People v. Martínez
People v. Martínez
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
From the transcript of the record herein it appears- that the district fiscal for San Juan charged the accused, Antonio Martinez, an Insular policeman, with the crime of voluntary manslaughter, in that in a moment of passion he unlawfully killed Francisco Alvarado, a soldier in the Porto Rico regiment.
We have examined the information, the instructions of the court to the jury, the verdict, the order denying the motion for a new trial, and the judgment, and we find no fundamental error whatever therein. It does not appear that any -exceptions were taken by the defendant during the trial, and the only ground alleged in support of the motion for a new trial in the district court and in support of the appeal at the hearing before this court, was that the jury had erred in its -consideration of the evidence, because it appearing therefrom that the homicide was excusable, the jury nevertheless found the defendant guilty.
All the evidence introduced at the trial is before us, included in a statement of the case approved by the trial judge, .and from an examination thereof it appears that there are two contradictory statements in respect to the manner in which the act was done because, while the evidence for the prosecution tends to show that the accused, the policeman Martinez, fired his weapon without any jnst cause at the soldier, Alvarado, and caused his death,. the evidence for the -defense tends to show that the accused went to the place where the incident occurred in compliance with his duty as .a policeman;, that he was first assaulted and after he was wounded and upon the ground, and while he was still being attacked, he fired his revolver and killed Alvarado.
•The jury, which heard the testimony of the witnesses testifying before it and received from the court the proper instructions, decided the conflict by finding the defendant guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter.
The appeal must be dismissed and the judgment appealed from, affirmed.'
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.