MODULE 5: Persons Criminally Liable
Note: Conspiracy – Is unity of purpose and intention.
Art 16. Who are criminally liable. — The following
are criminally liable for grave and less grave
felonies:
1.Principals.
2.Accomplices.
3. Accessories.
The following are criminally liable for light felonies:
1.Principals
2. Accomplices
• Accessories – not liable for light felonies
because the individual prejudice is so small
that penal sanction is not necessary
• Only natural persons can be criminals as only
they can act with malice or negligence and
can be subsequently deprived of liberty.
• Juridical persons are liable under special
laws.
• Manager of a partnership is liable even if
there is no evidence of his direct participation
in the crime.
• Corporations may be the injured party
• General Rule: Corpses and animals have no
rights that may be injured.
• Exception: defamation of the dead is
punishable when it blackens the memory of
one who is dead.
Art 17. Principals. — The following are considered
principals:
1. Those who take a direct part in the execution of the
act;
2. Those who directly force or induce others to commit
it;
3. Those who cooperate in the commission of the
offense by another act without which it would
not have been accomplished.
Principals by Direct Participation
Requisites for 2 or more to be principals by direct
participation:
1. participated in the criminal resolution (conspiracy)
2. carried out their plan and personally took part in its
execution by acts which directly tended to the
same end
Establishment of Conspiracy
1. proven by overt act
2. Not mere knowledge or approval
3. It is not necessary that there be formal
agreement.
4. Must prove beyond reasonable doubt
5. Conspiracy is implied when the accused had
a common purpose and were united in
execution.
6. Unity of purpose and intention in the
commission of the crime may be shown in the
following cases:
a. Spontaneous agreement at the
moment of the commission of the
crime
b. Active Cooperation by all the
offenders in the perpetration of the
crime
c. Contributing by positive acts to the
realization of a common criminal
intent
d. Presence during the commission of
the crime by a band and lending
moral support thereto.
e. While conspiracy may be implied
from the circumstances amending
the commission of the crime, it is
nevertheless a rule that conspiracy
must be established by positive and
conclusive evidence.
7. Conspirator not liable for the crimes of the
other which is not the object of the conspiracy
or is not a
8. logical or necessary consequence thereof
9. Multiple rape – each rapist is liable for
another’s crime because each cooperated in
the commission of
10. the rapes perpetrated by the others
11. Exception: in the crime of murder with
treachery – all the offenders must at least
know that there will
12. be treachery in executing the crime or
cooperate therein.
13.
 Example: Juan and Pedro conspired to kill 1. Inducement be made directly with the
Tomas without the previous plan of treachery. intention of procuring the commission of the
crime
In the crime scene, Juan used treachery in the 2. Such inducement be the determining cause of
presence of Pedro and Pedro knew such. Both the commission of the crime by the material
are liable for murder. But if Pedro stayed by the executor
gate while Juan alone killed Tomas with
treachery, so that Pedro didn’t know how it Forms of Inducements:
was carried out, Juan is liable for murder while
1. By Price, reward or promise
Pedro for homicide.
2. By irresistible force or uncontrollable fear
3. Commander has the intention of procuring the
• No such thing as conspiracy to commit an
commission of the crime
offense through negligence. However, special
4. Commander has ascendancy or influence
laws may make one a co-principal.
5. Words used be so direct, so efficacious, so
o Example: Under the Pure Food and
powerful
Drug Act, a storeowner is liable for
6. Command be uttered prior to the commission
the act of his employees of selling
7. Executor had no personal reason
adulterated coffee, although he
4. Imprudent advice does not constitute sufficient
didn’t know that coffee was being
inducement
sold.
5. Requisites for words of command to be
• Conspiracy is negatived by the acquirable of
considered inducement:
co-defendant.
a. Words uttered in the heat of anger and in
• That the culprits “carried out the plan and
the nature of the command that had to be
personally took part in the execution, by acts
obeyed do not make one an inductor.
which directly tended to the same end”:
o The principals by direct
participation must be at the scene of
the crime, personally taking part,
although he was not present in the
scene of the crime, he is equally
liable as a principal by direct
participation.
o One serving as guard pursuant to
Effects of Acquittal of Principal by direct
the conspiracy is a principal direct
participation on liability of principal by inducement:
participation.
• If the second element is missing, those who
1. Conspiracy is negated by the acquittal of the
did not participate in the commission of the
co-defendant.
acts of execution cannot be held criminally
2. One cannot be held guilty of instigating the
liable, unless the crime agreed to be
commission of the crime without first
committed is treason, sedition, or rebellion.
showing that the crime has been actually
committed by another. But if the one charged
Principals by Induction: “Those who directly force or
as principal by direct participation be
induce others to commit it”
acquitted because he acted without criminal
intent or malice, it is not a ground for the
Principal by induction liable only when principal by
acquittal of the principal by inducement.
direct participation committed the act induced.

Requisites:
Principals by Indispensable Cooperation:
1. “Those who cooperate in the commission of
the offense by another act without which it
would not have been accomplished”
a. Requisites:
i. Participation in the criminal
resolution
ii. Cooperation through another act
(includes negligence)
Bottomline note:
• there is collective criminal responsibility
when the offenders are criminally liable in the
same manner and to the same extent. The
penalty is the same for all.
• there is individual criminal responsibility
when there is no conspiracy.
Art. 18. Accomplices. — Accomplices are those
persons who, not being included in Art. 17,
cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous
or simultaneous acts.
Requisites:
1. An accomplice has knowledge of the criminal
design of the principal and all he does is
concur with his purpose.
2. There must be a relation between the acts
done by the principal and those attributed to
the person charges as accomplice
3. In homicide or murder, the accomplice must
not have inflicted the mortal wound.
Example:
• Juan was choking Pedro. Then Tomas ran up
and hit Pedro with a bamboo stick. Juan
continued to choke Pedro until he was dead.
Tomas is only an accomplice because the fatal
blow came from Juan.
• Lending a dagger to a killer, knowing the
latter’s purpose.
Note:
1. There be a community of design (principal
originates the design, accomplice only
concurs)
2. He cooperates in the execution by previous or
simultaneous acts, intending to give material
and moral aid (cooperation must be
knowingly done, it must also be necessary
and not indispensable
3. There be a relation between the acts of the
principal and the alleged accomplice
Art. 19. Accessories. — Accessories are those who,
having knowledge of the commission of the
crime, and without having participated therein,
either as principals or accomplices, take part
subsequent to its commission in any of the following
manners:
1. By profiting themselves or assisting the
offender to profit by the effects of the crime.
a. Example: Person received and used
property from another, knowing it was
stolen
2. By concealing or destroying the body of the
crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in
order to prevent its discovery.
a. Example: Placing a weapon in the hand
of the dead who was unlawfully killed to
plant evidence, or burying the deceased
who was killed by the principals
3. 3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the
escape of the principals of the crime, provided
the accessory acts with abuse of his public
functions or whenever the author of the crime
is guilty of treason, parricide, murder, or an
attempt to take the life of the Chief Executive,
or is known to be habitually guilty of some
other crime.
Example:
a. public officers who harbor, conceal
or assist in the escape of the
principal of any crime (not light
felony) with abuse of his public
functions,
b. private persons who harbor, conceal
or assist in the escape of the author
of the crime – guilty of treason,
parricide, murder or an attempt
against the life of the President, or
 who is known to be habitually guilty provisions of paragraph 1 of the next preceding
of some crime. article.

General Rule: Principal acquitted; Accessory also
acquitted
Exception: when the crime was in fact committed but
the principal is covered by exempting
circumstances.
• Example: Minor stole a ring and Juan,
knowing it was stolen, bought it. Minor is
exempt. Juan liable as accessory
Basically:
• Trial of accessory may proceed without
awaiting the result of the separate charge
against the principal because the criminal
responsibilities are distinct from each other.
1. Basis: Ties of blood and the preservation of
the cleanliness of one’s name which compels
one to conceal crimes committed by relatives
so near as those mentioned.
2. Nephew and Niece not included
3. Accessory not exempt when helped a relative-
principal by profiting from the effects of the
crime, or assisted the offender to profit from
the effects of the crime.
4. Only accessories covered by par 2 and 3 are
exempted.
5. Public officer who helped his guilty brother
escape does not incur criminal liability as ties
of blood constitutes a more powerful
incentive than the call of duty.

• Liability of the accessory – the responsibility

of the accessory is subordinate to that of a
principal in a crime because the accessory’s
participation therein is subsequent to its
commission, and his guilt is directly related to
the principal. If the principal was acquitted by
an exempting circumstance the accessory
may still be held liable

Difference of accessory from principal and

accomplice:

1. Accessory does not take direct part or cooperate

in, or induce the commission of the crime
2. Accessory does not cooperate in the commission
of the offense by acts either prior thereto or
simultaneous therewith
3. Participation of the accessory in all cases always
takes place after the commission of the crime
4. Takes part in the crime through his knowledge of
the commission of the offense.

Art. 20. Accessories who are exempt from criminal

liability. — The penalties prescribed for accessories
shall not be imposed upon those who are such with
respect to their spouses, ascendants, descendants,
legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters,
or relatives by affinity within the same degrees, with
the single exception of accessories falling within the