People v. Alsina

22 P.R. 426
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided May 17, 1915·No. No. 694·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice del Toro

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal taken by Benigno Colón Pacheco and Carlos Ferrer Rodriguez from a judgment of the District Court of Ponce convicting them of the crime of conspiracy and sentencing the former to pay a fine of $500 or, in default thereof, to imprisonment for six months, and the latter to pay a fine of $200 or, in default thereof, to imprisonment for three months.

The pertinent part of the information upon which the prosecution is based reads as follows:

“The fiscal charges Francisco Alsina, Benigno Colón Pacheco and Carlos Ferrer Rodriguez with the crime of conspiracy, a misdemeanor, committed in the following manner: In or about the month of July, .1913, the said accused Francisco Alsina, Benigno Colón Pacheco and Carlos Ferrer Rodriguez, in the city-of Ponce of this judicial district, unlawfully, maliciously and wilfully conspired to commit the crime of fraudulent destruction of insured property, a felony, by destroying by fire the insured stock of merchandise belonging to a commercial firm composed of the accused Alsina and Colón Pacheco and styled F. Alsina & Co., Ltd., which stock of'merchandise was insured against loss by fire in- the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company and the Guardian Assurance Company, Ltd., both with headquarters in London, England, and offices in San Juan, Porto Rico, and legally authorized to do business in this Island of Porto Rico, for the sums of $5,000 and $10,000 respectively, or a total in both companies of $15,000. The. policies were issued on June 6, 1913, for one year — that is, to expire on June 6, 1914 — and it was the intention of the said defendants in conspiring to commit the said crime to cheat and defraud the said companies, as civil persons, of their property, amounting in the case of the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company to $5,000 and of the Guardian Assurance Company, Limited, to $10,000, for which purpose they placed tins of [429]*429gasoline and petroleum in tbe said 'commercial establishment and set fire to tbe said stock of merchandise; likewise with the deliberate, malicious, unlawful and wilful intention of cheating and defrauding the said companies, or civil persons, they removed beforehand and conveyed a part -of the said insured merchandise to the commercial establishment of the other defendant, Carlos Ferrer Rodriguez, in Juana Diaz.”

From the transcript of the record brought up to this court it appears, that the information was demurred to on the following grounds: (1) That it was" vague; (2) that the facts stated therein did not constitute a public offense; (3) that the court had no jurisdiction of the' case because the information had not been filed within the time prescribed by law; (4) that the defendants were charged with more than one offense; (5) that the information was ambiguous; and (6) that as it is inferred from the information that the accused .committed the greater crime of felony, the lesser crime of conspiracy, a misdemeanor, should be considered as merged therein.

The ruling of the court on the demurrer is not shown in the transcript of "the record, but as the case went on to trial we must presume that it .was adverse to the contentions of the accused.

1 and 2. The first and second grounds of demurrer clearly are without foundation. Under the title “Conspiracy” the Penal Code in force in Porto Eico provides in section 62 that if two or more persons conspire, among other things, to cheat and defraud any person of any property by any means which are in themselves criminal, they are punishable by imprisonment in jail not exceeding one year or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both, and a perusal of the information is sufficient to show that it charges the defendants in a specific and not in a vague manner with an act which is clearly comprised within the penal statute .cited — that is, of having conspired to defraud certain insurance companies, [430]*430or juridical persons, of their property by removing and setting fire to insured merchandise.

3. We have not sufficient data upon which to decide the third ground of demurrer. The date on which the defendants were arrested is not shown and, in the absence of proof to the contrary, we must presume that the information was filed within the time fixed by law.

4 and 5. Regarding the fourth and fifth grounds of demurrer, we will say that although the information alleges facts which of themselves alone tend to establish the crime of incendiarism, it is deduced from the information as a whole that the fiscal charged the defendants with the offense of conspiracy only.

6. The sixth and last ground of demurrer raises a question of law which Jias been the subject of the broadest and most careful study in England and the United States and on which the decisions of the courts are conflicting.

There is conflict of authority as to whether conspiracy to commit a felony is merged in the greater offense when the object of the conspiracy is accomplished. According to a number of decisions, when the felony which is the object of the conspiracy is committed, the conspiracy, being a misdemeanor, is merged in the felony. There are, however, many decisions which reach a contrary conclusion and hold that a misdemeanor which is a part of a felony may be punished as a misdemeanor although the felony is accomplished. 8 Cyc., 644.

One of the most interesting cases in support of the latter theory which we have consulted is that of State v. Setter (Connecticut), reported in 14 A. S. R., 121.

The only question argued before the court in that case was whether the' crime of conspiracy to commit larceny, as charged in the information, was merged in the crime of larceny which was actually committed as shown by the evidence introduced at the trial. The court held that notwithstanding the result of the evidence, the crime of conspiracy could [431]*431be prosecuted and punished, as in fact it was. In the course of its opinion the court said:

“Mr. Bishop, in bis treatise on the criminal law (7th ed., sec. SI 4), after ■ discussing the rule that a conspiracy merges in a felony, remarks: ‘The doctrine, the reader perceives, is contrary to just principle; it has been rejected in England, and though there may be states in which it is binding on the courts, it is not to be deemed the general American law.’ Professor Wheaton (Criminal Law, 8th ed., sec. 1344) says: ‘The technical rule that a misdemeanor always sinks in the felony when the two meet has in some instances been recognized' in this country, though without good reason * * *.’ And in several of our courts a disposition has been exhibited to reject the doctrine in all eases. See eases cited below.
“In England, the doctrine that a conspiracy to commit a felony is merged in the felony itself has been expressly rejected. Lord Den-man, in rendering the judgment of the court of queen’s bench in Regina v. Button, 11 Q. B., 929, said: ‘Misdemeanor which is a part of a felony may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, though the felony has been completed.’ The case was one where the defendants were charged with a conspiracy to commit a theft, and the evidence tended to show that the theft had been actually committed. Regina v. Neale, 1 Den. C. C., 36, is to the same effect.” 14 Am. St. Rep., 124-125.

The opinion of this court on the point was clearly stated in the case of The People v.

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People v. Alsina, 22 P.R. 426 (prsupreme 1915).

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