PEOPLE v.

AMIT [32 SCRA 95 (1970)]

Facts: Marcelo Amit was charged with the complex crime of rape with homicide (Art.
335, RPC, as amended). He pleaded guilty and the court sentenced him to death, with
accessories prescribed by law; to indemnify the heirs and pay the costs. He claims that
the penalty of death should be reduced to reclusion perpetua because of the mitigating
circumstances of plea of guilty, voluntary surrender, and lack of intention to commit so
grave a wrong.
Held: Lack of intention to commit so grave a wrong as the one actually committed,
because of its nature, must necessarily be judged in the light of the acts committed by
him & the circumstances under which they are committed. Should they show a great
disproportion between the means employed to accomplish the criminal act, one the one
hand, & its consequences, on the other, the mitigating circumstance must be considered
in favor of the accused. At the time of the commission of the crime, the accused was 32
years of age, while his victim was 25 years his senior, and when the latter resisted his
attempt to rape her by biting and scratching him, to subdue her, the accused boxed her
and then held her on the neck and pressed it down, while she was lying on her back
and he was on top of her, these acts were reasonably sufficient to produce the result
that they actually produced the death of the victim. The penalty of death prescribed in
the last paragraph of Art. 335 of the RPC, as amended by RA. 2632 and 4111 being an
indivisible penalty, it has to be imposed regardless of the presence of mitigating
circumstances, especially in a case like the present where there are aggravating
circumstances of nighttime and abuse of superior strength (Art. 63(1), RPC) Illness of
the offender considered mitigating. Example of illness of the nerves or moral faculty.
"Although she is mentally sane, we, however, are inclined to extend our sympathy to the
appellant because of her misfortunes and weak character. According to the report she is
suffering from a mild behaviour disorder as a consequence of the illness she had in
early life. We are willing to regard this as a mitigating circumstance under Art. 13,
Revised Penal Code, either in paragraph 9 or in paragraph 10."