G.R. No. 2738. September 01, 1905

On the 20th day of May, 1905, the assistant prosecuting attorney of
the Moro Province presented a complaint against the defendant, which
complaint was in the following language:

“The undersigned accuses the Moro Sarihul of the
crime of assassination, committed as follows: The said accused, being a
member of the Philippines Constabulary, at one o’clock a. m. of the
11th day of May, 1905, in the municipality of Siasi, Island of Siasi,
in the district of Sulu, Moro Province, then and there acting as a
sentinel on a post near the house where lived Captain T. R. Hayson in
said Constabulary, went to the sleeping room of the said Hayson armed
with a rifle, and killed the said captain while he was sleeping in his
bed, by shooting the said captain with the gun which he, the accused,
then carried, which shot took effect in the back of the said captain,
producing instantaneous death, which acts were committed with treachery
and known premeditation; which fact constitutes the crime of
assassination defined and punished in article 403 of the Penal Code,
executed within the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance of the
said province, and with infraction of the law. Dated 20th day of May,
1905. (Signed) William M. Connar, jr., assistant prosecuting attorney
of the Moro Province.

The defendant having theretofore been arrested, the Court of First
Instance of said province proceeded with the trial, and found the
defendant guilty of the crime charged in said complaint, and sentenced
him to the penalty of death. The defendant did not appeal from said
decision. The cause comes to this court en consulta under the provisions of section 4 of Act No. 194 of the United States Philippine Commission.

The evidence adduced during the trial proves beyond peradventure of doubt the following facts:

1. That Captain T. R. Hayson was a captain in the Constabulary of the Philippine Islands;
2. That the defendant, Sarihul, was a member of the Constabulary of the Philippine Islands;
3. That the defendant, Sarihul, on the night of the 10th of May, 1905, was
   placed, as a sentinel, or guard, near the house in which the said
   Captain T. R. Hayson lived;

4. That while the said defendant was acting as guard he carried a rifle;
5. That at about 1 o’clock a. m. of the 11th day of May, 1905, the said
   defendant entered the room of the house in which the said Captain T. R.
   Hayson was sleeping, and did then and there, with treachery and known
   premeditation, and by means of the gun which he was then and there
   carrying as such sentinel, shoot and mortally wound the said Captain
   Hayson, from which wounds the said Hayson did then and there die;

6. The treachery of the defendant is clearly proven by the fact that he
   shot the said Hayson in the back while he (the said Hayson) was
   sleeping;

7. The known premeditation is
   proven by the fact that the defendant and another Moro called Abdulah
   had, two days before the commission of the offense, mutually agreed to
   kill the said Hayson at the very earliest moment when an opportunity
   should present itself.

When the foregoing complaint was read to the defendant and he was
asked to plead whether he was guilty or not guilty of the crime
charged, he replied by saying that it was he who had killed Captain
Hayson, and that he had explained all concerning the crime, and that he
had nothing more to add. After hearing this reply of the accused, the
trial judge explained to him the gravity of the offense with which he
was charged, and said to the accused that if he had anything to say in
his own favor, he then had an opportunity so to do. No further
statement was then and there made by the accused.

The court appointed counsel to represent the defendant, and
proceeded to an investigation of the facts charged in said complaint.
At the close of the trial the court again asked the defendant if he had
anything to say in his defense, or desired to present any proof. The
defendant again replied that he had nothing more to say, but that his
disgrace had been occasioned by his listening to his companions. The
court thereupon asked the defendant if he had heard the accusations and
declarations made against him, and asked him if he desired to present
any proof justifying his acts, to which the defendant replied that he
agreed with all the declarations presented by the witnesses, and with
the accusations, and only desired to add that the only reason that
moved him in the commission of the act was the counsel given by his
companions.

The attorney representing the defendant in this court in his brief
admitted that the defendant was guilty of the crime in manner and form
as charged in the complaint, but urged that this court apply the
provisions of article 11 of the Penal Code, and thereby modify and
change the decision of the inferior court to life imprisonment (cadena perpetua.)
We do not believe that the provisions of article 11 should be applied
to the defendant here. He had sufficient intelligence to accept the
responsibility of becoming a member of the Philippines Constabulary for
the purpose of maintaining law and order, and this was his special duty
while acting as a member of such body.

For the reasons above stated the sentence of the inferior court is
hereby affirmed, and it is ordered that the defenant, the Moro Sarihul,
be executed in the manner provided for by Act No. 451 of the United
States Philippine Commission, in the pueblo of Siasi, at a time to be
fixed by the judge of the Court of First Instance of the Moro Province,
by the persons prescribed by the existing law. The sentence of the
inferior court in all other respects is hereby affirmed. So ordered.

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