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It was proven at the trial, beyond all doubt, and was not denied by the defendant, that
between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 13, 1915, while Edilberto Joven, a
pharmacist and resident of the municipality of Bacolor, Province of Pampanga, was crossing
the street in front of the market of said pueblo, he met the defendant, Angel Joven, his cousin,
and said to him that the (Angel) was pale and seemed to be sick; defendant replied "yes,"
and, approaching Edilberto and placing his left hand upon his shoulder, asked him whether he
had spoken with Emilio; that scarcely had Edilberto replied "no," when the defendant, who had
one hand in his pocket, drew it out armed with a pocket-knife; that with this weapon he
assaulted Edilberto Joven, inflicting upon him a wound on the neck, left forearm and stomach;
a man by the name of Fortunato Datu approached them and caught the defendant by the arm,
in the hand of which he was holding the knife, and then Edilberto, who, while in such manner
continued to be assaulted by the defendant and kept withdrawing until he arrived at one
corner of the market, improving the opportunity offered him by the defendant's being held,
rushed to his pharmacy near by, for first medical treatment, where he became very weak as a
result of the hemorrhage of the wounds in his arm and neck, and later was obliged to enter
the General Hospital and undergo two operations because of the atrophy of his injured arm,
which lost its strength rendering him incapacitated to perform a part of his work in the
pharmacy.
the Court of First Instance of the Province of Pampanga charges Angel Joven with the crime of
attempted homicide.

Issue:

Whether or not the crime should not be that of attempted homicide, but lesiones menos
graves

Held:

As may be seen, the defendant, in assaulting and wounding Edilberto Joven made use of a
weapon adequate to the purpose of causing on the latter's body sufficient injury for the
realization of the intent to kill him. One of the wounds which the defendant succeeded in
inflicting upon his victim with said weapon, was inflicted on the latter's neck and was of such a
nature that, according to Dr. Punu, had it served the main arteries in front of it, the victim
would have died in five minutes, and it would necessarily have been fatal had it been deeper,
as then there would not have been time for the doctors to prevent its consequences. The
defendant's intent to wound the assaulted man on the neck was indicated by the fact of his
having also inflicted upon him a wound on his left arm, not directly, but, as Doctor Punu also
stated, while the assaulted man was shielding his neck for this wound was not straight and
was not a thrust or stab, but was a cut. All the foregoing facts force upon us the inevitable
conviction that the defendant's purpose was to kill Edilberto Joven, and he manifested this
intention clearly by saying to Edilberto while the latter was withdrawing and trying to avoid the
blows which the defendant was striking at him with the knife: "Until I can kill you." The
defendant did not succeed in performing all the acts of execution which were to produce the
result that he intended, because of the intervention of Fortunato Datu, who, by holding his
arm, in the hand of which the knife was grasped, gave the assaulted man an opportunity to
get out of his assailant's reach and free himself from the danger in which he really was.

The manifest intention of the agent, as shows by his acts and confirmed by his words, and for
the realization of which, means were employed adequate to obtain the result sought by him, is
an element that necessarily must be taken into account for the classification of the crime
which such acts constitute, and for the imposition of the corresponding penalty.