People v. Pujols
People v. Pujols
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
On November 12, 1912, Juan Pujols was charged in the District Court of Gruayama with the crime of arson in that on the night of September 4, 1912, he set fire to the house of •Francisco Roger in which the defendant had a mercantile establishment in the town of Aibonito of the Judicial District of Gruayama. The day before the information was filed Pujols moved the said court to dismiss the action on the ground that more than sixty days had elapsed since his arrest without any information having been filed against him, and that he had not been taken before any judge for the purpose • of investigating whether there was probable cause for his arrest. Although the ruling on this motion is not included in the transcript of the record, we must presume that it was against the defendant inasmuch as the case was prosecuted to judgment, but as it was not verified and it is not shown that any evidence was introduced, it is not necessary to consider whether the lower court committed error in overruling the same, as is claimed by Pujols in his appeal; for allegations of fact by the parties are not of themselves alone sufficient to prove the same as a basis for our decision.
The same is true of the defendant’s demurrer to the information on the ground.that the District Court of Gruayama
However, it is observed from tbe brief of appellant Pujols that be gives scant attention to those questions, for tbe real ground of bis appeal is tbe insufficiency of tbe evidence to' support tbe verdict of guilty found by tbe jury and tbe consequent judgment rendered by tbe court. Prior to tbe rendition of tbe judgment Pujols moved tbe court to grant him a new trial on tbe ground that the verdict was contrary to tbe evidence, and from both tbe order overruling bis motion and tbe judgment be took this appeal, in which be treats tbe questions of the insufficiency of the evidence conjointly.
Tbe appellant contends that tbe evidence is insufficient because, being circumstantial, it is not sufficient to warrant tbe conviction of tbe appellant.
In support of bis information tbe fiscal introduced witnesses whose testimony showed tbe following facts: That on September 4, 1912, at about 9 p. m., tbe mercantile establishment of tbe appellant and tbe bouse of Francisco Roger, in which tbe same was located, were destroyed by fire; that tbe store was closed about 6 p.m.; that tbe appellant bad started tbe business a few months before and bad insured bis stock in tbe month of May for the sum of $8,000; that when in July or August bis stock was assessed for taxation be told tbe assessor that there were goods to the value of $10,000, but the assessor concluded that be bad only $5,000’ worth and so informed Pujols, assessing tbe stock at that amount;that on that occasion be also told tbe assessor that be did
Such, briefly, is tbe evidence upon which tbe jury found a verdict of guilty although tbe defendant also introduced evidence to show tbat bis- stock was worth from $6,000 to $7,000 at tbe time of tbe fire, and tbe appellant maintains tbat this evidence was insufficient to support a conviction.
Tbe appellant admits tbat tbe court’s instructions to tbe jury regarding circumstantial or presumptive evidence were correct, and after an examination of all tbe evidence we arrive at tbe conclusion tbat we have no ground for bolding tbat it did not support tbe verdict of tbe jury.
We need not consider separately tbe different circumstances which prove tbe guilt of tbe appellant, for they are
The motion for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence was properly overruled because all of that evidence was cumulative and the greater part of it was not discovered after the trial, for the testimony of the appellant shows that he -had knowledge of much of it before the trial. Besides, it has not been shown that with reasonable diligence it could not have been discovered before the trial. The People v. Goitía, 5 P. R. R. 117; The People v. Díaz, alias Martillo, 5 P. R. R. 197; The People v. Milán, 7 P. R. R. 442; The People v. Rosado, 16 P. R. R. 412; The People v. Español, 16 P. R. R. 203; Delannoy v. Blondet, 22 P. R. R. 219.
The judgment appealed from should be
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.