#37 U.S. V.S.

AH CHONG
15 PHIL. 488
FACTS:
Ah Chong was a cook in Ft. McKinley. He was afraid of bad elements. One
evening, before going to bed, he locked himself in his room by placing a
chair against the door. After having gone to bed, he was awakened by
someone trying to open the door. He called out twice, Who is there, but
received no answer. Fearing that the intruder was a robber, he leaped from
his bed & called out again, If you enter the room I will kill you. But at that
precise moment, he was struck by the chair that had been placed against the
door, & believing that he was being attacked he seized a kitchen knife &
struck & fatally wounded the intruder who turned out to be his roommate.

ISSUE:
Whether or not he is liable for assassination and simple homicide.
HELD:
Had the facts been as Ah Chong believed them to be, he would have been justified
in killing the intruder under A11, par. 1, of the RPC, which requires, to justify the act,
that there be:
*unlawful aggression on the part of the person killed,
* reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it, &
* lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself
If the intruder was really a robber, forcing his way into the room of Ah Chong, there
would have been unlawful aggression on the part of the intruder. There would have
been a necessity on the part of Ah Chong to defend himself and/or his home. The
knife would have been a reasonable means to prevent or repel such aggression. And
Ah Chong gave no provocation at all. Under A11 of the RPC, there is nothing
unlawful in the intention as well as in the act of the person making the defense.
Ah Chong must be acquitted because of mistake of fact and he acted in good faith.