of the
purpose of the offender.
If the victim was already dead when the acts of mutilation were
being performed, this would also qualify the killing to murder due to
outraging of his corpse.
:
Ignominy involves moral suffering. Cruelty refers to physical
suffering.