Lecture Criminal Law 1.docx

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.

LECTURE CRIMINAL LAW 1 ARTICLE 16-20 Title Two PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR FELONIES

Art. 16. Who are criminally liable. — The following are criminally liable for

Single person committed the crime- is principal by direct participation.

grave and less grave felonies:

Three Types of Principles Person A by promises of price and reward, induced another person B to kill another C and another person D participated to kill C by giving assistance or aid.

1. Principals. 2. Accomplices. 3. Accessories. The following are criminally liable for

A is a principal by inducement, B is principal by direct participation, D is also principal because they took direct part and D cooperated (which without D’s cooperation, the crime will not have been accomplished.) Principal by Three Conspirator Categories  Principal by Inducement  Principal by Direct Participation  Principal by Cooperation =criminal liability is limited =responsibility includes to his own acts, the acts of his fellow conspirators

light felonies: 1. Principals. 2. Accomplices. Accessories are not liable for light felonies BECAUSE light felonies are punishable only when they are consummated except those against person and property where they are punishable even only attempted or frustrated. Accessories are not liable for light felonies whether against person or property but only principals and accomplices. Only natural persons can be active subject of crime for they could act with personal malice or negligence but not juridical person such as corporation. A corporation can act only through its officers or incorporators, and that as regards a violation of the law committed by an officer of a corporation, in the exercise of his duties, he answers criminally for his acts, and not the corporation to which he belongs, for being an artificial person, it cannot be prosecuted criminally.

PRINCIPALS BY DIRECT PARTICIPATION Take a direct part in the execution of the act constituting crime. Two or more persons who took part in the commission of the crime are principals by direct participation, when the following requisites are present: 1. That they participated in the criminal resolution; =Two or more persons are said to have participated in the criminal resolution when they were in conspiracy at the time of the commission of the crime.

The manager of the partnership is criminally liable, even in the absence of evidence regarding his direct participation in the commission of the offense. It is a settled rule that since a corporation or partnership can only act through its officers and their agents, the president or manager can be held criminally liable for the violation of a law by the entity.

Art. 17. Principals.

2. That they carried out their plan and personally took part in its execution by acts which directly tended to the same end.

— The following are 1st Requisite Conspiracy

considered principals:

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A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.

A conspirator is not liable for another's crime which is not an object of the conspiracy or which is not a necessary and logical consequence thereof.

When there is no conspiracy, each of the offenders is liable only for the act performed by him.

Conspiracy may cover persons previously undetermined. =di naman kasali dapat sa plano pero dahil sa natural and inherent consequences of such plan, it appearing that there was a general plan to kill anyone who might put up violent resistance.

Example: In a case where one accused inflicted the mortal wound by stabbing the victim with a knife while the other two assailants merely hit the victim with a bamboo on the left arm and the head, the former was held guilty of murder while the latter was held liable only for lesiones leves or slight physical injuries.

A person in conspiracy with others, who had desisted before the crime was committed by the others, is not criminally liable.

Conspiracy is implied when the accused had a common purpose and were united in its execution.

Conspiracy having been established, it is immaterial who of the conspirators fired the fatal shot.

Sample Case

In multiple rape, each rapist is equally liable for the other rapes. Exceptions: 1. In the crime of parricide, the element of relationship must be present as regards all the offenders. =Nanay at anak piñata ang ama, both are guilty of parricide aggravated by relationship BUT kung ang nanay at ibang tao pumatay, nanay lang ang guilty ng parricide at aggravated.

(1) The three accused came together to the scene of the occurrence; (2) While accused Trinidad struck the first blow, accused Delgado held Chavez, and accused Villanueva unsuccessfully attempted to hit Bragat; (3) As Bragat tried to run away, he was pursued by the accused who trampled on his body after he had been boxed by Delgado; (4) The three accused together left Bragat unconscious on the ground and, together also, they went to the house of Pepe Ybanez.

2. In the crime of murder where treachery is an element of the crime, all the offenders must at least have knowledge of the employment of treachery at the time of the execution of the act or their cooperation therein. =A and B conspired to kill C but at the moment of killing B remained outside of the house and have no knowledge of the treacherous killing acted by A. Thus, A is aggravated of treachery and B is not.

Unity of purpose and intention in the commission of the crime is shown in the following cases: 1. Spontaneous agreement at the moment of the commission of the crime is sufficient to create joint responsibility. 2. Active cooperation by all the offenders in the perpetration of the crime will also create joint responsibility. =the accused cooperated in the perpetration of the homicide shows that they were moved by a common motive and that their intention was to accomplish the death of the deceased. 3. Contributing by positive acts to the realization of a common criminal intent also creates joint responsibility. 4. Presence during the commission of the crime by a band and lending moral support thereto, also create joint responsibility with the material executors. = It is sufficient that he was present at the place of the commission of the act, augmenting with his arms and presence the power of the band.

SECOND REQUISITE — (PRINCIPALS BY DIRECT PARTICIPATION) A principal by direct participation must personally take part in executing the criminal plan to be carried out. This means that he must be at the scene of the commission of the crime, personally taking part in its execution. Exception; kahit di sya present pero dahil sa participation nya nagging matagumpay ang krimen, liable pa din sya. If this second requisite is lacking, at most, there is only a conspiracy among the several defendants who participated in the Criminal resolution, and if the crime 2

they agreed and decided to commit is not treason, rebellion or sedition, they are not criminally liable.

Principal by inducement becomes liable only when the crime is committed by the principal by direct participation inducement involves any crime

PRINCIPALS BY INDUCTION The principal by induction becomes liable only when the principal by direct participation committed the act induced.

Proposal to commit a felony is punishable in treason or rebellion.

Proposal to be punishable must involve only treason or rebellion.

Two ways of becoming principal by induction. 1. by directly forcing another to commit a crime, and a. By using irresistible force. b. By causing uncontrollable fear. 2. by directly inducing another to commit a crime. a. By giving price, or offering reward or promise. b. By using words of command. Requisites: 1. That the inducement be made directly with the intention of procuring the commission of the crime; and 2. That such inducement be the determining cause of the commission of the crime by the material executor.

PRINCIPALS BY INDISPENSABLE COOPERATION Requisites: 1. Participation in the criminal resolution, that is, there is either anterior conspiracy or unity of criminal purpose and intention immediately before the commission of the crime charged; and 2. Cooperation in the commission of the offense by performing another act, without which it would not have been accomplished. Collective Criminal Responsibility There is collective criminal responsibility when the offenders are criminally liable in the same manner and to the same extent. The penalty to be imposed must be the same for all.

The inducement must precede the act induced and must be so influential in producing the criminal act that without it, the act would not have been performed.

Individual Criminal Responsibility In the absence of previous conspiracy, unity of criminal purpose and intention immediately before the commission of the crime, or community of criminal design, the criminal responsibility arising from different acts directed against one and the same person is individual and not collective, and each of the participants is liable only for the act committed by him.

Using words of command may be held liable as principal under paragraph No. 2 of Art. 17, the following five requisites must all be present: (1) That the one uttering the words of command must have the intention of procuring the commission of the crime. (2) That the one who made the command must have an ascendancy or influence over the person who acted. (3) That the words used must be so direct, so efficacious, so powerful as to amount to physical or moral coercion. (4) The words of command must be uttered prior to the commission of the crime. (5) The material executor of the crime has no personal reason to commit the crime.

ART. 18. ACCOMPLICES Accomplices are the persons who, not being included in Article 17, cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts. Quasi-Collective Criminal Responsibility. =some of the offenders in the crime are principals and the others are accomplices.

Ascendancy or influence as to amount to moral coercion is not necessary when there is conspiracy. Inducement Proposal to Commit Felony Inducement to commit crime

=When there is no conspiracy between or among the defendants but they were animated by one and the same purpose to accomplish the criminal objective, those who cooperated by previous or simultaneous 3

acts but cannot be held liable as principals are accomplices.

The cooperation which the law punishes is the assistance which is knowingly or intentionally given and which is not possible without previous knowledge of the criminal purpose.

In case of doubt, the participation of the offender will be considered that of an accomplice rather than that of a principal.

Acquires knowledge of the criminal design of the principal.

When the participation of an accused is not disclosed, he is only an accomplice.

a. When the principal informs or tells the accomplice of the former's criminal purpose. b. When the accomplice saw the criminal acts of the principal.

An accomplice does not have previous agreement or understanding or is not in conspiracy with the principal by direct participation. The accomplice gets a penalty one degree lower than that provided for the principal in a consummated felony. Conspirator Accomplice know and agree with the criminal design Know the criminal Come to know about it intention because they after the principals have themselves have decided reached the decision, and upon such course of only then do they agree action to cooperate in its execution. decide that a crime do not decide whether should be committed the crime should be committed authors of a crime are merely instruments who perform acts not essential to the perpetration of the offense

Examples of cooperation by accomplice: a. By previous acts. The example of cooperation by previous act is the lending of a dagger or pistol to the murderer, knowing the latter's criminal purpose. In the crime of rape, the pharmacist who, knowing the criminal purpose of another, furnishes him the drug with which he will put his victim to sleep in order to rape her, is also an accomplice in the crime. (U.S. vs. Flores, 25 Phil. 595, 597-598) b. By simultaneous acts. The defendant who held one of the hands of the victim and tried to take away the latter's revolver, while his co-defendant was attacking him, is an accomplice, for he cooperated in the execution of the crime by simultaneous acts without any previous agreement or understanding with his co-defendant.

REQUISITES 1. That there be community of design; that is, knowing the criminal design of the principal by direct participation, he concurs with the latter in his purpose; 2. That he cooperates in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts, with the intention of supplying material or moral aid in the execution of the crime in an efficacious way; and 3. That there be a relation between the acts done by the principal and those attributed to the person charged as accomplice.

The cooperation of an accomplice is not due to a conspiracy. When the acts of the accused are not indispensable in the killing, they are merely accomplices. The accomplice merely supplies the principal with material or moral aid without conspiracy with the latter. The wounds inflicted by an accomplice in crimes against persons should not have caused the death of victim.

First requisite: The cooperation that the law punishes is the assistance knowingly or intentionally rendered, which cannot exist without previous cognizance of the criminal act intended to be executed by the principal by direct participation.

In these cases, the following rules are indicated: a. The one who had the original criminal design is the person who committed the resulting crime. 4

3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal 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.

b. The accomplice, after concurring in the criminal purpose of the principal, cooperates by previous or simultaneous acts. c. The accomplice in crimes against persons does not inflict the more or most serious wounds.

=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.

An accomplice is one who does not take a direct part in the commission of the act, who does not force or induce others to commit it, or who does not cooperate in the commission of the crime by another act without which it would not have been accomplished, yet cooperates in the execution of the act by previous or simultaneous actions.

Requisites: (1) The accessory is a public officer. (2) He harbors, conceals, or assists in the escape of the principal. (3) The public officer acts with abuse of his public functions. (4) The crime committed by the principal is any crime, provided it is not a light felony.

Accomplice Lending pistol or dagger

Principal by cooperation Even if the pistol and dagger is not lent , still the accused will commit the crime. Accomplice Principal by direct participation There is community of criminal design. In case of doubt, it shall be resolved in favor of lesser responsibility, that is, that of mere accomplice. Between or among principals liable for the same offense there must be conspiracy; but between the principals and the accomplices, there is no conspiracy.

=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 of some other crime. Requisites: (1) The accessory is a private person. (2) He harbors, conceals or assists in the escape of the author of the crime. (3) The crime committed by the principal is either: (a) treason, (b) parricide, (c) murder, (d) an attempt against the life of the President, or (e) that the principal is known to be habitually guilty of some other crime.

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;  

Heavy penalties for accessories in robbery and theft. PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1612 ANTI-FENCING LAW OF 1979

By profiting themselves by the effects of the crime. Assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime.

Accessory distinguished from principal and from accomplice. 1. The accessory does not take direct part or cooperate in, or induce, the commission of the crime. 2. The accessory does not cooperate in the commission of the offense by acts either prior thereto or simultaneous therewith.

2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime or the effects or instruments thereof, in order to prevent its discovery;

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3. The participation of the accessory in all cases always takes place after the commission of the crime.

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 provisions of paragraph 1 of the next preceding article. An accessory is exempt from criminal liability, when the principal is his — (1) spouse, or (2) ascendant, or (3) descendant, or (4) legitimate, natural or adopted brother, sister or relative by affinity within the same degree. Nephew or niece not included among such relatives. Accessory is not exempt from criminal liability even if the principal is related to him, if such accessory (1) profited by the effects of the crime, or (2) assisted the offender to profit by the effects of the crime. Liability of a public officer when related to the principal. = Is a public officer who, with evident abuse of his office, furnished the means of escape to his brother who had committed murder criminally liable as accessory? Such a public officer does not incur any criminal liability. Ties of blood or relationship constitutes a more powerful incentive than the call of duty.

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