Scribd
Upload
321 views

Case Title G.R. No. Main Topic Other Related Topic Date:: Doctrines

Borinaga struck at Mooney with a knife while Mooney was seated, but the knife lodged in the back of the chair instead of hitting Mooney. Borinaga later returned twice to try attacking Mooney with the knife but was unsuccessful. The majority held that Borinaga's crime was frustrated murder because he performed all acts of execution to accomplish the attack, and the failure was due to independent forces. The dissent argued it was attempted murder instead because Borinaga did not perform all acts needed to produce the felony, as the blow did not reach Mooney's body.

Uploaded by

River Mia Romero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
321 views

Case Title G.R. No. Main Topic Other Related Topic Date:: Doctrines

Borinaga struck at Mooney with a knife while Mooney was seated, but the knife lodged in the back of the chair instead of hitting Mooney. Borinaga later returned twice to try attacking Mooney with the knife but was unsuccessful. The majority held that Borinaga's crime was frustrated murder because he performed all acts of execution to accomplish the attack, and the failure was due to independent forces. The dissent argued it was attempted murder instead because Borinaga did not perform all acts needed to produce the felony, as the blow did not reach Mooney's body.

Uploaded by

River Mia Romero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Case Title People v.

Borinaga
G.R. no. G.R. No. 33463
Main Topic Stages in the Execution of Murder
Other Related Topic
Date: December 18, 1930

DOCTRINES
1. CRIMINAL LAW; FRUSTRATED MURDER OR ATTEMPTED MURDER. — While M
one evening was seated on a chair in a provincial store, with his back towards the window, B
from the window struck with a knife at M, but the knife lodged in the back of the chair on
which M was seated, causing M to fall from the chair, but not injuring him. The attendant
circumstances established that murder was in the heart and mind of the aggressor. Held: That
within the meaning of article 3 of the Penal Code, the crime committed was frustrated murder
and not attempted murder.
2. ID.; ID. — The author performed all the acts of execution. Nothing remained to be done
to accomplish the work of the assailant completely. The cause resulting in the failure of the
attack arose by reason of forces independent of the will of the perpetrator. The assailant
voluntarily desisted from further acts. What is known as the subjective phase of the criminal
act was passed.
FACTS:
An American by the name of Harry H. Mooney, a resident of the municipality of Calubian,
Leyte, contracted with one Juan Lawaan for the construction of a fish corral. Basilio Borinaga
was associated with Lawaan in the construction of the corral.

Lawaan, with some of his men, went to Mooney's shop and tried to collect from him the whole
amount fixed by the contract, notwithstanding that only about two-thirds of the fish corral had
been finished, to which Mooney refused. Lawaan warned him that if he did not pay, something
would happen to him.

On the evening of the same day, Mooney was in the store of a neighbor by the name of
Perpetua Najarro. He had taken a seat on a chair in front of Perpetua, his back being to the
window. Perpetua saw Basilio Borinaga from the window strike with a knife at Mooney, but f
the knife lodged in the back of the chair on which Mooney was seated. Mooney fell from the
chair on which Mooney was seated as a result of the force of the blow, but was not injured.
Borinaga ran away towards the market place.

Before this occurred, Borinaga had been heard to tell a companion: "I will stab this Mooney,
who is an American brute." After the attack, Borinaga was also heard to say that he did not hit
the back of Mooney but only the back of the chair.

But Borinaga was persistent in his endeavor, and hardly ten minutes after the first attack, he
returned, knife in hand, to renew it, but was unable to do so because Mooney and Perpetua
were then on their guard and turned a flashlight on Borinaga, frightening him away. Again that
same night, Borinaga was overheard stating that he had missed his mark and was unable to
give another blow because of the flashlight. The paint of the knife was subsequent, on
examination of the chair, found imbedded in it.

Borinaga was subsequently prosecuted for the crime of frustrated murder. The accused was
convicted as charged, by Judge Ortiz, who sentenced him to fourteen years, eight months, and
one day of imprisonment, reclusion temporal, with the accessory penalties and the costs.

The homicidal intent of the accused was plainly evidenced. The attendant circumstances
conclusively establish that murder was in the heart and mind of the accused. The aggressor
stated his purpose, which was to kill, and apologized to his friends for not accomplishing that
purpose. A deadly weapon was used and the blow was directed treacherously toward vital
organs of the victim and the means used were entirely suitable for accomplishment. The crime
should be qualified as murder because of the presence of the circumstance of treachery.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Borinaga is liable for frustrated murder or attempted murder.
HELD:
Frustrated Murder.

The essential condition of a frustrated crime, that the author perform all the acts of execution,
attended the attack. Nothing remained to be done to accomplish the work of the assailant
completely. The cause resulting in the failure of the attack arose by reason of forces
independent of the will of the perpetrator. The assailant voluntarily desisted from further acts.
What is known as the subjective phase of the criminal act was passed.

SEPARATE OPINION:
VILLA-REAL, J., with whom concur JOHNSON and STREET, JJ., dissenting:|||

Article 3 of the Penal Code provides as follows:


"ART. 3. Frustrated felonies and attempts to commit felonies are punishable,
as well as those which are consummated.
"A felony is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of execution
which should produce the felony as a consequence, but which, nevertheless, do not
produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.
"There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of the
felony directly by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which
constitute the felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own
voluntary desistance."
In order that the crime committed by the defendant-appellant might have been a consummated
murder it would have been necessary for him to have inflicted a deadly wound upon a vital
spot of the body of Mooney, with treachery, as a result of which he should have died.||

According to the definition given by the Code a frustrated felony is committed "when the
offender performs all the acts of execution which should produce the felony as a consequence,
but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the
perpetrator". The acts of execution performed by the defendant-appellant did not produce the
death of Mooney as a consequence nor could they have produced it because the blow did not
reach his body; therefore the culprit did not perform all the acts of execution which should
produce the felony. There was lacking the infliction of the deadly wound upon a vital spot of
the body of Mooney.|||

The interference of the frame of the back of the chair which prevented the defendant-appellant
from wounding Mooney in the back with a deadly knife, made his acts constitute an attempt to
commit, murder; for he had commenced the commission of the felony directly by overt acts,
and did not perform all the acts of execution which constitute the felony by reason of a cause
or accident other than his own voluntary desistance.|||

The facts alleged in the information and proved during the trial are not sufficient to constitute
the crime of frustrated murder, but simply the crime of an attempt to commit murder.

You might also like