People vs. Marra, 236 SCRA 565 (1994) Digest

People vs. Marra, 236 SCRA 565 (1994)

By: G-one T. Paisones

Salient Feature:

            2016 Bar Examination; Question No. 1

Facts:

            Samuel Marra charged with the crime of murder for the fatal shooting of one Nelson Tandoc on March 7, 1992. 

            At about 3:45 A.M. of March 7, 1992, SPO3 Reynaldo de Vera of the Dagupan City Police Station received a report about the shooting incident in the Lucky Hotel. He proceeded to the crime scene along with his three companions. Jimmy Din informed them (SPO3 de Vera) that he could recognize the man who killed Tandoc and that the killer was, at that time, wearing the polo shirt of a security guard's uniform.

They decided to proceed to an eatery called "Linda's Ihaw-Ihaw." Seeing the security guard of a nearby bus company, they inquired from him if he knew of any unusual incident that happened in the vicinity. The guard said that he saw the guard of "Linda's Ihaw-Ihaw," together with some companions, chasing two persons running towards M. H. del Pilar Street. He further added that the man was wearing a polo shirt of a security guard's uniform. Asked where that particular guard might be, he pointed to a man eating inside the eatery nearby. The man eating was not in a security guard's uniform.

They approached the man and inquired whether he was the security guard of "Linda's Ihaw-Ihaw," which the latter answered in the affirmative. After a series of questions, they learned that he was Samuel Marra, that his tour of duty was from 7:00 P.M. of a preceding day to 6:00 A.M. the following day, that he was still on duty at around 2:30 in the morning of March 7, 1992, and that the firearm issued to him was in his house. Upon their request to see the firearm, they proceeded to Marra's residence at Interior Nueva Street.

When they arrived, Marra took a .38 caliber revolver from inside an aparador and handed it to De Vera. De Vera also found five live bullets and one spent shell. Smelling gunpowder from the barrel of the gun, De Vera asked Marra when he last fired the gun but the latter denied ever having done so. Abruptly, De Vera asked him point-blank why he shot Tandoc. Marra at first denied the accusation but when informed that someone saw him do it, he said that he did so in self-defense, firing at the victim only once. Tandoc allegedly had a samurai sword with him at the time of the incident. However, persistent efforts on the part of the policemen to thereafter locate said bladed weapon proved futile. Marra also admitted that prior to the incident; he chased the victim and Din. The officers then took Marra to the police station where he was detained.

Issue:

            Whether or not Marra was under custodial investigation when he admitted the killing but invoked self-defense.

Held:

            No.

Ratio:

            Custodial investigation involves any questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. It is only after the investigation ceases to be a general inquiry into an unsolved crime and begins to focus on a particular suspect, the suspect is taken into custody, and the police carries out a process of interrogations that lends itself to eliciting incriminating statements that the rule begins to operate.

            In the case at bar, appellant was not under custodial investigation when he made the admission. There was no coercion whatsoever to compel him to make such a statement. Indeed, he could have refused to answer questions from the very start when the policemen requested that they all go to his residence. The police inquiry had not yet reached a level wherein they considered him as a particular suspect. They were just probing into a number of possibilities, having been merely informed that the suspect was wearing what could be a security guard's uniform.