Intent, ideas and plans; generally not punishable, even if, had they been carried out, they would constitute a crime
The intention and act must concur.
Illustration: Ernie plans to kill Bert (2) External acts
(a) Preparatory Acts
Acts tending toward the crime.
Ordinarily not punished except when considered by law as independent crimes (i.e. Art. 304 – possession of picklocks)
Proposal and conspiracy to commit a felony are not punishable except when the law provides for their punishment in certain felonies
These acts do not yet constitute even the first stage of the acts of execution.
Intent not yet disclosed.
Illustration: Ernie goes to the kitchen to get a knife.
(b) Acts of Execution
Usually overt acts with a logical relation to a particular concrete offense.
Punishable under the RPC.
Illustration: Ernie stabs Bert
A commission of the felony is deemed commenced when the following are present:
(1) There are external acts.
(2) Such external acts have a direct connection with the crime intended to be committed.
Indeterminate Offense – It is one where the purpose of the offender in performing an act is not certain. Its nature in relation to its objective is ambiguous. The intention of the accused must be viewed from the nature of the acts executed by him, and not from his admission.
The accused may be convicted of a felony defined by the acts performed by him up to the time of desistance.
People v. Lamahang (1935):
Aurelio Lamahang was caught opening with an iron bar a wall of a store of cheap goods in Fuentes St. Iloilo. He broke one board and was unfastening another when a patrolling police caught him. The owners of the store were sleeping inside store as it was early dawn.
Lamahang was then convicted of attempted robbery
Held: The crime committed was only attempted trespass to dwelling. Attempt should have logical relation to a particular and concrete offense which would lead directly to consummation. It is necessary to establish an unavoidable connection & logical &
natural relation of cause and effect. It’s also important to show clear intent to commit crime. In the case at bar, we can only infer that his intent was to enter by force, other inferences are not justified by facts. Groizard:
infer only from nature of acts executed. Acts susceptible of double interpretation can’t furnish ground for themselves. The mind should not directly infer intent.
Attempted and Frustrated Felonies – The difference between the attempted stage and the frustrated stage lies in whether the
22 offender has performed all the acts of execution for the accomplishment of a felony.
Attempted
B. 1. ATTEMPTED STAGE
Elements:(1) The offender commences the commission of the felony directly by overt acts;
(2) He does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the felony;
(3) The non-performance of all acts of execution was due to cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance.
Overt Act – Some physical activity or deed, indicating the intention to commit a particular crime, more than a mere planning or preparation, which if carried to its complete termination following its natural course, without being frustrated by external obstacles nor by the voluntary desistance of the perpetrator, will logically and necessarily ripen into a concrete offense.
Marks the commencement of the subjective phase:
Subjective phase - That portion of the acts constituting a crime, starting from the point where the offender begins the commission of the crime to that point where he still has control over his acts including their (act’s) natural course
If between those two points, the offender is stopped by reason of any cause outside of his own voluntary desistance, the subjective phase has not been passed and it is merely an attempt.
Desistance – is an absolutory cause which negates criminal liability because the law encourages a person to desist from committing a crime.
But, it does not negate all criminal liability, if the desistance was made when acts done by him already resulted in a felony, the offender will still be criminally liable for the felony brought about by his act.
What is negated is only the attempted stage, but there may be other felonies arising from his act.
Note: Desistance is true only in the attempted stage of the felony.
23
If the felony is already in its frustrated stage, desistance will NOT negate criminal liability.
In the attempted stage, the definition uses the word “directly.”
The word “directly” emphasizes the requirement that the attempted felony is that which is directly linked to the overt act performed by the offender, not the felony he has in his mind.
There are some acts which are ingredients of a certain crime, but which are, by themselves, already criminal offenses like in the case of People v. Lamahang (1935) where the act of removing the panel indicates only at most the intention to enter, he can only be prosecuted for trespass and not robbery.
People v. Campuhan (2000):
The mother of the 4-year-old victim caught the houseboy Campuhan in the act of almost raping her daughter.
The hymen of the victim was still intact.
However, since it was decided in People v.
Orita that entry into labia is considered rape even without rupture and full penetration of the hymen, a question arises whether what transpired was attempted or consummated rape.
Held:
There was only attempted rape.
Mere touching of external genitalia by the penis is already rape.
Touching should be understood as inherently part of entry of penis penetration and not mere touching, in the ordinary sense, of the pudendum.
Requires entry into the labia, even if there be no rupture of the hymen or laceration of the vagina, to warrant a
conviction for consummated rape.
Where entry into the labia has not been established, the crime amounts to an attempted rape.
The prosecution did not prove that Campuhan’s penis was able to penetrate victim’s vagina because the kneeling position of the accused obstructed the mother’s view of the alleged sexual contact. The testimony of the victim herself claimed that penis grazed but did not penetrate her organ.
There was only a shelling of the castle but no bombardment of the drawbridge yet.
B. 2. FRUSTRATED STAGE
Elements:(1) The offender performs all the acts of execution;
(2) All the acts performed would produce the felony as a consequence;
(3) But the felony is not produced;
(4) By reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.
The end of the subjective phase and the beginning of the objective phase.
Objective phase – the result of the acts of execution, that is, the accomplishment of the crime.
If the subjective and objective phases have been passed there is a consummated felony.
People v. Listerio (2000):
Brothers Jeonito and Marlon were walking when they met a group composed of men who blocked their path and attacked them with lead pipes and bladed weapons. One stabbed Jeonito from behind. Jeonito’s brother, Marlon, was hit on the head.
24 Held:
(1) The SC held that the crime is a frustrated felony not an attempted offense considering that after being stabbed and clubbed twice in the head as a result of which he lost consciousness and fell. Marlon's attackers apparently thought he was already dead and fled.
(2) A crime cannot be held to be attempted unless the offender, after beginning the commission of the crime by overt acts, is prevented, against his will, by some outside cause from performing all of the acts which should produce the crime.
(3) In other words, to be an attempted crime, the purpose of the offender must be thwarted by a foreign force or agency which intervenes and compels him to stop prior to the moment when he has performed all of the acts which should produce the crime as a consequence, which acts it is his intention to perform.
(4) If he has performed all the acts which should result in the consummation of the crime and voluntarily desists from proceeding further, it cannot be an attempt.