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ARCHITECT

PLOT:

Ted Crawford, played by Anthony Hopkins, shot his wife who was having an affair.

He used the gun of his wifes paramour, Nunally. Cleaned up all the other evidence.

oslings character, !eachum, was an ambitious prosecutor who has never lost a case.

Crawford planned everything down to a T.

He was able to impeach the testimony of Nunally by arguing that he was under duress

while his confession was taken.

There was no murder weapon found.

"oved for dismissal for insufficiency of evidence

Charge was for attempted murder

"otion was granted.

#ulled the plug off of his wife.

"ade a confession to !eachum as Crawford gave the murder weapon

!eachum insisted that there is a new charge as crime is now murder since wife died. "ovie ended in another trial this time on appeal.

PROPRIETY OF CHARGE

Charge was for attempted murder.

$ection % of C Art. %. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies. ' Consummated

felonies as well as those which are frustrated and attempted, are punishable.

A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its e(ecution and

accomplishment are present) and it is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of

e(ecution which would produce the felony as a conse*uence but which, nevertheless, do notproduce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.

There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a felony directly or over

acts, and does not perform all the acts of e(ecution which should produce the felony by reason

of some cause or accident other than this own spontaneous desistance.

+ Article - of the &evised #enal Code involves death or physical in/uries inflicted under

e(ceptional circumstances. 0t states that1

2Any legally married person who having surprised his spouse in the act of committing se(ual

intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediatelythereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious physical in/ury, shall suffer the penalty of

destierro.

+ Art. -3. "urder. ' Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article -% shall kill

another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion temporal in its ma(imum

period to death, if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances1

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4. 5ith treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or

employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford

impunity.chanrobles virtual law library

. 0n consideration of a price, reward, or promise.chanrobles virtual law library

6. !y means of inundation, fire, poison, e(plosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment

or assault upon a street car or locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with

the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.chanrobles virtual law library

-. 7n occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an

earth*uake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic or other public

calamity.chanrobles virtual law library

8. 5ith evident premeditation.chanrobles virtual law library

%. 5ith cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or

outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.ch

There is evident premeditation as there was sufficient time for accused to plan and

orchestrate his criminal designs unaffected by any vices of free wil.

There is however a frustration of the murder committed. He was able to inflict a fatal

wound. 9ailure to obtain the result was due to causes independent of the will of the

perpetrator.

ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE

9ruit of the poisonous tree. $ection 4 Article 6, 4:3 Constitution. No torture, force,

violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate the free will shall be

used against him.

&ule against forced confessions cannot apply to spontaneous statements made by

the accused.

Allegations of duress must be duly proved. 0t cannot rest on mere insistence of

accused. #resumption of regularity must be properly disputed by means of evidence.

$tatement of Nunally should have been admitted.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

&ule 44 section $ec. . 9ormer conviction or ac*uittal) double /eopardy. ; 5hen an accused has been

convicted or ac*uitted, or the case against him dismissed or otherwise terminated

without his e(press consent by a court of competent /urisdiction, upon a valid complaint

or information or other formal charge sufficient in form and substance to sustain a

conviction and after the accused had pleaded to the charge, the conviction or ac*uittal of

the accused or the dismissal of the case shall be a bar to another prosecution for the

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offense charged, or for any attempt to commit the same or frustration thereof, or for any

offense which necessarily includes or is necessarily included in the offense charged in

the former complaint or information.

However, the conviction of the accused shall not be a bar to another prosecution for an

offense which necessarily includes the offense charged in the former complaint or

information under any of the following instances1