SC upholds Makati court in redefining Leviste case as murder

The story is complex, but the lesson is simple enough: If you are tried at first for homicide, but have not yet entered a plea, the court has the right to amend your case to the graver crime of murder. That is how the Supreme Court decided last week on the legal question arising from the case of former Batangas Gov. Jose Antonio Leviste, who was first slapped with homicide for killing his longtime business aide in 2007. The Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) then quickly amended the charge to murder. Leviste questioned before the Court of Appeals the legality of the RTC move, arguing that only the Department of Justice may handle such reevaluation. The CA ruled against Leviste’s petition and upheld the move of the RTC, which in turn convicted Leviste of the lighter crime of homicide. Last week, the SC upheld the CA ruling in favor of the Makati court. "The court has denied the petition of the former governor of Batangas, who is questioning the amendment of the information from homicide to murder. The lower court was within its jurisdiction to [amend the information] from homicide to murder," said SC administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez at a news briefing Tuesday. The court also said Leviste's petition has been rendered moot because Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati RTC Branch 150 had already convicted Leviste of homicide in January 2009 for the killing of his longtime friend Rafael de las Alas three years ago. In a 26-page decision promulgated last August 3, the SC's Third Division affirmed a CA ruling that allowed the Makati court to amend the information. Associate Justice Conchito Carpio-Morales penned the ruling, with Associate Justices Antonio Nachura, Lucas Bersamin, Roberto Abad, and Martin Villarama Jr. concurring. On February 7, 2007, the Makati RTC had issued an order admitting the amended information for murder and directing the issuance for a warrant of arrest against Leviste. A day later, it also issued an order setting Leviste's arraignment on February 13, 2007, to which the former governor pleaded not guilty. Although Leviste admitted having gunned down De las Alas, he insisted that he did so in self-defense. Philippine criminal law defines murder as a killing which is deliberate or premeditated, while in homicide there is no such element of premeditation. In its decision, the SC found nothing wrong with the RTC’s orders because they were issued before Leviste entered his plea. "Before the accused enters a plea, a formal or substantial amendment of the complaint may be made without leave of court,'" said the SC. The high court also rendered Leviste's petition as moot because the former governor was already convicted of homicide in January 2009. He was also sentenced to six to 12 years of imprisonment. "The petition is now moot, however, in view of the trial court’s rendition of judgment," a portion of the ruling said. —Sophie Dedace/JV, GMANews.TV