CRIMINAL PROCEDURE FINALS REVIEWER 2014

Section 1. Evidence defined. Evidence is the means, sanctioned by these rules, of

ascertaining in a judicial proceeding the truth respecting a matter of fact. (1)
Section 4. Circumstantial evidence, when sufficient. Circumstantial evidence is
sufficient for conviction if:
(a) There is more than one circumstances;
(b) The facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and
(c) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction
beyond reasonable doubt
EXCEPTIONS TO THE HEARSAY RULE:
1. Dying Declaration;
2. Declaration Against Interest;
3. Act or declaration About pedigree;
4. Family reputation or tradition regarding pedigree;
5. Common reputation;
6. Res Gestae;
7. Entries in the ordinary course of business;
8. Entries in official records;
9. Commercial lists;
10. Learned treatises;
11. Testimony or deposition at a former proceeding
HEARSAY EVIDENCE. The evidence of those who relate, not what they know
themselves, but what they have heard from others.
Qualification of Witnesses

Section 20. Witnesses; their qualifications. Except as provided in the next
succeeding section, all persons who can perceive, and perceiving, can make their known
perception to others, may be witnesses.
Religious or political belief, interest in the outcome of the case, or conviction of a crime
unless otherwise provided by law, shall not be ground for disqualification. (18a)
Section 21. Disqualification by reason of mental incapacity or immaturity. The
following persons cannot be witnesses:
(a) Those whose mental condition, at the time of their production for examination,
is such that they are incapable of intelligently making known their perception to others;
(b) Children whose mental maturity is such as to render them incapable of
perceiving the facts respecting which they are examined and of relating them truthfully.
(19a)
Section 22. Disqualification by reason of marriage. During their marriage, neither
the husband nor the wife may testify for or against the other without the consent of the
affected spouse, except in a civil case by one against the other, or in a criminal case for a
crime committed by one against the other or the latter's direct descendants or
ascendants. (20a)

Section 23. Disqualification by reason of death or insanity of adverse party. Parties or
assignor of parties to a case, or persons in whose behalf a case is prosecuted, against an
executor or administrator or other representative of a deceased person, or against a person of
unsound mind, upon a claim or demand against the estate of such deceased person or against
such person of unsound mind, cannot testify as to any matter of fact occurring before the death
of such deceased person or before such person became of unsound mind. (20a)
Section 24. Disqualification by reason of privileged communication. The following persons
cannot testify as to matters learned in confidence in the following cases:
(a) The husband or the wife, during or after the marriage, cannot be examined
without the consent of the other as to any communication received in confidence by
one from the other during the marriage except in a civil case by one against the other,
or in a criminal case for a crime committed by one against the other or the latter's direct
descendants or ascendants;
(b) An attorney cannot, without the consent of his client, be examined as to any
communication made by the client to him, or his advice given thereon in the course of,
or with a view to, professional employment, nor can an attorney's secretary,
stenographer, or clerk be examined, without the consent of the client and his employer,
concerning any fact the knowledge of which has been acquired in such capacity;
(c) A person authorized to practice medicine, surgery or obstetrics cannot in a civil
case, without the consent of the patient, be examined as to any advice or treatment
given by him or any information which he may have acquired in attending such patient
in a professional capacity, which information was necessary to enable him to act in
capacity, and which would blacken the reputation of the patient.
(d) A minister or priest cannot, without the consent of the person making the
confession, be examined as to any confession made to or any advice given by him in his
professional character in the course of discipline enjoined by the church to which the
minister or priest belongs;
(e) A public officer cannot be examined during his term of office or afterwards, as to
communications made to him in official confidence, when the court finds that the public
interest would suffer by the disclosure. (21a)
Spousal privilege (also called marital privilege or husband-wife privilege) is a term
used in the law of evidence to describe two separate privileges: the communications
privilege and the testimonial privilege. Both types of privilege are based on the policy of
encouraging spousal harmony, and preventing spouses from having to condemn, or be
condemned by, their spouses.

The right given to a Husband and Wife to refuse to testify in a trial as to
confidential statements made to each other within and during the framework of
their spousal relationship.The marital communications privilege is a right that
only legally married persons have in court. Also called the husband-wife
privilege, it protects the privacy of communications between spouses. The
privilege allows them to refuse to testify about a conversation or a letter that
they have privately exchanged as marital partners.
QUANTUM OF EVIDENCE REQUIRED

A. Criminal cases: Proof of Guilt Must be Beyond reasonable doubt.
1. That degree of proof, which, excluding the possibility of error, produces moral certainty. If
the inculpatory facts are capable of two or more explanations, one of which is consistent with
the innocence of the accused and the other consistent with his guilt, then the evidence does
not fulfill the test of moral certainty and is not sufficient to support a conviction.
Doctrine of Processual Presumption The foreign law, whenever applicable, should be
proved by the proponent thereof, otherwise, such law shall be presumed to be exactly
the same as the law of the forum.
Section 3. Disputable presumptions. The following presumptions are satisfactory
if uncontradicted, but may be contradicted and overcome by other evidence:
(a) That a person is innocent of crime or wrong;
(b) That an unlawful act was done with an unlawful intent;
(c) That a person intends the ordinary consequences of his voluntary act;
(d) That a person takes ordinary care of his concerns;
(e) That evidence willfully suppressed would be adverse if produced;
(f) That money paid by one to another was due to the latter;
(g) That a thing delivered by one to another belonged to the latter;
(h) That an obligation delivered up to the debtor has been paid;
(i) That prior rents or installments had been paid when a receipt for the later one is
produced;
(j) That a person found in possession of a thing taken in the doing of a recent
wrongful act is the taker and the doer of the whole act; otherwise, that things which a
person possess, or exercises acts of ownership over, are owned by him;
(k) That a person in possession of an order on himself for the payment of the
money, or the delivery of anything, has paid the money or delivered the thing
accordingly;
(l) That a person acting in a public office was regularly appointed or elected to it;
(m) That official duty has been regularly performed;
(n) That a court, or judge acting as such, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere,
was acting in the lawful exercise of jurisdiction;
(o) That all the matters within an issue raised in a case were laid before the court
and passed upon by it; and in like manner that all matters within an issue raised in a
dispute submitted for arbitration were laid before the arbitrators and passed upon by
them;
(p) That private transactions have been fair and regular;
(q) That the ordinary course of business has been followed;
(r) That there was a sufficient consideration for a contract;
(s) That a negotiable instrument was given or indorsed for a sufficient
consideration;
(t) That an endorsement of negotiable instrument was made before the instrument
was overdue and at the place where the instrument is dated;
(u) That a writing is truly dated;
(v) That a letter duly directed and mailed was received in the regular course of the
mail;
(w) That after an absence of seven years, it being unknown whether or not the
absentee still lives, he is considered dead for all purposes, except for those of
succession.
Conclusive evidenceevidence which is incontrovertible or one which the law does not
allow it to be contradicted.
Evidence that is beyond reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence required to
validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. Generally the
prosecution bears the burden of proof and is required to prove their version of events
to this standard.
Prima Facie Evidenceevidence which suffices for the proof of a particular fact until
contradicted and overcome by other evidence.
Direct examination. Direct examination is the examination-in-chief of a witness by
the party presenting him on the facts relevant to the issue.
Cross-examination; its purpose and extent. Upon the termination of the direct
examination, the witness may be cross-examined by the adverse party as to many
matters stated in the direct examination, or connected therewith, with sufficient
fullness and freedom to test his accuracy and truthfulness and freedom from interest or
bias, or the reverse, and to elicit all important facts bearing upon the issue.
Re-cross-examination. Upon the conclusion of the re-direct examination, the adverse
party may re-cross-examine the witness on matters stated in his re-direct examination,
and also on such other matters as may be allowed by the court in its discretion.



RES GESTAE literally means things done; it includes the circumstances, facts, and
declarations incidental to the main fact or transaction necessary to illustrate its
character and also includes acts, words or declaration which are closely connected
therewith as to constitute part of the transaction.
TWO TYPES OF RES GESTAE:
1. Statements made by a person while a startling occurrence is taking place or immediately
prior or subsequent thereto with respect to the circumstances thereof (SPONTANEOUS
STATEMENTS)
2. Statements accompanying an equivocal act material to the issue, and giving it a legal
significance (VERBAL ACTS).

These rules generally require the original or reliable duplicate of any "writing,
recording, or photograph" when the content of that evidence is given legal significance
by substantive law (such as a contracts or copyright dispute) or by the parties
themselves (such as using a video recording of a bank robbery).

NOTE: Where the transactions have been recorded in writing but the contents of such
writing are not the subject of inquiry, the best evidence rule does not apply. The best
evidence rule is not involved if the contents of affidavits or depositions are not the
issues in the case but are only intended as evidence to establish the issue in
controversy. The use of said affidavits is regulated by the hearsay evidence rule.

The name fruit of the poisonous tree is thus a metaphor: the poisonous tree is evidence
seized in an illegal arrest, search, or interrogation by law enforcement. The fruit of this
poisonous tree is evidence later discovered because of knowledge gained from the first
illegal search, arrest, or interrogation. The poisonous tree and the fruit are both
excluded from a criminal trial.
Best Evidence Rule
Section 3. Original document must be produced; exceptions. When the subject of
inquiry is the contents of a document, no evidence shall be admissible other than the
original document itself, except in the following cases:
(a) When the original has been lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced in court,
without bad faith on the part of the offeror;
(b) When the original is in the custody or under the control of the party against
whom the evidence is offered, and the latter fails to produce it after reasonable notice;
(c) When the original consists of numerous accounts or other documents which
cannot be examined in court without great loss of time and the fact sought to be
established from them is only the general result of the whole; and
(d) When the original is a public record in the custody of a public officer or
isrecorded in a public office. (2a)
Section 4. Original of document.
(a) The original of the document is one the contents of which are the subject of
inquiry.
(b) When a document is in two or more copies executed at or about the same time,
with identical contents, all such copies are equally regarded as originals.
(c) When an entry is repeated in the regular course of business, one being copied
from another at or near the time of the transaction, all the entries are likewise equally
regarded as originals. (3a)
In the discharge of an accused in order that he may be a state witness, the following
conditions must be present, namely:
(1) Two or more accused are jointly charged with the commission of an offense;
(2) The motion for discharge is filed by the prosecution before it rests its case;
(3) The prosecution is required to present evidence and the sworn statement of
each proposed state witness at a hearing in support of the discharge;
(4) The accused gives his consent to be a state witness; and
(5) The trial court is satisfied that:
a) There is absolute necessity for the testimony of the accused whose discharge is
requested;
b) There is no other direct evidence available for the proper prosecution of the
offense committed, except the testimony of said accused;
c) The testimony of said accused can be substantially corroborated in its material
points;
d) Said accused does not appear to be the most guilty; and,
e) Said accused has not at any time been convicted of any offense involving moral
turpitude.
Section 51. Character evidence not generally admissible; exceptions:
(a) In Criminal Cases:
(1) The accused may prove his good moral character which is pertinent to the moral
trait involved in the offense charged.
(2) Unless in rebuttal, the prosecution may not prove his bad moral character which
is pertinent to the moral trait involved in the offense charged.
(3) The good or bad moral character of the offended party may be proved if it tends
to establish in any reasonable degree the probability or improbability of the offense
charged.
(b) In Civil Cases: Evidence of the moral character of a party in civil case is admissible
only when pertinent to the issue of character involved in the case.
c) In the case provided for in Rule 132, Section 14

FACTUM PROBANDUM - the ultimate fact sought to be established.
It may be ascertained in:
1. pleadings submitted by the parties
2. pre-trial order
3. issues which are tried with the express or implied consent of the parties. (Sec. 5,
Rule 10)
FACTUM PROBANS - the material evidencing the proposition. It is the fact by which the
factum probandum is established.