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People Vs Escordial - Pelayo Facts

Three women were raped and robbed in their boarding house. They identified Anthony Escordial as the attacker in a police lineup without the presence of counsel. The Supreme Court ruled the out-of-court identification inadmissible, as Escordial was already a suspect and under custodial investigation but was not assisted by counsel. Without the identification evidence, the court found Escordial not guilty and overturned his conviction.

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28 views

People Vs Escordial - Pelayo Facts

Three women were raped and robbed in their boarding house. They identified Anthony Escordial as the attacker in a police lineup without the presence of counsel. The Supreme Court ruled the out-of-court identification inadmissible, as Escordial was already a suspect and under custodial investigation but was not assisted by counsel. Without the identification evidence, the court found Escordial not guilty and overturned his conviction.

Uploaded by

JrPelayo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PEOPLE VS ESCORDIAL - PELAYO

FACTS:

Jason Joniega, Mark Esmeralda and Mark Lucena


were playing inside a jeepney parked in front of
a boarding house at Libertad St. Bacolod City.
One got hit on his head on the rails of the
jeepney, the boys were told by a man sitting
inside the jeepney to go home. The man was
later identified by Joniega and Esmeralda as
Anthony Escordial.
MEANWHILE Living in a boarding house were
Michelle Darunday, Erma Blanca, and Ma.
Teresa Gellaver.
They were asleep, they woke up cause of this
man, his head covered with a shirt and had a
knife. The man was able to get P500.00 from
Erma and P3,100.00 from Michelle.
After getting their money, the man gave a tshirt to Erma to blindfold Teresa and another to
Michelle to blindfold Erma.
He blindfolded Michelle himself and then began
touching and raping her.
Michelle = blindfolded and could not see, she
could feel that the man had no cover on his
face. She felt that his chest was rough and had
some scars. When he placed her hands on his
nape, she felt that it was also rough.
Erma = claimed she was able to see through
her blindfold and that she saw the man's face
because of the light coming from the lamp post
outside the boarding house.

After he had finished raping Michelle, the man


sat on the bed and talked. Sex ulit daw but
Michelle pleaded with him.
Man threatened to call his companions and
more rape.
He ordered Michelle to lie on her stomach and
then inserted his penis into her anus. After he
was done -> covered with a blanket and
returned earrings.
Warned the women not to report the matter to
anyone or he would kill them. Then left. Girls
didnt talk for 30 mins cause they were scared.
They told their neighbor, Tiyo Anong and Allan
Aguillon son of the owner of the boarding house
about the incident.
Policemen arrived, they asked to describe the
attacker, but could only identify his voice and
his eyes. They looked for the man but they did
not find him. Subsequently they were taken to
the police station at Bac-Up for investigation.
But, at Michelle's request, Erma and Teresa did
not tell the others about rape. She went home,
Michelle found her aunt and uncle. She
embraced them and told her about the rape.
Michelle was again taken to the police, where
she was referred to the Women's Desk to report
the rape.
The following day, P03 Nicolas Tancinco went
around Margarita Extension and learned about
the children playing on the street. The
description of the suspect fitted a worker at a
caf called Coffee Break Corner, about two
houses away from the boarding house.

They went there, asked the Security and asked


the Owner, Fidel. told them that Escordial was
his helper and that the latter had gone home
Negros Occidental.
Based on the information they looked for
Escordial. They found Escordial at the basketball
court and "invited" him to go to the police
station for questioning.
At the Bacolod police station, Erma Blanca, Ma.
Teresa Gellaver, Jason Joniega, and Mark
Esmeralda were asked whether Escordial was
the same person they saw on the night of the
incident. They were taken one by one to the jail
cell and asked to point to the person that they
had seen that night. They picked Escordial out
of four people who were inside the jail cell.
He was charged with rape & robbery with rape.
When arraigned pleaded not guilty to the
charges, whereupon the two cases were jointly
tried.
Trial Court = Guilty. Escordial appealed.

Issue: Whether the out-of-court identification in the


show up at the police station, made after the start of
the custodial investigation, may be used in court.

Held:

While it cannot be denied that Escordial was


deprived of his right to be informed of his rights
to remain silent and to have competent and
independent counsel, he has not shown that, as
a result of his custodial interrogation, the police
obtained any statement from him whether

inculpatory or exculpatory - which was used in


evidence against him.
No uncounseled statement was obtained from
Escordial which should have been excluded as
evidence against him. However, Escordial was
never assisted by counsel, whether of his own
choice or provided by the police officers, from
the time of his arrest in Pontevedra, Negros
Occidental to the time of his continued
detention at the Bacolod police station.
Although Escordial made no statement during
this time, this fact remains important insofar as
it affects the admissibility of the out-of-court
identification of Escordial by the prosecution
witnesses, namely, Michelle Darunday, Erma
Blanca, Ma. Teresa Gellaver, Mark Esmeralda,
and Jason Joniega.
As a rule, an accused is not entitled to the
assistance of counsel in a police line-up
considering that such is usually not a part of the
custodial inquest.
However, the previous cases are different
inasmuch as Escordial, having been the focus of
attention by the police after he had been
pointed to by a certain Ramie as the possible
perpetrator of the crime, was already under
custodial investigation when these out-of-court
identifications were conducted by the police.
An out-of-court identification of an accused can
be made in various ways. In a show-up, the
accused alone is brought face to face with the
witness for identification, while in a police line-

up, the suspect is identified by a witness from a


group of persons gathered for that purpose.
During custodial investigation, these types of
identification have been recognized as "critical
confrontations
of
the
accused
by
the
prosecution" which necessitate the presence of
counsel for the accused. This is because the
results of these pre-trial proceedings "might well
settle the accused's fate and reduce the trial
itself to a mere formality."
The Court thus ruled that any identification of an
uncounseled accused made in a police line-up,
or in a show-up for that matter, after the start of
the custodial investigation is inadmissible as
evidence against him.

Herein, Escordial was identified by Michelle


Darunda in a show-up and by Erma Blanca, Ma.
Teresa Gellaver, Jason Joniega, and Mark
Esmeralda in a police line-up on various dates
after his arrest.
Having been made when Escordial did not have
the assistance of counsel, these out-of-court
identifications are inadmissible in evidence
against him. Consequently, the testimonies of
these witnesses regarding these identifications
should have been held inadmissible for being
"the direct result of the illegal lineup 'come at
by exploitation of [the primary] illegality.'"

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