REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION JUDICIAL REGION
BRANCH 58, MAKATI CITY

THE PEOPLE OF THE 
PHILIPPINES
Prosecution,

­versus­ Criminal Case No. 1234-CC

For: Homicide

PEPITO SMITH &         

MAMITA NATIVIDAD,
Defendant.
x-----------------------------------x

TRIAL MEMORANDUM FOR THE ACCUSED

DEFENDANT, Pepito Smith and Mamita Natividad,

through undersigned counsel, and to the Honorable Court, respectfully
submits this memorandum and states that:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

1. On 10 May 2017, an information was charged against Pepito

Smith, as principal and Mamita Natividad, as accomplice in the
crime of homicide against Totoy Natividad. The pertinent
portion of the information reads:

“That on or about 6 May 2017 at around 8:30 in the afternoon

at 123 Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City, Philippines and within
the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, Pepito Smith, did then
and there, knowingly, wilfully and criminally killed the victim,
Totoy Natividad, by smashing his head on the wall. That
Mamita Natividad, Pepito’s live-in partner and Totoy’s mother
did maliciously, criminally and unlawfully, directly aid the
principal for concealing the crime.”
 STATEMENT OF FACTS

2. The victim, Totoy Natividad, is a two (2) years-old child. He

lives with his mother Mamita Natividad, Pepito Smith –
Mamita’s live-in partner and his grandmother Lolita Natividad.

3. On 6 May 2017, Lolita was taking care of Totoy in their

residence at 123 Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City when Pepito
came home drunk. Upon arrival, he ordered Lolita to buy him a
beer. Lolita obliged but when she came back, Totoy was
nowhere to be found. When asked, Pepito said Totoy is already
asleep.

4. Pepito works as a motorcycle mechanic in Motortrade Buendia

Brach. While Mamita works as Sales Account Representative.
On 3 May 2017 they received a re-assignment order to
Motortrade Bulacan, a recently established branch in need of
additional personnel.1

5. On the dawn of 7 May 2017, Nenita Natividad, Mamita’s

sixteen (16) years-old sister, saw Pepito and Mamita out of the
house carrying a sack. The couple is preparing their belongings
for their transfer. The couple will live in Meycauyan, Bulacan
together with Totoy. They will stay with Pepito’s relative Tita
Lani.

6. Tita Lanie took care of Totoy while Pepito and Mamita were at
work. She even brought Pepito to The Lord’s Hospital in
Meycauyan, Bulacan on 10 May 2017 when he got sick.2

7. On 16 May 2017, Tita Lanie went to the market with Totoy. The
marketplace was unexpectedly crowded and Totoy got lost. Tita
Lanie immediately reported the incident to the local Police
station in Meycauyan, Bulacan.3

MAIN ISSUE

1 Duly certified Assignment Order from Motortrade was marked as Exhibit “C” in the court of records.
2 Duly accomplished Hospital Admission/Discharge Form was marked as Exhibit “A” in the court
records.
3 Copy of the Police Report dated 15 March 2017 was marked as Exhibit “B” in the court records.
 Defendant respectfully submits that the main issue in this case
is:

A. WHETHER   OR   NOT   PEPITO

SMITH   IS   GUILTY   BEYOND
REASONABLE   DOUBT   OF   THE
CRIME   OF   HOMICIDE   AGAINST
TOTOY AND MAMITA NATIVIDAD
IS   GUILTY   AS   AN   ACOMPLICE
FOR CONCEALING THE CRIME.

Defendants respectfully submit that the foregoing issue must be
resolved in the NEGATIVE. 

ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSION

I. The guild of the defendant

was not proved beyond
reasonable doubt.

8. In the case of People v. Comesario4, the Supreme Court

declared that:

“ The guilt of the accused must be

proved beyond reasonable doubt. There
must be moral certainty in our
unprejudiced mind that it was accused-
appellant who committed the crime. Absent
this required quantum of evidence would
mean exoneration for accused-appellant.”

9. The prosecution’s assertion that the accused, Pepito Smith,

killed Totoy Natividad, and consequently was concealed by his
live-in partner, Mamita Natividad stands on shaky ground. It
based purely on the accusation of Lolita Natividad, who clearly
has a personal issue against Pepito Smith and the testimony of
Nenita Natividad which is purely circumstantial.

4 G.R. No. 127811, 1999-04-29

 The corollary rule is that the circumstances proven must
constitute an unbroken chain which leads to one fair and
reasonable conclusion pointing to the accused, to the exclusion
of all others, as the guilty person.5 In the instant case, the
combination of facts from Lolita and Nenita’s testimonies does
not produce a conclusion that Pepito killed Totoy.

10. Defendant humbly emphasize that Lolita’s statement cannot be

given any weight because: (1) she was not present when
allegedly, Pepito smashed Totoy’s head into the wall; (2) she
did not exercise any prudence by checking whether Totoy is
really sleeping during the night when the alleged crime was
committed. Assuming arguendo, that she is scared of Pepito in
his drunken state. She has all night to covertly check on the
condition of her dear grandson.

11. In the same manner, Nenita’s testimony at best can only give
rise to an uncorroborated speculation. She only saw the couple
on 7 May 2017, preparing for their transfer to Bulacan. It is a
stretch of imagination to conclude that what’s inside the sack is
the dead body of a two (2) years-old child.

12. When the evidence on the commission of the crime is purely

circumstantial or inconclusive, motive is vital. And the
prosecution clearly did not establish that defendant has one.
Pepito Smith has been living with Mamita Natividad even
before Totoy was born. He assumed the duty of a father to
Totoy and husband to Mamita even in the absence of married.
The defendant loved Totoy as if he was his own son.

II. The defense presented

sufficient evidence to prove
that Totoy was not killed in
Makati.

13. The defense has presented clear and convincing evidence to not
only gives light to the unfair accusation of the prosecution but
to prove that no crime was committed in their former residence
at Makati City.

14. The Supreme Court held in the case of Yadao v. People6,

“The principle has been dinned into the

ears of the bench and the bar that in this
5 People v. Ragundiaz, et. al, G.R. No. 124977. 2000-06-22
6 G.R. No. 150917, 2006-09-27
 jurisdiction, accusation is not synonymous
with guilt. The proof against him must
survive the test of reason; the strongest
suspicion must not be permitted to sway
judgment. If the evidence is susceptible of
two interpretations, one consistent with the
innocence of the accused and the other
consistent with his guilt, the accused must
be acquitted. The overriding consideration
is not whether the court doubts the
innocence of the accused but whether it
entertains a reasonable doubt as to his
guilt. If there exist even one iota of doubt,
this Court is "under a long standing legal
injunction to resolve the doubt in favor of
herein accused-petitioner.”

15. First, the couple did not escape to Bulacan on 7 May 2017.
It was clearly established that the couple was re-assigned to
Mototrade’s newly established Branch in Meycauyan,
Bulacan as motor mechanic and sales account
representative. Second, The victim, Totoy, was alive when
the couple transferred in Tita Lani’s residence. As evidence
by the admission of the child in The Lord’s Hospital when
he got sick. Clearly sick and be a dead person cannot be
sick and be admitted to a hospital to cure such disease.
Lastly, Tita Lani, immediately filed a missing person report
to the nearest police station when Totoy got lost while they
are in the public market.

16. In summary, the child was alive and well when the couple
transferred in Bulacan. As established by the documentary
evidence presented by the defendants. The defense has
established clear and sufficient evidence to ACQUIT them
of the charges filed.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE,   premises   considered,   defendant   Pepito   Smith   and

Mamita Natividad respectfully prays that this Honorable Court issue  and
Order: 

1. ACQUITTAL the instant complaint for utter lack of merit; and
 2.  GRANTING  defendant other reliefs just and equitable under the
premises.

Makati City for Manila, 04 November 2017.