US V Gacutan
GR No. L-9600, 1 Oct. 1914
Moreland, J.:
FACTS:
On July 20, 1912, Elias Pagulayan was charged before justice of the peace Eugenio Gacutan of Solana, Cagayan with the theft of a horse belonging to Pascua; that on or about July 31, 1912, Gacutan promised Pascua that, in consideration of the delivery to him of a female carabao worth P80 he would decide the case against Pagulayan regardless of the evidence; that said carabao was delivered in pursuance of that agreement; that Gacutan, fulfilling his promise, did on August 12, 1912, convict Pagulayan of the crime of larceny and sentence him to six months' imprisonment, to pay the costs, and to indemnify Pascua in the sum of P50, the value of the horse alleged to have been stolen; that the sentence imposed was not executed for the reason that on August 23, 1912, Gacutan transferred the cause to the Court of First Instance, the same not being within his jurisdiction.
On 2 Oct. 1913, Gacutan was convicted of bribery in CFI Cagayan for accepting the carabao as a bribe in consideration of the agreement.
ISSUE:
W/N Gacutan can be convicted in violation of Art. 347, rendering an unjust decision.
HELD:
No. The Court ruled that the evidences whether Gacutan rendered an unjust or just decision. Neither does the Court know if such decision had been executed or not. It does not appear that the accused knowingly rendered an unjust judgment even if we concede that the judgment was unjust. The mere fact that the court may not have had jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action does not necessarily establish the fact that his judgment was unjust. He may have been honestly mistaken with respect to his jurisdiction. In fact, this seems to have been precisely the case, for, on being informed of the existence of the law depriving his court of jurisdiction in such cases, he immediately set aside his judgment of conviction and sent the case to the CFI for trial.
