G.R. No. 115998 - RICARDO SALVATIERRA, RODRIGO ASUNCION AND MANUEL RAMIREZ, VS. COURT OF APPEALS AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Wherefore, and in the light of all the foregoing considerations, the Court hereby finds the accused Luis Alina, Manuel Ramirez, Jun Ignacio, Rodrigo Asuncion and Ricardo Salvatierra guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of homicide, as charged in this case. There being no mitigating or aggravating circumstance, and applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, hereby sentences each of them to suffer the penalty of 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal, as minimum, to 14 years, 8 months and 1 day of reclusion temporal as maximum, with the accessories of the law; to indemnify the heirs of the victim in the amount of P12,000.00, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency; and to their proportionate share in the costs of this proceeding." [2] Accused-appellants Alina, Asuncion and Salvatierra appealed from the decision of the trial court. The Court of Appeals noted that under Section 1 Rule 122 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure the accused Manuel Ramirez and Jun D. Ignacio who did not appeal from the decision of the trial court will not be affected by the judgment of the appellate court except insofar as it is favorable to them. [3] On June 16, 1994 the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of conviction of all the accused with modification as regards the penalty imposed as follows: THE FOREGOING CONSIDERED, the appealed decision of the court a quo is hereby affirmed, but the penalty should be modified to 8 years and 1 day as the minimum of the indeterminate penalty, to not more than 14 years 8 months and 1 day , as the maximum, to indemnify the heirs of the deceased the amount of fifty thousand pesos, and finally with costs against the appellant. Petitioners Ricardo Salvatierra, Rodrigo Asuncion and Manuel Ramirez, represented by the same counsel, filed this petition for review on the principal contention that conspiracy with Luis Alina to kill Rolando Samonte was not proven by the evidence for the prosecution. The two eyewitnesses who testified for the prosecution stated in court that it was Luis Alina who actually stabbed the victim while petitioner Salvatierra and co-defendant Jun D. Ignacio were inside the jeep and did not do anything, whereas petitioners Asuncion and Ramirez had previously fled to their respective homes which were a short distance away from the scene of the crime. Petitioners maintain that no evidence was presented by the prosecution to show unity of purpose among the accused to kill the victim and they should accordingly be acquitted of the crime charged. It is pointed out that as early as 1982 herein petitioners filed their separate motions to dismiss or demurrer to evidence on this ground but the trial court did not resolve them. Instead when they failed to attend the hearing on October 29, 1985 for the presentation of evidence for the defense, the trial court ordered them arrested for jumping bail and considered this as an indication of guilt. Thus, in the trial court's decision rendered in 1989 her