People Vs Taneo
People Vs Taneo
1. INSANITY Ruling:
PEOPLE VS TANEO No. The Court concluded that the
FACTS: defendant acted while in a dream. His acts
were not voluntary in the sense of entailing
Potenciano Taneo and his wife lived jn criminal liability.
his parent’s house in Dolores, Ormoc. On
January 16, 1932, a fiesta was being The Court took the special circumstances of
celebrated in the said barrio and guests were the case, in which the victim was the
entertained in the house, among them were defendant’s own wife whom he dearly loved,
Fred Tanner and Luis Malinao. Early that and taking into consideration the fact that the
afternoon, Potenciano went to sleep and while defendant tried to attack also his father, in
sleeping, he suddenly got up, left the room bolo whose house and under whose protection he
in hand and, upon meeting his wife who tried to lived, besides attacking Tanner and Malinao,
stop him, wounded her in the abdomen. He his guests, whom he himself invited as may be
also attacked Fred and Luis and tried to attack inferred from the evidence presented, the Court
his father, after which, he wounded himself. found not only a lack of motive for the
defendant to voluntarily commit the acts
Potenciano’s wife, who was 7 months pregnant
complained of, but also motives for not
at that time, died five days later as a result of committing said acts.
the wound.
The trial court found Potenciano guilty of Doctor Serafica, an expert witness in this case,
parricide and was sentenced to reclusion is also of the same opinion. The doctor stated
perpetua. that considering the circumstances of the case,
the defendant acted while in a dream, under
It appear from the evidence that the day before the influence of a hallucination and not in his
the commission of the crime, the defendant right mind.
had a quarrel over a glass of tuba with
Collantes and Abadilla, who invited him to
come down and fight. When he was about to
go down, he was stopped by his wife and his
mother. On the day of the commission of the
crime, it was noted that the defendant was sad
and weak, had a sever stomachache that’s why
he went to bed in the early afternoon. The
defendant stated that when he fell asleep, he
dreamed that Collantes was trying to stab him
with a bolo while Abadila held his feet. That’s
why he got up and it seemed to him that his
enemies were inviting him to come down; he
armed himself with a bolo and left the room. At
the door, he met his wife who seemed to say to
him that she was wounded. Then, he fancied
seeing his wife really wounded and in
desperation wounded himself. As his enemies
seemed to multiply around him, he attacked
everybody that came his way.