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PEOPLE vs. Armando A. Binamira

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-aPpelee vs. ARMANDO BINAMIRA y ALAYON, accused-appellant.

G.R. No. 110397 | 1997-08-14

D E C I S I O N


PANGANIBAN, J.:

In acquitting the accused, this Court stresses two doctrines: (1) a violation of the accused's right to retain a counsel of his own choice during custodial investigation renders his extrajudicial confession inadmissible even where such confession was extracted on October 3, 1985, i.e., before the effectivity of the 1987 Constitution, and (2) to sustain a conviction anchored on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must convincingly prove an unbroken chain of events from which only one fair and reasonable conclusion can be inferred that of the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Where such...