What is an impossible crime?
It would apply to those
Art. 4. Criminal liability. — Criminal liability shall
be incurred:
1. By any person committing a felony (delito)
although the wrongful act done be different
from that which he intended.
2. By any person performing an act which would
be an offense against persons or property, were
it not for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or an account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.
(Revised Penal Code)
What is an impossible crime?
An impossible crime is one where the acts
performed would have been a crime
against person or property but which is not
accomplished because of its inherent
impossibility or because of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual
means.
What are the requisites of impossible crime?
The requisites of an impossible crime are:
1. That the act performed would be an
offense against persons or property;
2. That the act was done with evil intent;
and
3. That its accomplishment was inherently
impossible, or the means employed was
either inadequate or ineffectual. (Jacinto
vs. People, G.R. No. 162540, July 13,
2009)
4. That the act performed should not
constitute a violation of another
provision of the RPC.
What are the 2 kinds of inherent impossibility?
1. Legal impossibility - occurs where the
intended acts, even if completed, would not
amount to a crime.
circumstances where the motive, desire and
expectation is to perform an act in violation of
the law; there is intention to perform the
physical act; there is a performance of the
intended physical act; and the consequence
resulting from the intended act does not amount
to a crime. (Intod vs. CA)
Examples:
A. Killing a person already dead. A dead person
cannot be injured or killed again. (People vs.
Balmores, 85 Phil. 493 (1950) Of the offender
knew that the victim is already dead when he
stabbed him, he will not be liable for an
impossible crime because his mind was not
criminal.
B. X stole a watch from the possession of C which
turned out to be the watch he owns but lost 2
weeks earlier. X cannot be the thief of his own
property. In theft, it is essential that the offender
take a personal property belonging to another.
2) Factual impossibility - occurs when
extraneous circumstances unknown to the actor
or beyond his control prevent the consummation
of the intended crime.
Examples:
A. A man who puts his hand in the coat pocket of
another with the intention to steal the latter's
wallet and finds the pocket empty.
B. X shoots the place where he thought his victim
Z would be, although in reality, Z was not present
in said place.
Four culprits, all armed with firearms and with
intent to kill, went to the intended victim’s house
and after having pinpointed the latter’s
bedroom, all four fired at and riddled the said
room with bullets, thinking that the intended
victim was already there as it was about 10:00 in
the evening. It so happened that the intended
victim did not come home that evening and so
was not in her bedroom at that time. Eventually
the culprits were prosecuted and convicted by
the trial court for attempted murder. CA
affirmed the judgment but the SC modified the
same and held the petitioner liable only for the
so-called impossible crime. (Intod vs. CA, G.R.
No. 103119, October 21, 1992)
C. Accused was a collector for a company called
Mega Foam Int’l Inc. and received a P10,000
check as payment from a Mega Foam customer.
However, instead of turning over the check to
Mega Foam, the accused took the check and had
it deposited into her brother-in-law’s bank
account. It turns out the the check was not
funded.
In this case, petitioner performed all the acts to
consummate the crime of qualified theft, which
is a crime against property. Petitioner's evil
intent cannot be denied, as the mere act of
unlawfully taking the check meant for Mega
Foam showed her intent to gain or be unjustly
enriched. Were it not for the fact that the check
bounced, she would have received the face value
thereof, which was not rightfully hers. Therefore,
it was only due to the extraneous circumstance
of the check being unfunded, a fact unknown to
petitioner at the time, that prevented the crime
from being produced. The thing unlawfully taken
by petitioner turned out to be absolutely
worthless, because the check was eventually
dishonored, and Mega Foam had received the
cash to replace the value of said dishonored
check. (Jacinto vs. People)
What will be the liability of the offender if the
crime is not produced although there is
adequate or effectual means employed?
If the crime is not produced although there is
adequate or effectual means employed, it
cannot be impossible crime but a frustrated
felony. So, if a sufficient quantity of poison was
administered to the victim but he did not die, the
felony was not produced due to his possible
impunity to the poison, which is an act
independent of the will of the offender.
(Gregorio, Fundamentals of Criminal Law
Review)
The act performed should not constitute a
violation of another provision of the RPC
● A administered abortive drugs upon his
girlfriend B whom he believed to be pregnant
which turned out not to be true. B became ill for
more than 30 days. B will not be liable for
impossible crime of abortion but for for serious
physical injuries.
● A, with intent to take the watch of B who was
then leaning on a tree, stabbed the latter and
then took his watch. It turned out that B had
been dead hours before. What crime/s were
committed?
If B were alive before he was stabbed, A would
have been liable for robbery with homicide.
Seemingly, A is liable for impossible crime of
homicide because there is an inherent
impossibility of killing B because the latter was
already dead before the assault. But A could not
be liable for impossible crime of homicide
because also committed another crime which is
theft. Thus, A is liable for theft.
● A was driving his car around Roxas Boulevard
when a person hitched a ride. Because this
person was exquisitely dressed, A readily
welcomed the fellow inside his car and he
continued driving. When he reached a motel, A
suddenly swerved his car inside. A started kissing
his passenger, but he found out that his
passenger was not a woman but a man, and so
he pushed him out of the car, and gave him fist
blows. Is an impossible crime committed? If not,
is there any crime committed at all?
It cannot be an impossible crime, because the act
would have been a crime against chastity. The
crime is physical injuries or acts of lasciviousness,
if this was done against the will of the passenger.
There are two ways of committing acts of mayor or a fine from 200 to 500 pesos. (Art. 59,
lasciviousness. Under Article 336, where the acts RPC)
of lasciviousness were committed under
circumstances of rape, meaning to say, there is
employment of violence or intimidation or the
victim is deprived of reason. Even if the victim is
a man, the crime of acts of lasciviousness is
committed. This is a crime that is not limited to a
victim who is a woman. Acts of lasciviousness
require a victim to be a woman only when it is
committed under circumstances of seduction. If
it is committed under the circumstances of rape,
the victim may be a man or a woman.

Is there an impossible crime of rape?

Yes, because rape now is a crime against

persons. Ex. A raped the corpse of Z. (Boado,
Notes and Cases on the Revised Penal Code)

Why is impossible crime punished?

● The rationale of Article 4(2) is to punish such

criminal tendencies. (Intod vs. CA)

● The purpose of punishing impossible crime is

to suppress criminal propensity or criminal
tendencies. Objectively, the offender has not
committed a felony, but subjectively, he is a
criminal.

What is the penalty for impossible crime?

When the person intending to commit an

offense has already performed the acts for the
execution of the same but nevertheless the
crime was not produced by reason of the fact
that the act intended was by its nature one of
impossible accomplishment or because the
means employed by such person are essentially
inadequate to produce the result desired by him,
the court, having in mind the social danger and
the degree of criminality shown by the offender,
shall impose upon him the penalty of arresto