Art 11. Justifying circumstances.

The following do not incur any criminal liability A person who invokes Art 11 has to present clear and convincing evidence to prove that he truly did act in defense of person or right The trial is reversed in a sense that prosecution no longer needs to prove his commission of an act because the accused himself admitted it The burden of proof is shifted to the accused- to prove his innocence and his act of defense Requisites 1. 2. Unlawful aggression Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself. Important Details Definition of terms: 1. Unlawful aggression An offensive act positively determining the intent of the aggressor 2. 3. Reasonable means This means a rationale equivalence of and between the means employed by the aggressor and the means employed by the person defending himself PENIS Presence of imminent danger Emergency to which the defender has been exposed to Nature and quality of weapon used by the both parties Instinct of self preservation Size and physical characteristic of the aggressor and defender

List of circumstances as provided in the provision Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights

3.

Sufficient provocation That if there was provocation on the part of the person invoking self defense, it should not be sufficient and that it should not immediately precede the act

Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of his spouse, ascendants, descendants, or legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters, or his relatives by affinity in the same degrees and those consanguinity within the fourth civil degree

1. 2.

Unlawful aggression Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it. In case the revocation was given by the person attacked, that the one making defense had no part therein Unlawful aggression Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it. Person defending be not induced by revenge, resentment, or other evil motive the evil sought to be avoided actually exists That the actor was not at fault due to negligence and must not be in violation of law

3.

Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of a stranger

1. 2.

3.

Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or

1.

injury, does not act which causes damage to another

2.

injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it there be no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it That the act must stem from the performance of a lawful duty or office or right That the act is a natural, logical, necessary consequence of the performance of a lawful duty or office The order was issued by a superior The order is for a lawful purpose The means employed to carry out order are lawful

3. Any person who acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the lawful exercise of a right or office 1.

The act must not be outside or in excess of a performance of a lawful duty or office or right

2.

Any person who acts in obedience to an order issued by a superior for some lawful purpose.

1. 2. 3.

The subordinate must not have been negligent or was not in any position or without any capability to know or question such order

Art 12. Exempting circumstances. Circumstances which exempt from criminal liability These are circumstances wherein the act was criminal but the actor is exempt from criminal liability There is no civil liability except in accident and insuperable cause The emphasis is on the actor and not on the act Basis for such exemption stem from total depravation of intelligence and discernment on the part of the actor or total and absolute lack of freedom of the actor Requisites INSANITY 1. That the act was not done during a lucid interval 2. That insanity is proved with his overt & outward acts before, during and after the commission of the act That it must be continuing and that it rendered the actor totally incapable of understanding the rightness or wrongness of an act and its consequences Important Details The law presumes every man to be sane (Article 800, Civil Code) TEST TO PROVE INSANITY 1. Cognition Test To prove total deprivation of intelligence 2. Volition Test To prove deprivation of freedom Our jurisdiction requires that the actor submit himself to a cognition test to prove total deprivation of intelligence in addition to the volition test. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CASE If insane during commission of crime exempt If insane during trial Trial suspended If insane after serving or while serving Execution of judgment is suspended and the sentence accused is committed to a hospital; there is prescription of penalty

List of circumstances as provided in the provision An imbecile or an insane person

3.

IMBECILITY This means that the actor is of advance age but has the mental capacity of children between 2-7 years of age.

Minority (RA 9344)

1.

Below 15 years old, criminally irresponsible because the law sees the actor as incapable of intelligent thoughts and decision making Above 15 years old but below 18 years

This circumstance is WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO CIVIL LIABILITY HOW TO PROVE DISCERNMENT: 1. Manner of committing crime 2. Conduct of offender HOW TO PROVE MINORITY 1. Birth certificate 2. Baptismal certificate 3. Pertinent documents 4. Testimonies of parents or relatives or neighbors 5. Testimonies of the minor himself Above 15 years old but below 18 years without discernment Criminally irresponsible Above 15 years old but below 18 years with discernment 1. Suspension of sentence Provided that:

2.

a) b)

Where the minor has not enjoyed the suspension of sentence under its provisions Where the act punishment by death or life imprisonment or reclusion perpetua

Even if minor acted with discernment, the same may still be exempt from criminal liability if released based on good conduct without prejudice on civil liability. If the minor is found to be incorrigible, he is returned to court for pronouncement of his judgment. CIVIL LIABILITY shall devolve upon the offenders father and, in case of his death or incapacity, upon guardian. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an injury by mere accident without fault or intention of causing it. 1. A person Is performing a legal act with due care The occurrence is merely an accident It is without fault and without negligence That the force must be physical That the force must be irresistible that an ordinary man would succumb to it The force must come from an outside source That the evil caused is greater than or equal to the evil feared The evil feared must be so great that an ordinary man would succumb to it There is an act required by law That the actor failed to do as required due to insuperable cause Basis: Lack of intent 2. There must be no opportunity to escape or self-defense in equal combat The evil caused must be greater than the evil feared Basis: Complete deprivation of freedom The evil feared may be lesser than that of the evil caused

2. 3.

Any person who act under the compulsion of irresistible force

1. 2.

3. Any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury 1.

Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by some lawful insuperable cause

1. 2.

Art 13. Mitigating circumstances. Circumstances which serve to lower penalty Type of mitigating As to effect As to offset List of circumstances as provided in the provision Those mentioned in the preceding chapter, when all the requisites necessary to justify or to exempt from criminal liability in the respective cases are not attendant Incomplete justifying / exempting circumstance Minority Ordinary Lowers to minimum period of imposable penalty Can be offset by ordinary aggravating circumstance Requisites 1. 2. Provided that unlawful aggression existed Majority of the requisites are attendant Privileged Lowers imposable penalty from 1 -2 degrees Can be offset by ordinary aggravating circumstance Important Details

1.

That the minor of 15-18 years old acted with discernment There is notable and evident disproportion between means employed and result or consequences

Sentence is suspended but penalty will still be lowered to 1 degree lower than imposable

That the offender had no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed. Praeter intentionem That sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended party immediately preceded the act.

1.

Intention can proven through WPIM 1. Weapon used 2. Part of infliction 3. Injury inflicted 4. Manner of execution

1.

Sufficient provocation from victim means that the same must be adequate enough to excite a person to commit a wrong in proportion to its gravity The offense must be immediate to the act of provocation It must be personal to the offender Grave offense may be committed to against the persons person or relatives The vindication may be proximate There was an act that was unlawful and sufficient enough to produce such condition of mind That reaction may not be so far removed from the offense that the actor might have recovered That the act which caused passion / obfuscation must be committed by the victim himself

2.

That the act was committed in the immediate vindication of a grave offense to the one committing the felony (delito), his spouse, ascendants, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees That of having acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced passion or obfuscation.

3. 1.

2. 1.

THINGS TO CONSIDER (of the accused) 1. Age 2. Social standing 3. Place There can be a lapse of time THINGS TO CONSIDER (of the accused) 1. The actors passion or obfuscation must stem from lawful sentiments 2. That the act was not done in the spirit of revenge or lawlessness

2.

3.

That the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents, or that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution

1. 2. 3.

VOLUNTARY SURRENDER NSV Not arrested yet Surrender to proper authority Voluntary VOLUNTARY PLEA OF GUILT SOTO Spontaneous plea Was made in open court prior to the presentation of evidence for prosecution That plea of guilt is to the offense charged in the information Defect must directly relate to offense committed

THINGS TO CONSIDER IN VOLUNTARY SURRENDER 1. 2. 3. Surrender of weapons not equivalent to voluntary surrender Must be spontaneous Not required that surrender be prior to issuance of warrant of arrest

THINGS TO CONSIDER IN VOLUNTARY 1. Not applicable to crimes punished by special laws and culpable felonies

1. 2. 3.

That the offender is deaf and dumb, blind or otherwise suffering some physical defect which thus restricts his means of action, defense, or communications with his fellow beings. Such illness of the offender as would diminish the exercise of the will-power of the offender without however depriving him of the consciousness of his acts And, finally, any other circumstances of a similar nature and analogous to those above mentioned.

1.

Basis: Diminution of freedom of action resulting to diminution of freedom of voluntariness

1. 2.

That illness diminishes the will power of offender Illness do not deprive the offender consciousness of his acts

Basis: Diminution of intelligence and intent