Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Medico Legal examination conducted by Dr. Perez, who was the city health officer, after the
bodies of the victims were dugged up from a shallow pit under the banggerahan of the accused’s
house, revealed that both sustained gunshot wounds caused by a .45 caliber gun. The Accused
maintains that he was not responsible for the said act but rather he was a unwilling witness to the
horrible event perpetuated by persons unknown to him. RTC finds the Accused Rodolfo Manalo
guilty of two separate counts of murder.
Issue: W/N Accused Rodolfo Manalo should be found guilty of the crime of two counts of
murder despite the absence of physical evidence that accused fired a gun?
Ruling: Yes. Even if he subjected himself to paraffin test and the same yields a negative, it
cannot definitely conclude that he had not fired a gun as it is possible for one to fire a gun and
yet be negative for the presence of nitrates as when the hands are washed before the test. The
court even considered the possibility that that there will be no paraffin traces on his hands.
Lacbay who was the witness of the crime had emphatically and positively identified the accused
as the gunman from which deserves full merit and weight. His identification of the accused as
the gunman was positive and unshakeable. He had vividly testified in court on the time, the place
and the manner how the said killings were perpetrated by the accused. There was also an
extrajudicial statement made by the accused wherein he had admitted the killings but sought to
justify his acts by alleging that one of the victims tried to abuse his daughter.
There were also several letters sent by the accused to Marcelo Bonilla begging to agree to the
amount 14,000 as a settlement for the death of the two victims. He even asked for forgiveness for
the offense he had committed which was an admission that he had committed something wrong.
He also sent a letter to the fiscal requesting not to charge him for murder but only for homicide
for he did not have the intention to kill the victims but was only prompted to do so due to
circumstances beyond his control. RTC decision affirmed. Accused is Guilty
After trial, the court a quo promulgated its judgment finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable
doubt of the crimes charged. One of the assigned errors is: “(T)he firearm alleged to have been
used by the accused in killing the victim was not presented in court during the trial. Its caliber and
make was (sic) never established by sufficient evidence, so that there is no basis to convict the
accused for illegal (sic) possession of firearm."
ISSUE: Whether or not it was indispensable for the prosecution to introduce and offer in evidence
the firearm which was used in the killing of the victim.
HELD: No. Nor can We agree with the accused that it was indispensable for the prosecution to
introduce and offer in evidence the firearm which was used in the killing of the victim. There is
no law or rule of evidence which requires the prosecution to do so; there is also no law which
prescribes that a ballistics examination be conducted to determine the source and trajectory of the
bullets. For conviction to lie it is enough that the prosecution establishes by proof beyond
reasonable doubt that a crime was committed and that the accused is the author thereof. The
production of the weapon used in the commission of the crime is not a condition sine qua non for
the discharge of such a burden for the weapon may not have been recovered at all from the
assailant. If the rule were to be as proposed by the accused, many criminals would go scot-free and
much injustice would be caused to the victims of crimes, their families and society. In the instant
case, it was established with moral certainty that the accused attacked, assaulted and shot the victim
Rolando Miel with an unlicensed firearm, thereby inflicting upon the latter multiple gunshot
wounds which caused his death. Such proof was all that was needed for the conviction of the
accused.