G.R. No. 154301 - CARLOS MANANGAN, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, this Court finds accused CARLOS MANANGAN guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of HOMICIDE as principal. No mitigating or aggravating circumstance having been appreciated, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, this Court sentences Carlos Manangan to suffer imprisonment ranging from TWELVE (12) YEARS OF PRISION MAYOR MAXIMUM as minimum to SEVENTEEN (17) YEARS and FOUR (4) MONTHS of RECLUSION TEMPORAL MEDIUM as maximum. He is further ordered to pay the heirs of Jesus Lopez indemnity in the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00). [6] In convicting petitioner, the trial court, noting the location and extent of the wounds reflected in Dr. Milan's autopsy report, credited the following arguments of the prosecution: [T]he testimony of the prosecution witnesses that the assailant and the victim were fronting each other and the former stabbed the latter with his left hand with a knife coming from below upward , perfectly jibes and conforms with the location of the initially inflicted wound on the body of the victim, which is on the anterior chest , finding the direction of the weapon used towards the upper part of the body , which is the neck , and thus injuring the carotid artery and the right portion of the trachea, which are in the neck. When two protagonists are in this actual relative position[s], and one of them who is x x x left handed x x x stab[s] the person fronting him, the logical upper portion of the victim's body that would be hit by the knife is the right upper chest , because such is the nearest upper part of his body to the knife held by the left hand of the other, as in the case at bar. Indubi[t]ably, the deceased was stabbed on the upper portion of his chest, and the knife going upward, reaching the area of the neck, transecting partially the right carotid artery and the right side of the trachea . This is so because the direction of a stab or thrust executed from below would be upward , thus explains why the carotid artery and the right part of the trachea were reached by the knife. x x x A knife thrust against a person from below , in any stretch of the imagination, cannot go down and affect the lower portion of the body but its tendency is to go up and affect the upper portion of the body if their relative position is that they are facing each other. x x x [7] (Emphasis, italics and underscoring in the original) The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision. [8] Petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration [9] having been denied, [10] he filed the present Petition for Review on Certiorari, [11] faulting the appellate court in: I. . . . FAIL[ING] TO STATE THE LEGAL AND FACTUAL BASES FOR ITS CONCLUSION THAT THE PETITIONER'S GUILT WAS PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. II. . . . CONVICTING THE PETITIONER DESPITE MEDICAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY . III. . . . CONVICTING THE PETITIONER OF THE CRIME OF HOMICIDE WHEN HIS GUILT WAS NOT PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT . [12] (Underscoring supplied) The petition is be