People v. Millán

66 P.R. 233
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 7, 1946
DocketNos. 10894, 10895, and 10896
StatusPublished

This text of 66 P.R. 233 (People v. Millán) 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. Millán, 66 P.R. 233 (prsupreme 1946).

Opinion

Me. Chief Justice Teavieso

delivered the opinion of the court.

The District Attorney of Humaeao brought an information against the appellant, charging him with the commission of murder on the person of José María Eoig. In two other separate informations the appellant was charged with the unlawful carrying of a pistol, with which he killed Eoig, and with having failed to register that firearm as required by Act No. 14 of 1936.

Upon being found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, carrying a weapon, and the failure to register said firearm, which cases had been submitted jointly, on the same evidence, the defendant appealed from the three judgments of conviction. The appellant has assigned 19 errors which we will examine and decide in the same order in which they are set forth in the briefs.

The first assignment relates to the admission and testimony of the medical expert regarding the wounds sustained by Carmelo Ortiz Cay, who was not the victim of the murder with which the appellant was charged. The latter urges that that evidence was neither necessary nor relevant to the decision of the case and that it was offered for the sole purpose of creating prejudice in the minds of the jurors against the accused, thereby violating his substantial rights.

Upon the expert witness being asked by the district attorney whether he had made an examination of the body of Carmelo Ortiz Cay, the defense objected, on the ground that [237]*237the ease which was being tried concerned the death of Roig and not the wounds inflicted upon Ortiz. The district attorney replied that Ortiz’s wounds were “part of the same transaction,” that is, that Ortiz had been wounded during the ocurrence in which Roig lost his life. Counsel for the defense stated that he had no objection to any testimony to the effect that another person had been wounded but that he did object to the introduction of any expert testimony regarding the character of the wounds. The court admitted the testimony subject to the condition of its being connected in some way with the facts of the ease at bar. The defense took an exception and then the witness testified regarding the character, location, direction, and importance of the two wounds received by Carmelo Ortiz.

The same question set up in the first assignment is raised in the second and third. The court, over the objection of the defense, permitted the medical witness to testify regarding the post-mortem examination made by him on the body of Antonio Torres Ortiz — a person other than the deceased in the murder case — and to describe the wounds received in the same occurrence by Florentino Ortiz.

Since Carmelo Ortiz and Florentino Ortiz were wounded and Antonio Torres Ortiz was killed in the same act or occurrence in which the alleged murder of José María Roig was committed, the evidence of those facts was admissible as part of the same transaction. It would indeed be impossible to narrate the facts relating to the killing of Roig without making reference to the fact that another person was killed and two others wounded in the same place, by the same person, and by means of the same weapon. See People v. Souffront, 30 P.R.R. 101; People v. Philip, 34 P.R.R. 619; People v. López, 42 P.R.R. 487; and People v. Pierantoni, 60 P.R.R. 13. The evidence regarding the character and direction of the wounds was neither relevant nor admissible. Nevertheless, it does not appear that the error [238]*238in admitting it lias caused any prejudice to the defendant, nor that it is sufficient to justify the reversal sought.

The lower court admitted in evidence a handwritten statement, made by the accused while he was detained in the Jail of Humacao, before Lieutenant Donnelly, Investigating Officer of the Military Police of the United States Army; and in connection with said statement it admitted the testimony of that officer, who is not familiar with the Spanish language. It is urged that the lower court erred in admitting the statement of the accused without the same having been properly identified and without it constituting a voluntary confession or admission incriminating the accused.

The transcript of the evidence shows that Lieutenant Donnelly, charged with the investigation of the cause of the death of Roig, who had been a soldier in active service, called on the accused and took with him as his clerk or interpreter Private Raúl Trujillo Santiago, who is perfectly familiar with the Spanish and English languages. Lieutenant Donnelly testified that when meeting the accused Millán he informed the latter of his position in the Army and that he was investigating the death of Private Roig;' that before questioning the accused, he apprised the latter of his right not to make any statement and informed him that his silence would not be used against him, but that “if he spoke any statement which he should make incriminating him might be used against him”; that thereupon the accused, through the interpreter, narrated all his actions and alleged that what he stated was the truth and that he was willing to swear to those facts; that the interpreter Trujillo forthwith took the statement of the accused, asking him at the end of each sentence whether or not it was correct; that the only three incorrect statements were crossed out and the accused put his initials in the margin; and when the entire statement was finished the witness túrned it over to the ac-[239]*239cased for liim to read it, and that the accused then carefully read each page on the statement, signified his acceptance of it, verified it, by his oath, and signed it; and that before the accused signed it, the witness apprised him once more of his rights.

We are of the opinion that the statement of the accused admitted in evidence, was sufficiently identified by the officer who - signed it, and who acknowledged the signatures of the accused and of the other persons who signed the document in his presence. The statement was made voluntarily by the accused, after having been informed of his right not to testify. Each of the pages of the statement was signed by the accused. The last paragraph of the statement reads thus: “I wish to state that I have been warned of my constitutional right not to testify, and that I make this statement voluntarily in order to co-operate with the Army in its efforts to ascertain the truth.”

The statement made by the accused is not really a confession nor an admission of guilt. On the contrary, the accused stated that he was in his establishment, throwing out the inquisitive persons who gathered there when he heard the “shots coming from Muñoz Rivera Street.” His statement is nothing else than what is known as an “exculpatory statement,” through which a person tries to protect himself by declaring that he had no participation in the criminal occurrence under investigation. The statement was admissible, and the court was not bound to instruct the 'jury that the declarations of the accused should be considered as true unless they were refuted. Recently we suggested and we now hold that the dictum to the contrary made in People v. Sánchez, 55 P.R.R. 342, 360, was erroneous and that “exculpatory matter in a confession is to be treated like any other evidence with the jury at liberty to believe or reject it.” People v. Muñiz, 65 P.R.R. 928.

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66 P.R. 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-millan-prsupreme-1946.