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People vs. Benjamin Ortega, Jr.

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee vs. BENJAMIN ORTEGA, JR. y CONJE, MANUEL GARCIA y RIVERA and JOHN DOE, accused, BENJAMIN ORTEGA, JR. y CONJE and MANUEL GARCIA y RIVERA, accused-appellants.

G.R. No. 116736 | 1997-07-24

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

A person who commits a felony is liable for the direct, natural and logical consequences of his wrongful act even where the resulting crime is more serious than that intended. Hence, an accused who originally intended to conceal and to bury what he thought was the lifeless body of the victim can be held liable as a principal, not simply as an accessory, where it is proven that the said victim was actually alive but subsequently died as a direct result of such concealment and burial. Nonetheless, in the present case, Appellant Garcia cannot be held liable as a principal because the prosecution failed to allege...