People v. Bermúdez

75 P.R. 716
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJanuary 15, 1954
DocketNo. 15477
StatusPublished

This text of 75 P.R. 716 (People v. Bermúdez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bermúdez, 75 P.R. 716 (prsupreme 1954).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Ortiz

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Miguel Bermúdez was found guilty and sentenced by the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Part, for an offense of Subornation of Perjury, and has appealed to this Court. He has assigned nineteen errors. At the outset, we shall consider the first assignment which involves the allegation that the information filed in this case is legally insufficient because it does not state facts constituting the offense of Subornation of Perjury.

The information presented in this case reads as follows:

“The Prosecuting Attorney hereby files an information against Miguel Bermudez domiciled at Street No. 6, Barrio Obrero, Santurce, c/o Treasury Department, Bureau of Beverages, San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a violation of § 122, in connec[719]*719tion with §§ 117 and 36 of the Penal Code of Puerto Rico (felony) committed in the following manner: The aforesaid defendant, Miguel Bermudez, on or about the early part of April, 1951, in the judicial district of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, taking advantage of his position as Internal Revenue Agent, wilfully, maliciously, criminally and corruptively, instigated and procured Raúl González Trinidad, in charge of the Beverages Department to commit perjury making him swear as he actually did, before the Hon. Judge Renato Ortiz, of the Municipal Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, a competent authority to administer an oath, that in the residence located at Valparaiso Street No. 714, Santurce, Puerto Rico, there existed and was sold clandestine rum, facts which are material for the request and issuance of a search warrant for a violation of the Spirits and Alcoholic Beverages Acts, facts which neither defendant nor Raúl Gon-zález Trinidad knew to be true and which furthermore were false. — This is contrary to the law provided therefor and to the peace and dignity of the ‘People of Puerto Rico.’ ”

Although the facts alleged in the information are characterized as a violation of § 122 in connection with 117 and 36 of the Penal Code, the facts charged show that the offense alleged is a violation of § 124. of the same legal corpus. This classification or designation of a crime, or the identification of a section allegedly violated in an information, is not final, since it is the facts charged therein, and not the name given to the offense which control the proper identification of the crime charged and of the statutory provision involved. The People v. Behn et al., 13 P.R.R. 1; The People v. González, 17 P.R.R. 1140; People v. Rodríguez, 46 P.R.R. 525; People v. Canals, 48 P.R.R. 775; People v. Conroig, 60 P.R.R. 163; 42 C.J.S. 992, 993, 1034.

Sections 36, 117, 122 and 124 of our Penal Code provide as follows:

“Section 36. — Principals. All persons concerned in the commission of a crime whether it be felony or misdemeanor, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid or abet in its commission, or, not being present, have advised and encouraged its commission, and all persons counseling, advising, or encouraging children under the age of four[720]*720teen years, lunatics or idiots, to commit any crime, or who, by fraud, contrivance, or force, occasion the drunkenness of another for the purpose of causing- him to commit any crime, are principals in any crime so committed.
“Section 117. — Perjury, Defined. Every person who, having taken an oath that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly before any competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any of the cases in which such an oath may by law be administered, wilfully and contrary to such oath, states as true any material matter which he knows to be false, is guilty of perjury. It is no defense to a prosecution for perjury that the oath was administered or taken in an irregular manner.
“Section 122. — Unqualified Statement. An unqualified statement of that which one does not know to be true is equivalent to a statement of that which one knows to be false.
“Section 124. — Subornation of. Every person who wilfully procures another person to commit perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and is punishable in the same manner as he would be if personally guilty of the perjury so procured.”

Section 36 is of a general character and insofar as relevant herein, it applies to all the persons who shall have advised and encouraged the commission of perjury, such persons being considered principals. People v. Montaner, 61 P.R.R. 116, 121. Section 122, to which the information incorrectly refers as the basic Section containing the elements of the offense, does not really contain the definition of the offense but merely establishes a general principle to the effect that an unqualified statement of that which one does not know to be true, is equivalent to a statement of that which one knows to be false. That Section is relevant herein, as we shall see later but the Section that really serves as the ground and basic structure of the information is § 124, which provides that every person who wilfully procures another person to commit perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury.

Now then, to establish a violation of § 124, it must be proved that the person induced to act has committed a violation of § 117 which defines perjury. That is, to hold the suborner liable under § 124, the person attempted to be suborned must actually commit perjury, as that crime has [721]*721been defined in § 117. The crime of perjury must be consummated. This is evident from § 124 itself. In its Spanish text the Section refers to every person who wilfully “indujere” (induces) another person to commit perjury. In its English text which is the prevailing one, § 13 of the Civil Code, it provides:

“Every person who wilfully procures another person to commit perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and is punishable in the same manner as he would be if personally guilty of the perjury so procured.” (Italics ours.)

In its Spanish text reference is made to the perjury “así conseguido” (so procured).

The term used in the Spanish text “indujere” does not exactly correspond to the term “procures” which means: to acquire for one’s self, to cause, to effect, to endeavor, to bring about, to obtain, to succeed in consummating the act induced. Words and Phrases, Permanent Edition. Vol. 34, p. 175; U.S. v. Somers, 164 Fed. 259; Brea v. McGlashan, 39 P. 2d 877, 3 Cal. App. 2d 454; Willson v. Turner, Resilient Floors Inc., 201 P. 2d 406, 89 Cal. App. 2d 589; State v. Bixby, 177 P. 2d 689; Shonfeld v. State, 40 N. E. 2d 700; Marcus v. Bernstein, 23 S. E. 38; Long v. State, 36 N. W. 310. To sustain an indictment for subornation of perjury under § 124, it is necessary that perjury has in fact been committed. 70 C.J.S. 549; 41 Am. Jur. 41. Hammer v. United States, 271 U. S. 620; Meyers v. United States, 171 F. 2d 800, 11 A.L.R. 2d 1, certiorari denied, 336 U. S. 912.

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Bluebook (online)
75 P.R. 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bermudez-prsupreme-1954.