Criminal Case Digest: De Leon vs Director of Prison, 31 Phil 60 G.R. No. L-10038, March 31, 1915

De Leon vs Director of Prison, 31 Phil 60
G.R. No. L-10038, March 31, 1915
Criminal Case Digest
Digested Cases
Criminal Law 


Facts:
1. That some time prior to the 11th day of January, 1904, the said Marcelo de Leon and others were charged with the crime of illegal detention, were arrested, tried, found guilty of said crime, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court;
2. From the sentence of the lower court Marcelo de Leon, together with the others, appealed to this court where, after a consideration of the cause, the sentence of the lower court was modified and he (Marcelo de Leon) was sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of eighteen years of reclusion temporal, with the legal accessory penalties, and to pay the costs;
3. On the 19th day of November, 1909, the Honorable W. Cameron Forbes, Acting Governor-General, extended to the defendant a conditional pardon
4. That the plaintiff, Marcelo de Leon, was transferred to the Iwahig Penal Colony, but for some reason or other was later transferred again to Bilibid;
5. That on the 17th day of November, 1913, the Honorable Francis Burton Harrison, Governor-General, issued a conditional pardon to the plaintiff, the condition being that he should not be guilty of any crime or infraction of the law, the punishment for which should be a year or more of imprisonment, during the rest of the unexpired time of his sentence of imprisonment already imposed;
6. On the 15th day of June, 1914, by a letter from the Honorable Ignacio Villamor, Executive Secretary, to the Director of Prisons, it appears that the Governor-General, by reason of representations made to him by the prison authorities, directed the cancellation of the conditional pardon signed by him under date of November 17, 1913;
7. The said conditional pardon of His Excellency the Governor-General of the 17th of November, 1913, had never been delivered nor communicated to the plaintiff, neither had the same been accepted by him

Issues: Whether or not the conditional pardon should be granted to the convict if it is not yet been delivered or accepted by the convict?

Held: Conditional pardon is certainly a contract between two parties: the Chief Executive, who grants the pardon, and the convict, who accepts it. It does not become perfected until the convict is notified of the same and accepts it with all its conditions.

Pardon was neither delivered nor accepted before it was canceled by the order of the Governor-General. The same being canceled before delivery or acceptance, it was without force or effect and the petition for the writ of habeas corpus based upon the same must be denied.

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the lower court is hereby affirmed, with costs.


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