SECOND DIVISION

[G.R. No. 12066. February 3, 1917.]

THE UNITED STATES , plaintiff-appellee, vs . ANGEL JOVEN , defendant-

appellant.

Basilio Aromin for appellant.

Acting Attorney-General Zaragoza for appellee.

SYLLABUS

1. ATTEMPTED HOMICIDE; PHYSICAL INJURIES. — Where the intent of the

assailant to kill his victim is clear, the act of the accused in icting several injuries upon
the offended party constitutes the crime of attempted homicide and not merely
physical in injuries.
2. ID.; ID.; WHERE INTENT TO KILL IS PRESENT. — Where the means
employed by the assailant were adequate to cause the death of his victim, and at the
time he was being prevented by a third person from continuing to attack the offended
party, who was already wounded and retreating, he said, "Until I kill him," the intent to kill
is clear, and the crime committed is not merely physical injuries, but attempted
homicide, since the offender has commenced, by direct overt acts, the commission of
the crime he intended, although the same was not produced by reason of a cause
independent of his will.

DECISION

ARAULLO , J : p

This cause was commended in the Court of First Instance of the Province of
Pampanga by a complaint of the following tenor led by the provincial scal of said
province on July 17, 1915:
"The undersigned scal charges Angel Joven with the crime of attempted
homicide, committed as follows:
"That the said defendant, in the municipality of Bacolor, Pampanga, P. I.,
on the afternoon of June 13, 1915, armed with a pocket-knife, did willfully,
unlawfully and criminally, and with the intent to kill Edilberto Joven, assault him
with his pocketknife and in ict upon him several wounds, and, if he did not
succeed in his said design, it was due to the timely intervention of Fortunato Datu.
"An act committed contrary to law."
On arraignment the defendant plead not guilty. After trial and the introduction of
evidence, the court rendered judgment on October 25th of the same year, nding the
defendant guilty as principal of the crime of attempted homicide, without any modifying
circumstance, and sentenced him, under article 404, in connection with article 3 of the
Penal Code, to the penalty of two years, four months and one day of presidio
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 correctional, to indemnify the aggrieved party, Edilberto Joven, in the sum of P500, or, in
case of insolvency, to suffer the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment, and to pay the
cost. From this judgment the defendant appealed.
It was proven at the trial, beyond all doubt, and was not denied by the defendant,
that between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 13, 1915, while Edilberto Joven, a
pharmacist and resident of the municipality of Bacolor, Province of Pampanga, was
crossing the street in front of the market of said pueblo, he met the defendant, Angel
Joven, his cousin, and said to him that he (Angel) was pale and seemed to be sick; that
thereupon the defendant replied "yes," and, approaching Edilberto and placing his left
hand upon his shoulder, asked him whether he had spoken when the defendant, who
had one hand in his trousers' pocket, drew it out armed with a pocketknife; that with
this weapon he assaulted Edilberto Joven, in icting upon him a wound on the neck,
another on the left forearm and still another on the stomach; that thereupon a man by
the name of Fortunato Datu approached them and caught the defendant by the arm, in
the hand of which he was holding the knife, and then Edilberto, who, while in such
manner continued to be assaulted by the defendant and kept withdrawing until he
arrived at one corner of the market, improving the opportunity offered him by the
defendant's being held, rushed to his pharmacy near by, for rst medical treatment,
where he became very weak as a result of the hemorrhage of the wounds in his arm and
neck, and later was obliged to enter the General Hospital and undergo two operations
because of the atrophy of his injured arm, which lost its strength rendering him
incapacitated to perform a part of his work in the pharmacy. The injured member was
still in the same condition during the time of the trial, and it could no then be
determined positively how long it would remain so.
The defendant introduced no evidence whatever at the trial, having waived,
through counsel, his right so to do. He now assails the judgment appealed from, which
he deems erroneous, but only as regards the classi cation of the crime, which he
considers should not be that of attempted homicide, but lesiones menos graves; and in
respect to the sentence in so far as it imposes an indemnity for damages. The
appellant argues that damages were not proven at the trial, and that lower court xed
them under the sole guide of his judicial discretion.
Doctor Clemente Punu who examined the wounded man immediately after the
assault and rendered him professional services for some time, said that he had a
wound produced by a cut 5 centimeters long in the outer, lower part of the left part of
the left forearm; another wound, in icted by a cutting and pointed instrument, situated
on the left side of the neck one and a half centimeter long, the depth of which he did not
probe in order to avoid a hemorrhage which might have caused the patient's death; that
the wound on the neck was of a serious nature, as it was just behind some main
arteries, and had these been cut the patient would have died in ve minutes; that, had
this wound been deep, it necessarily would have been mortal and none of the doctors
would have been able to arrive in time to save the patient; that the wound on the left
arm also might have caused his death, had it been completely neglected and the
precaution not taken to bind it so as to prevent further hemorrhage; that this latter
wound affected the muscles and one of the interosseous arteries and probably was not
caused directly, but while the injured man was shielding his neck, as explained by the
fact that it was a cut. and, had it been in icted directly, it would have been a puncture or
stab, witness adding that the blow was probably aimed at the neck; that the other
wound of Edilberto Joven was not exactly on the breast, as hesitated in his testimony,
but was on a level with the stomach, and was not serious, though it would have been
mortal had it been deeper.
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 The weapon with which the defendant wounded his victim was exhibited at the
trial and the court took judicial notice of the fact that it was an automatic pocket-knife,
which, when opened, could not be closed without touching a spring, and that its blade
was five inches long.
Finally, Fortunato Datu (who, as aforestated, went up to the wounded man to help
him and held the defendant's arm, the hand of which grasped the knife with which he
assaulted his victim) testi ed that he got between the two men and caught hold of the
defendant's right hand that held the knife; that he said to the defendant: "No more, now
that he is wounded," and succeeded in separating the men, but that the defendant,
before the witness intervened and held him, said to the assaulted party, who kept
withdrawing and was avoiding the blows: "Until I can kill you."
As may be seen, the defendant, in assaulting and wounding Edilberto Joven made
use of a weapon adequate to the purpose of causing on the latter's body su cient
injury for the realization of the intent to kill him. One of the wounds which the defendant
succeeded in in icting upon his victim with said weapon, was in icted on the latter's
neck and was of such a nature that, according to Dr. Punu, had it severed the main
arteries in from of it, the victim would have died in ve minutes, and it would necessarily
have been fatal had it been deeper, as then its consequences. The defendant's intent to
would the assaulted man on the neck was indicated by the fact of his having also
in icted upon him a wound on his left arm, not directly, but, as Doctor Punu also stated
while the assaulted man was shielding his neck, for this wound was not straight and
was not a thrust or stab, but was a cut. All the foregoing facts force upon us the
inevitable conviction that the defendant's purpose was to kill Edilberto Joven, and he
manifested this intention clearly by saying to Edilberto while the latter was withdrawing
and trying to avoid the blows which the defendant was striking at him with the knife:
"Until I can kill you." The defendant did not succeed in performing all the acts of
execution which were to produce the result that he intended, because of the
intervention of Fortunato Datu, who, by holding his arm, in the hand of which the knife
was grasped, gave the assaulted man an opportunity to get out of his assailant's reach
and free himself from the danger in which he really was.
The manifest intention of the agent, as shown by his acts and con rmed by his
words, and for the realization of which, means were employed adequate to obtain the
result sought by him, is an element that necessarily must be taken into account for the
classi cation of the crime which such acts constitute, and for the imposition of the
corresponding penalty.
As the defendant commenced the execution of the crime of homicide directly by
exterior acts, though he did not perform all the acts of execution which were to produce
the crime, owing to a cause or accident that was not his own voluntary desistance, to
wit, through the intervention of Fortunato Datu at the moment when the defendant, knife
in hand, was pursuing and wounding Edilberto Joven, the classi cation of the crime
committed by the defendant and for which he is responsible as principal by direct
participation, is that of attempted homicide, and the lower court did not err in so
holding in the judgment appealed from.
Although it is true as the appellant says in his brief, that at the trial no evidence at
all was introduced with respect to the value of the medicine used in curing the offended
party, and no voucher whatever of any expense incurred and no bill for doctor's fees
were presented, yet the record itself of the case discloses the nature, seriousness, and
consequences of the wound in icted upon the victim by the defendant, as hereinabove
stated. It is also shown, by the testimony of the aggrieved party himself, which was not
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 contradicted by the defendant, that he suffered consequential injury as a result of his
wounds; that he was attended by Doctor Singian, who had not yet collected his bill from
the patient; that the cost incurred on account of the injury suffered by the patient was
approximately P400, covering his expenses in coming to this city and of his sojourn
here, his hospital bills and the medicine use, including among the expenses of his
coming to Manila, the travelling expenses of is wife, for he had to bring her along with
him and to be accompanied by her twice in the hospital, together with two of his
children. Finally, in closing his said testimony, witness stated that doctor's fees were
not included in the P400.
Doctor Punu, in describing the condition of Edilberto Joven's left arm as result of
the wound made in it by the defendant, said that the injured man was hindered in the
use of that arm for "hitting purposes" (so witness said), but not for light work in the
pharmacy, — laboratory work. In referring to his fees for his attendance upon, and
medical care of, the patient, this witness added that up to that time, that is, to the time
of his testimony, he had not yet collected the same; that he had collected no fees from
the Joven family, nor had the latter requested his bill; that he attended the patient for
quite a while; and that his fees would probably not exceed P100 and might be P80.
In view of these facts, the court stated in the judgment appealed from that in
cases of this nature it was its duty to x damages in the amount he believed to
reasonable; that the doctors had not collected their fees from the patient, and that
considering the seriousness of the wounds and the fact of the injured man's not having
completely recovered the use of his left arm, the damages should, he believed, be xed
at P500.
Pursuant to article 122 of the Penal Code, it is the duty of the courts to regulate
the amount of the damages the payment of which, as civil liability, should be imposed
upon the person criminally responsible for the injury. The second paragraph of the
same article prescribes that the courts shall determine the amount of this indemnity in
the manner prescribed for the reparation of damages in the next preceding article
(121). In the instant case the lower court, in regulating the amount of the indemnity for
the injuries caused the offended party by the defendant and in xing it at P500, taking
into account for this purpose the nature and importance of these wounds and their
consequences, as well as the testimony given by the aggrieved party himself and by
Doctor Punu, hereinabove cited, far from incurring the error assigned by the appellant in
his brief, followed out he mandate of the law, above-mentioned, and we are of the
opinion that the amount fixed by him for that purpose is reasonable and just.
As it does not appear that the commission of the crime of attempted homicide
of which the defendant is guilty as principal by direct participation, was attended by any
circumstance modifying said liability, the penalty that should be imposed upon the
defendant, under article 404, in connection with article 66, of the Penal Code, is that of
prision correccional in its medium degree, and not that of presidio correccional in the
same degree, which latter penalty was the one imposed upon him by the lower court in
the judgment appealed from. He should also be sentenced to the accessory penalties
mentioned in article 61 of the said Code.
For the foregoing with the understanding that the penalty of two years, four
months and one day, imposed upon the defendant, shall be deemed to be prision
correccional, and sentencing him, besides, to the accessory penalties of suspension of
the right to hold public o ce and the right of suffrage during the term of his sentence,
we a rm in all other respects the judgment appealed form, with the costs of this
instance against the appellant. So ordered.
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 Torres, Carson, Moreland, and Trent, JJ., concur.

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