CRIMNIAL LAW REVIEW

(11 August 2021)
 

Aggravating Circumstances
- Treachery – sudden and unexpected giving the victim no opportunity to defend himself as
well as being consciously employed by the offender
o Evidence right before or during the attack is needed because it punishes the means
and manner
 Shows how the attack was carried out or how it was committed
o Mere showing of stab wounds from behind in and of itself is not considered
treachery
o It is a deliberate and sudden attack that render the victim no opportunity to defend
himself
o If Aggression is Continuous – treachery must be present at the beginning of the
assault
o If there is an interruption in the Assault –treachery must be present during the
fatal blow
 The interruption afforded the accused ample time to consciously and
deliberately adopt the means and method
o It does not matter on whether the victim was different or there was no intent to
commit soo grave a wrong because it deals with manner and not intent
- Ignominy – adding shame unnecessary to the commission of the crime
o Instances of the same in rape:
 Ordered the victim to exhibit her complete nakedness before rape
 In front of the victim by two or more persons
 In the dog style position
 Placed mud on private parts
 Committed while victim was pregnant
o Burning the Corpse is not ignominy
- Unlawful Entry – entrance through a way not intended for the purpose
o Nothing has to be broken
- Breaking wall, roof, floor door or window – must be resorted to for the commission of
the crime
- Aid of persons under 15 or by means of motor vehicles, airships or other similar means –
must be deliberately used
o The vehicle facilitates the escape
- Cruelty – physical counterpart of ignominy
o Deliberately or sadistically augments the wrong
 o Inhumanly increasing the victim’s suffering
o Slow and unnecessary pain
o The mere use of a hammer to kill a child is not cruelty
o Additional rape and homicides are not considered aggravating
Alternative Circumstances
- May either aggravate or mitigate the crime depending on Intoxication, relation or degree
of instruction or education
- Generally mitigating against property and aggravating against persons
- Exceptions:
o Serious physical injuries, relationship is aggravating
o Homicide, relationship is aggravating
- Intoxication – must be enough to blur judgment or must impair judgment
o Must be proven otherwise it is neither aggravating or mitigating
o Once established, presumption is mitigating
- Degree of instruction or Education – lack of instruction is only applicable to one who has
not received any instruction at all
Persons Criminally Liable
- One criminal, he is the felon alone
- More than one, depends on the degree of participation
- Penalties may only be served by natural persons
Principal
- Principal by direct participation – participates in the criminal resolution and
- Conspiracy – unity of purpose and unity in the execution
o Their acts may be different from one another
o They need not even know the identity of the others nor the whole plan for so long
as they know the plan, their role and they perform their role
o Presence during the commission and lending support thereto
 However, may be an accomplice
o Mere silence is not conspiracy
o In the instance where some conspirators commit a crime not included/necessary,
then only those who participated in the act would be liable
 In special complex crimes, could be considered as a conspirator if does not
prohibit the person from doing so
- Direct participation –
- Directly force or induce others to commit it – directly forcing or inducing another to
commit a crime
o Clear cut intention for the crime to be committed
 May be established through the persistence
 Would not include thoughtless expressions
 o It must precede the act and must be influential
o Words of Command:
 Ascendancy
 Powerful enough to influence with the mere words of command
- Indispensable Cooperation – Participation in the criminal resolution and participates in
another act without which, would not have been accomplished
- If doesn’t fall under the three Principals, even with conspiracy, then may only be a mere
accomplice
Accomplice
- Know and agree in the criminal design
- Participate in the criminal resolution and concur with the criminal design but not in the
Principal resolution
- They act before or during the criminal resolution and they agree to the same
- Requires:
o Community of design
o Cooperates in previous or simultaneous act
o There be a relation between the act by the principal and the person charged as an
accomplice
 Mere presence does not indicate conspiracy
- Liable for the logical consequence of the felonious act
- The act should not be indispensable to the commission of the crime
Accessories
- Only criminal who performs acts after the fact of the crime by
o Profiting or assisting the accused to profit
o Concealing or destroying the body of the crime or effects
o Harboring, concealing or assisting in the escape
- Must have the following
o Knowledge of the commission of the crime
o Subsequent participation in any of the degrees in the above-cited cases

Penalties
- One degree lower may only be applied to the minimum however the maximum should be
that which takes into consideration the aggravating and mitigating circumstances
- It is the judge’s prerogative to choose between a fine or imprisonment
- Prospective even while serving sentence
- Habitual criminal requires:
o w/in 10 years
o from last conviction or release
o of serious and less serious physical injuries, robbery, theft, estafa or falsification
o guilty of any crimes for a 3rd time or another
- Liability is determined by the law in effect at the time of the commission of the action but
the jurisdiction is determined at the time of the filing of the case in court
o Except: The new law makes it more favorable to the accused
- Pardon – if done by the private offended party, only affects the civil liability
o Except: Art 344 must be made before the criminal action
o Doesn’t extinguish criminal liability of bigamy because it is a public offense and
the state is the offended party
- Art 25 provides penalties, those outside this may not be imposed
- Art 26 provides classifications of fines
o Afflictive exceeds P1,200,000.00
o Correctional P40,000 but not exceeding P1,200,000
o Less than P40,000
o As things stands now, P4,000 demarcations for RTC
- Amendment to the duration of reclusion perpetua still remains indivisible
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