Midterm

• Art. 16. Who 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
• True or False: The classification of Article 16 of RPC is also applicable to Special Penal Laws.

  False
• Art. 17. Principals - The following are considered principals:

  1. Those who take 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
• What type of principal who appear at the crime scene and perform the necessary acts to commit the crime?

  Direct Participation
• What type of principal who directly force or induce others to commit it?

  Inducement
• What type of principal who cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without which it would not have been accomplished?

  Indispensable Cooperation
• Chief Actor is the one who committed the act constituting a crime, such as the person who stabbed and killed the victim. With or without conspiracy, the chief actor is liable as principal by direct participation.
• Elements for principal by direct participation:

  1. That they participated in the criminal resolution; and
  2. That they carried out their plan and personally took part in its execution by acts which directly tended to the same end.
• Instances as participation in the criminal resolution

  1. Materially execute the crime/active participation
  2. Appear at the scene of the crime; Moral assistance
  3. Perform acts necessary in the commission of the offense.
• Elements for principal by inducement

  1. That the inducement be made directly with the intention of procuring the commission of the crime;
  2. That such inducement be the determining cause of the commission of the crime by the material executor
• Ways of becoming principal by inducement:

  1. By directly forcing another to commit a crime
  2. By directly inducing another to commit a crime
• "Forcing another"

  1. Using irresistible force such as would produce an effect upon the individual that despite all his resistance, it reduces him to a mere instrument.
  2. Causing uncontrollable fear that is grave, actual, serious, and of such kind that majority of men would succumb to such moral compulsion.
• "Inducing another"

  1. Giving price, offering reward or promise
  2. By using words of command
• Requirements of using words of command

  1. That the one uttering words of command must have the intention of procuring the commission of the crime;
  2. That the one who made the command must have ascendancy or influence over the person who acted;
  3. The words use must be so direct as to amount to physical or moral coercion;
  4. The words of command must be uttered prior to the commission of the crime; and
  5. The material executor of the crime has no reason to commit the crime.
• Elements for principal by indispensable cooperation:

  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.
• What article of the RPC talks about accomplices as those who are not principal of some sort but cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous act?

  Article 18
• What do we call mere instruments that perform acts not essential to the perpetration of the offenses and do not decide whether the crime should be committed as they merely assent to the plan and cooperate in the accomplishment?

  Accomplices
• Elements as to accomplice

  1. The community of criminal design; that is, knowing the criminal design of the principal and concurs with the latter.
  2. That he cooperates in the execution by previous or simultaneous act, with the intention of supplying material or moral aid in the execution of the crime in an efficacious way.
  3. That there be a relation between acts done by the principal and those attributed to the person charged as accomplice.
• What is the term that refers when the accomplice knows and concur with the criminal design of the principal by direct participation?

  The community of criminal design
• True or False: If the accused has no knowledge of the criminal design of the chief actor, there is neither implied nor community of design, the accused is still liable as accomplice.

  False
• "By previous acts"

  • An example is lending of a dagger or pistol to the murderer, knowing the latter's criminal purpose.
  • An example is when a pharmacist who, knowing the criminal purpose of the another, furnished him with the drug with which make the victim sleep, then the person rape the victim.
• "By simultaneous act"

  • 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 this co-defendant.
• True or False: In case of doubt, the participation of the offender will be considered that of an accomplice rather than that of a principal.

  True
• Art. 19 Accessories are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the crime, and take part in the subsequent to its commission in any of the following manner:

  1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime.
  2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in order to prevent its discovery.
  3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting int he scape of the principals of the crime, provided the accessories shall not be imposed those who are such with respect to their spouses and relatives.
• True or False: The accessory comes in when the crime is already consummated, not before the consummation of the crime.

  True
• True or False: If the offender has already involved himself as a principal or accomplice, he can still be an accessory since he still executed acts pertaining to an accessory.

  False
• Element for an accessory:

  1. That he has knowledge of the commission of the crime; and
  2. That he took part in its subsequent to its commission by any of the three modes enumerated in the Article 19 of the RPC.
• True or False: Having knowledge of the commission of the crime as an accomplice may be established by circumstantial evidence.

  True
• Specific acts of accessories:

  1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime.
  2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime to prevent its discovery
• Body of the crime is the same as "corpus delicti."
• Two classes of accessories in Article 19, Par. 3:

  1. Public Officers
  2. Private Persons
• Elements for accessory as a public officer

  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.
• Elements for accessory as a private person:

  1. The accessory is a private person.
  2. He harbors, conceals, or assist in the escape of the author of the crime.
  3. The crime committed by the principal is either: treason, parricide, murder, an attempt against the life of the President, or that the principal is known to be habitually guilty of some other 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, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees, with single exception of the accessories falling within the provisions of the paragraph 1 of the next preceding article.
• What article of the RPC declares that no felony shall be punishable by any penalty not prescribed law prior to its commission?

  Article 21
• What article of the RPC talks about retroactive effects of penal laws?

  Article 22
• Art. 22. Penal laws shall have retroactive effect insofar as they favor the persons guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, as this term is defined in Rule 5 of Article 62 of this Code, although at the time of the publication of such laws a final sentence has been pronounced and the convict is serving the same.
• What Article of the RPC talks about the effect of pardon by the offended party?

  Article 23
• Art. 23. A pardon the offended party does not extinguish criminal action except as provided in Article 344 of this Code; but civil liability with regard to the interest of the injured party is extinguished.by his express waiver.
• Art. 24. The following shall not be considered as penalties:

  1. The arrest and temporary detention due to insanity or imbecility, or illness requiring hospital confinement.
  2. The commitment of a minor to any of the institutions mentioned in Article 80.
  3. Suspension from employment of public office during the trial or in order to institute proceedings.
  4. Fines and other corrective measures, exercising their administrative disciplinary powers, superior officials impose to their subordinates.
  5. Deprivation of rights and reparations which the civil laws may establish in penal form.