People v. López Muñiz

71 P.R. 1
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 13, 1950
DocketNos. 14112, 14283, 14284
StatusPublished

This text of 71 P.R. 1 (People v. López Muñiz) 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. López Muñiz, 71 P.R. 1 (prsupreme 1950).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Marrero

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Because they killed Monserrate Rivera with malice aforethought, Pedro López Muñiz and Otilio Marrero were accused by the District Attorney of Mayagüez of the crime of murder in the first degree.1 After a joint trial, the jury rendered verdict finding the former defendant guilty of murder in the second degree and acquitting the latter. López Muñiz was sentenced to from 10 to 12 years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor and from this judgment he appealed. In his brief he charges the lower court with the four errors which we shall now pass to discuss;

[3]*3 He maintains in the first place that the lower court erred in allowing Dr. José Enrique Arrarás, whose name did not appear on the back of the information, to testify as a witness for The People. The admission of the testimony of a witness whose name does.not appear on the back of the information is a matter entirely within the sound discretion of the trial court and we shall not disturb such discretion unless we are shown that there has been an abuse thereof. People v. Garay, 67 P.R.R. 815 and cases cited at page 819. Such abuse has not been shown here, especially if we take into consideration that the expert report of this doctor appeared in the record prior to the date of the trial and that therefore the defendant should have presumed that the former’s testimony could be used by The People.

Appellant contends in the second place that the district court erred in not permitting him to cross-examine Cielo Sosa Padilla, witness for The People, with respect to the reputation of the house wherein she lived. When this incident arose the witness had'already testified extensively and stated that at the time of the occurrence she was a loose woman. Besides, that for sometime now she had led an honest life. On cross-examination the defense tried to have her testify with respect to the reputation of the house in which she lived at the time of the trial. The district attorney objected and the court sustained his objection. In support of this error appellant maintains that the purpose of the cross-examination was to carry to the minds of the jury the idea that the witness Cielo Sosa Padilla was still at the date of the trial a woman of bad reputation and hence that her testimony deserved no credence.

The scope and extent of cross-examination is also a matter within the discretion of the trial judge and the use of such discretion shall not be disturbed on appeal unless there has been an abuse thereof. People v. Pellicier, 56 P.R.R. 846; People v. Santiago, 16 P.R.R. 446. Assuming, however, for the purpose of this opinion, that it was an error of [4]*4the court a quo not to allow such cross-examination, we would always be faced with the fact that the witnesses Diego de Jesús Nieves, René Camacho Caballery, and Rosa Elba Ramirez had already given their account of the event, similar in its details to the one given by the witness Cielo Sosa Padilla and that in giving credence to the testimony of those witnesses, but not to the testimony of the Sosa Padilla woman, the jury could always have arrived at the same conclusion. Hence, the fact that the cross-examination in question was not allowed in nowise constitutes reversible error.

At the close of defendant’s evidence, the prosecuting attorney stated that he was going to offer as evidence in rebuttal the testimony given before him by defendant López' Muñiz. Appellant’s attorney objected thereto but after' the jury had withdrawn and the stenographer of the district attorney had been thoroughly examined with respect to the manner in which the testimony was given, the court reached the conclusion that it had been voluntary and admitted it in' evidence. The order to that effect motivated the third error assigned by the appellant. He insists that'the admission in evidence of such testimony deprived him of the right to cross-examine the affiant, since he could not “cross-examine a piece of paper,” as well as of the opportunity to present evidence showing that the confession was- not a voluntary act on his part and of showing that the stenographer, because of -lack'of sufficient capability did not transcribe correctly his testimony. Appellant is wrong. When the rebutting evidence presented by the prosecuting attorney was admitted, he . could have asked leave of court to offer evidence in surrebuttal. ' It is possible that the court would have admitted such evidence. 64 C.J. 157, § 178; 53 Am. Jur. 108, § 122; VI Wigmore on Evidence 517, § 1874. The defendant made no request to' that effect, but instead was content to insist that the evidence in rebuttal was inadmissible.

As to the capability of the stenographer, the latter -had'; testified extensively when cross-examined by the attorney,' [5]*5for the defense and although he admitted that while acting as court reporter on two different occasions, he had met with small difficulties, he made it clear that it was due, not to the fact that he- could not transcribe his notes, but because he had been unable to find at once the questions he was asked to read to the court; He also stated that it is one thing to work as a court reporter and another to be the stenographer of a prosecuting attorney.

On the other hand, it was not in fact a confession made by the defendant, but merely a statement given by him in which, although admitting that he had killed Monserrate Rivera, he insisted that he had done so in self-defense. His version of the events, however, was not identical to that given by the two witnesses who had testified in his behalf. Hence, nothing prevented the prosecuting attorney from presenting then the testimony of the defendant as rebutting evidence. People v. Méndez, 64 P.R.R. 189. Under these circumstances the lower court did not err either in admitting defendant’s testimony as rebutting evidence.

The fourth and last error assigned by the appellant is that the lower court erred in finding the defendant guilty inasmuch as the verdict of the jury was not supported by the evidence. The evidence for The People tended to show that about half past 10 on the night of June 27, 1946, the defendants Pedro López Muñiz and Otilio Marrero arrived in an automobile at a place known as Guanajibo Beach Club, accompanied by José Román Bonet, Rosa Elba Ramírez, and Angélica Rivera; that the vehicle was driven by the chauffeur Efrain Alvarez Alvarez; that José Román Bonet, who was drunk, and was in one of the booths, started an argument with Angélica Rivera and twisted her arm,- whereupon she hit him on the head with a bottle; that Monserrate Rivera, who was in another booth, interfered whereupon a fight ensued between the latter and-José Román Bonet; that the fight, which began in the cabaret, was continued on the road,- some other persons getting into it and ending shortly thereafter; [6]

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