1.    In criminal case, what is the effect of appeal?


In criminal cases, an appeal throws the entire case wide open for review and the reviewing tribunal can correct errors, though unassigned in the appealed judgment, or even reverse the trial court's decision based on grounds other than those that the parties raised as errors. The appeal confers the appellate court full jurisdiction over the case and renders such court competent to examine records, revise the judgment appealed from, increase the penalty, and cite the proper provision of the penal law.


2.    On June 24, 2011, an Information4 was filed before the RTC charging Niebres of Rape, the accusatory portion of which reads:

That sometime in the month of August 2010 and the days thereafter at Barangay Panoypoyan, Municipality of Bula Province of Camarines Sur, and within the jurisdiction of the Honorable Court, the above-named accused, with lewd design, through force, intimidation and influence, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and knowingly, undress and succeed in having carnal knowledge with [AAA], a sixteen (16) year-old lass, who is suffering from mild mental retardation which fact of retardation is known to the accused and with a mental age of nine (9) year-old, without her consent and against her will, an act by deed which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of the said victim as a human being, to her damage and prejudice in such amount as may be proven in court.

During trial, however, the prosecution failed to adduce evidence Niebres was aware of AAA's mental disability at the time he committed the crime. Neither that Niebres dispute AAA' s mental retardation during trial.

What is the proper penalty?


He should be convicted of the crime of Simple Rape.

Under Article 266-B of the Revised Penal Code, the death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following aggravating/qualifying circumstances:

10. When the offender knew of the mental disability, emotional disorder and/or physical handicap of the offended party at the time of the commission of the crime

Knowledge of the offender of the mental disability of the victim during the commission of the crime of rape is a special qualifying circumstance, which makes it punishable by death. Such qualifying circumstance, however, must be sufficiently alleged in the indictment and proved during trial to be properly appreciated by the trial court. It must be proved with equal certainty and clearness as the crime itself; otherwise, there can be no conviction of the crime in its qualified form.

In this case, while the qualifying circumstance of knowledge of Niebres of AAA' s mental retardation was specifically alleged in the Information, no supporting evidence was adduced by the prosecution. The fact that Niebres did not dispute AAA' s mental retardation during trial is insufficient to qualify the crime of rape, since it does not necessarily create moral certainty that he knew of her disability at the time of its commission. It is settled that the evidence for the prosecution must stand or fall on its own merits and cannot be allowed to draw strength from the weakness of the evidence for the defense. On that score, the prosecution cannot simply profit from Niebres' s omission, as it must rely on its own evidence to prove his knowledge of AAA's mental disability beyond reasonable doubt.



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