G.R. No. 1502. March 16, 1905

The said defendants were charged with the crime of assassination. In
the month of September, 1903, they were tried by the Court of First
Instance of the Province of Misamis, and found guilty, the first as
author and the second as an accomplice, of the crime of assassination.
The defendant Goodwin was sentenced to the penalty of cadena perpetua and the defendant Caldwell was sentenced to be imprisoned for the period of seventeen years and four months of cadena temporal. The complaint filed against the said defendants was in the following language:

“In the Court of First Instance of the Province of Misamis, the 1st day of July, 1903 :

“The
undersigned accuses Benjamin M. Goodwin and Frank Caldwell of the crime
of assassination, punished under article 403 of the Penal Code,
committed as follows: That the said Benjamin M. Goodwin and Frank
Caldwell, on the 25th day of April, 1903, in the pueblo of Iligan, of
the Province of Misamis, in the Island of Mindanao, Philippine
Archipelago, did feloniously kill one Toribio Taal, by the use of a
firearm, with treachery and premeditation. (Signed) Provincial Fiscal.

The evidence shows that the defendant Goodwin was son-in-law of the
deceased Toribio Taal, and lived in the pueblo of Iligan, in the Island
of Mindanao; that on the night of the 25th of April, 1903, the
defendants entered the house of Toribio Taal by force and violence;
that after the defendants entered the said house, for some reason or
other which the evidence does not disclose clearly, they engaged in a
fight with the deceased Toribio Taal, the former striking and beating
the latter, and later dragging the deceased from his house into the
street. After the defendants had taken the deceased some twenty yards
from the latter’s house, the defendant Goodwin shot the deceased
through the breast with a revolver which he then and there had in his
possession, from which wound the deceased died within the space of one
or two hours.

The, defendant Goodwin stated in his testimony that he and his
father-in-law had had some trouble prior to the time of the latter’s
death; that he shot the deceased as above described, but that he shot
the said deceased in self-defense; that the deceased was about to
attack him with a bolo, and in order to protect his own life he shot
and killed him.

Some three or four other witnesses were sworn during the trial who
appeared upon the scene where Toribio Taal was killed immediately after
the defendant Goodwin had shot the said Taal. None of these witnesses
saw a bolo in the hands of the deceased, neither could any bolo be
found in or about the place where the shooting occurred. Therefore we
conclude that the testimony of the defendant Goodwin that the deceased
Taal was about to attack him with a bolo at the time of the shooting
and that he shot the deceased in self-defense can not be supported.

The defendant Caldwell was convicted as an accomplice to the crime.
The evidence showed that he went with the defendant Goodwin to the
house of the deceased Toribio Taal and took part with the defendant
Goodwin in the fight which ensued between the said Goodwin and the
deceased Taal. The evidence further shows that he assisted the said
Goodwin in carrying the deceased Taal out of his house, striking and
beating the deceased; that immediately preceding the time when Goodwin
shot and killed the deceased Taal, the defendant Caldwell said to the
defendant Goodwin: “Goodwin, fire the revolver at him;” and further,
addressing himself to Goodwin again, at the same time: “You have not
got any nerve if you don’t kill your papa” (referring to Goodwin’s
father-in- law, Toribio Taal. Goodwin was convicted as a principal in
the crime.

Article 13 of the Spanish Penal Code defines who are principals, in the following language:

“(1) Those who take a direct part in the execution of the act.

“(2) Those who directly force or induce others to execute it.

“(3) Those who cooperate in the execution of the act by another act without which it could not have been accomplished.”

Article 14 of the Penal Code defines who are accomplices in the following language:

“Accomplices are those persons who, not being
included in article 13, cooperate in the execution of the act by other
previous or simultaneous acts.”

The evidence in the case discloses the fact that the defendant Frank
Caldwell did directly induce the defendant Goodwin to shoot the
deceased Toribio Taal. He should therefore be regarded as a principal
in the commission of the offense charged in the complaint filed in this
case.

There was no evidence presented during the trial of the cause that
goes to show that the defendants had in any way premeditated the
killing of Toribio Taal. Neither does the evidence disclose that the
defendants were guilty of any act of treachery.

The evidence does not disclose any act or circumstance occurring in
the commission of the crime which could in any way qualify the offense
as assassination.

The evidence does disclose the fact that the defendant Benjamin M.
Goodwin did kill Toribio Taal with a revolver by shooting the latter
through the breast on or about the 25th day of April, 1903; that the
defendant Frank Caldwell did directly induce the said Goodwin to commit
the said act.The evidence clearly shows, therefore, that the defendants
are each guilty of the crime of homicide, defined and punished under
article 404 of the Penal Code. The evidence also discloses that the
defendants had taken advantage of their superior strength. This should
be regarded as an aggravating circumstance under paragraph 9 of article
10 of the Penal Code.

It is the judgment of this court, therefore, that the sentence
imposed by the Court of First Instance of the Province of Misamis be
reversed and that the said defendants be sentenced to be imprisoned for
a period of eighteen years of reclusion temporal and to pay the costs of both instances. So ordered.

Arellano, C. J,, Torres, Mapa, and Carson, JJ., concur.