[ G.R. No. 1330, March 28, 1904 ]
THE UNITED STATES, COMPLAINANT AND APPELLEE, VS. ARTURO BALDELLO ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.
D E C I S I O N
WILLARD, J.:
The case is, in all its essential points, the same as the case against Lagnason, just decided, and is ruled by it.[1] The penalty of death imposed upon the defendants Baldello and Alcantara can not, therefore, in accordance with that decision stand. The judgment is reversed, and each one of the defendants is sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of $10,000, money of the United States, and to pay the costs of both instances.
Arellano, C. J., with whom concurs Mapa, J., concurring:
I concur as to the penalty imposed in conformity with section 3 of Act No. 292 for the crime of rebellion.
McDonough, J., concurring:
For the reasons given by me in the case of United States vs. Dalmacio Lagnason, I believe that the accused in this case are guilty of the crime of insurrection, defined and punished in section 3 of Act No. 292, in accordance with which they should be convicted and sentenced
to ten years of imprisonment and to pay a fine of $10,000, United States currency, and the costs of the prosecution.
[1] Page 472, supra.
TORRES, J.
For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in the case of the United States vs. Lagnason, for treason, I am of the opinion that the defendants Arturo Baldello and Daniel Songco Alcantara should be sentenced to life imprisonment and to the payment each of a fine of $20,000, United States currency, with one-ninth part of the costs. I can not, therefore, concur in the opinion of the majority.
JOHNSON, J.
The evidence in this case clearly discloses the fact that the said defendants constituted an armed band, organized for the express purpose of overthrowing the Government of the United States in the Philippine Islands, as constituted in the pueblo of Guagua, in the Province of Pampanga, and that on the 14th day of April, 1903, said band made an organized attempt to carry out this unlawful purpose.
These facts were supported by the testimony of more than two witnesses. The defendants are guilty of the crime of treason, and should be punished under section 1 of Act No. 292 of the Civil Commission. The judge below properly appreciated the facts. He committed no error, and his judgment should therefore be affirmed, with the costs in both instances.
DISSENTING
COOPER, J.
The defendants should be found guilty of treason as defined and punished by section 1, Act No. 292, and the punishment fixed as is prescribed in said section. This conclusion is based upon the grounds stated in my dissenting opinion filed in the case of the United States vs. Lagnason just decided by this court.