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1) Felipe Esponilla and Samson Esponilla were convicted of murder for shooting Jose Eumag in the back with a firearm, causing his immediate death. They appealed the conviction.
2) The prosecution established a motive for the killing, as the appellants had a personal grudge against the victim. Circumstantial evidence and testimony also established that the appellants were responsible.
3) The court found the killing was qualified as murder rather than homicide, as the victim was attacked by complete surprise while working in an open field, with no means to defend himself.
1) Felipe Esponilla and Samson Esponilla were convicted of murder for shooting Jose Eumag in the back with a firearm, causing his immediate death. They appealed the conviction.
2) The prosecution established a motive for the killing, as the appellants had a personal grudge against the victim. Circumstantial evidence and testimony also established that the appellants were responsible.
3) The court found the killing was qualified as murder rather than homicide, as the victim was attacked by complete surprise while working in an open field, with no means to defend himself.
1) Felipe Esponilla and Samson Esponilla were convicted of murder for shooting Jose Eumag in the back with a firearm, causing his immediate death. They appealed the conviction.
2) The prosecution established a motive for the killing, as the appellants had a personal grudge against the victim. Circumstantial evidence and testimony also established that the appellants were responsible.
3) The court found the killing was qualified as murder rather than homicide, as the victim was attacked by complete surprise while working in an open field, with no means to defend himself.
Defendants and Appellant: Felipe Esponilla and Samson Esponilla
FACTS:
1. Felipe Esponilla and Samson Esponilla were convicted of murder by the lower court for shooting one Jose Eumag at the back with a firearm which caused his immediate death.
2. A criminal case for frustrated murder against the appellants for the shooting of Jose was pending in the RTC, Branch 36, Iloilo City.
ISSUES:
1. WON the lower court erred in convicting the accused of murder based on one circumstantial evidence; and
2. WON, granting for the sake of argument that accused are guilty, the lower court erred in finding a case of murder and not homicide
HELD:
1. NO. Motive is a key element when establishing guilt through circumstantial evidence. Coupled with enough circumstantial evidence or facts from which it may be reasonably inferred that the accused was the malefactor, motive may be sufficient to support a conviction. The prosecution convincingly established that the appellants were driven by a personal grudge against the victim. In addition, the testimony Enriqueta (wife of the deceased) and the medical officer, taken together, constitute one unbroken chain leading to the fair and reasonable conclusion that the appellants shot the victim to death.
2. NO. The trial court correctly appreciated treachery as having qualified the killing of the victim to murder. In this case, the victim was in a wide open field, plowing his farm. The attack was a complete surprise and was unprovoked. There was hardly any risk at all to the appellants. The victim was plowing his farmland, completely impervious that death was at hand. He was unarmed and was not in a position to defend himself against the assault of the appellants. Clearly, he was killed in a treacherous manner.