People v. Ruiz
People v. Ruiz
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Ramón Ruiz, the appellant, and Marcelino Piazza, were jointly charged with murder in the first degree committed when they illegally 'killed Pedro Serrano González on July 11, 1936. Piazza was arrested on August 4, 1936, and Ruiz on the 19th of September of the same year. The district attorney filed information against both of them on January 13,1937, and the trial was set for March 30, 1937. On March 23, 1937, the defendants requested the dismissal of the prosecution for a violation of Section 448 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; the district attorney consented and the court so ordered, without prejudice to the district attorney to file a new information.
On March 29, 1937, the prosecuting attorney filed new information, the defendants were arraigned on April 2, and the hearing was set for June 7, 1937, on which day it was held.
On June 1, six days before the date set for the trial, the defendants requested the dismissal of the new information,
The defendant appellant alleges that the court a quo erred in denying the motion for dismissal of the information; when the trial judge did not disqualify himself; in usurping the prerrogatives of the jury through his instructions and in denying the motion for new trial. The defendant also alleges that the verdict is contrary to the evidence and the law.
The first assignment of error absolutely lacks merits. After the first information was dismissed, for having been filed after the term of sixty days from the date the defendants were arrested had elapsed, the district attorney was at liberty to file a new information, because the crime involved was a felony, as provided by Section 452 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the previous and express authorization of the court was not necessary. People v. Pagán, 23 P.R.R. 770. The second information having been filed on March 29, 1937, and the trial having been held on June 7, 1937, it is evident that the provisions of Section 448 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were strictly complied with, since the period of 120 days within which the trial must be held, should be counted from the presentment of the information and not from the date of the arrest, as the appellant erroneously pretends.
Let us examine the incident on which the second assignment of error is based. It appears from the instructions given by the judge to the jury that the defendant Maximino Piazza came to the district jail in the night of
None of the facts and circumstances that we have related incapacitated Judge Todd, Jr. to try the case, nor imposed on him the obligation to disqualify himself. Section 23, paragraph 3, of the Code of Civil Procedure, imposes on the judge the obligation to disqualify himself when he has been attorney or counsel to either party in the action or proceeding pending before his court “or fiscal in an investigation or criminal proceeding where the facts are the same as in the action submitted for his decision.”
According to Sections 12 and 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, district judges are magistrates “with power to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with a public offense.” Section 44a of the same code provides that “in all warrants of arrest the amount of bail shall be fixed and said bail may be taken and admitted by any judge”; and Sections 32, 33 and 44 acknowledge the right that every person charged with the commission of a felony has to be taken without delay before a judge and that he should fix bail.
We hold that the actions of Judge Todd, Jr., complied with the most strict fulfillment of his duties as judge; that at no moment did he act as prosecuting attorney and that he did not err in any manner when he acted as trial judge in this case.
To sustain the alleged usurpation of the powers of the jury by the judge, appellant limits himself to point out in his brief three paragraphs of the instructions given by the judge, in which he makes a summary of that testified by
The motion for new trial, of whose denial the appellant complains, was based on the first and third assignments of errors which we. have already discussed and dismissed and in the alleged discovery of new evidence consisting in the testimony of five witnesses, to the effect that they heard Maximino Piazza when he said that he had killed Serrano.
Section 303 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the run of decisions demands, in order that a motion for new trial based on the discovery of new evidence may prevail, that it be stated under oath that the necessary steps were taken to acquire said evidence before the trial, and also that the efforts made be specified, in order that the court may appraise whether the defendant employed a reasonable activity to obtain such evidence. People v. Díaz alias Martillo, 5 P.R.R. 197 (2d ed.); People v. Milán, 7 P.R.R. 442; People v. Otero, 11 P.R.R. 330; People v. Viader, 23 P.R.R. 672, and People v. Mauleón, 50 P.R.R. 545. The motion filed in this case does not comply with that express requisite. The defendant has not made any allegation tending to convince the trial court that it was impossible to obtain the evidence offered as new before the trial.
The new evidence offered in support of the motion for new trial was cumulative, for it had to do with facts narrated by other witnesses in the trial. When the evidence is of a cumulative nature, the court has discretion to admit it.
The appellant alleges that the last assignment of error — “that the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence” — is sustained by the testimony of the detectives Modestó and Díaz Casiano, to whom Piazza confessed that he had committed the crime.
The evidence offered by the district attorney to sustain the charge was the following:
The doctor who performed the autopsy on the corpse of Pedro Serrano testified that Serrano died as the direct consequence of a bullet wound. The bullet perforated the right zygomatic region and was lodged in the encephalic mass.
Cosme Andújar and Santiago Serrano, who worked with the defendant, identified the revolver caliber 32, which was used to kill the deceased, as of his property.
Eleuterio Hernández, agent of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testified that he examined the revolver, caliber 38, which was found in the house of the defendant Ruiz, under the pillow of' his bed, and said that it was impossible to determine the date when the last shots were made; that he examined the other revolver, caliber 32, that the district attorney delivered to him, and was able to confirm that it was fired, and that the bullet with which Serrano was killed, was fired with that revolver. He further testified that he made the paraffin test to both defendants on July 13, 1936, two days after the crime was committed; that both gave a positive reaction, which showed that they had fired or that their hands had been very near a firearm when it was discharged; that Ramón Ruiz showed a large spot on the middle finger, which revealed without any doubt that he had shot a firearm.
Guillermo Levy testified: that he is ten years old; that he has been to school and that he knows how to read and write; that he knows Ruiz and Piazza and that he knew the deceased; that he saw who killed Pedro Serrano, and that it was Moncho Ruiz, the defendant; that he was coming with Serrano and Serrano was going up to turn to the San Juan Alley; that he followed through the alley, and when Serrano arrived, the witness was washing his feet under the water faucet which is about five meters from Ramón Ruiz’s house; that Ruiz came out of the gate in his underclothes and shot Serrano through his right side, wounding him on his right temple; that Ruiz fired at Serrano at the moment he was knocking at his door; that at the moment of the shot he did not see Piazza there, who came later; that he saw and heard Ruiz when he gave the revolver to Piazza and said to him: “Run and throw it away, and tell them that you did it and give yourself up”; that he saw when Serrano fell wounded and when Piazza arrived Serrano had already fallen down and was dying opening and closing his eyes; that after taking the revolver, Piazza went into the store and went uptown; that he knows that it is bad to
Humberto Alvarez testified: that accompanied by Miguel Ruiz, he took the boy Guillermo Levy to the office of the Attorney Font and left him there with Miguel Ruiz and Mrs. Peña; that he was there when Miguel Ruiz compelled the boy to write a letter saying that Ramón Ruiz was not the one who had killed; that the letter was dictated by Miguel Ruiz; that he saw when they gave the boy a quart of wine to drink; that he did not hear offers made to the boy.
Carlos Ramis, Prison Guard, testified that the night of the events, while he was on duty, Maximino Piazza appeared there; that when he asked: “What is the matter with you?”, Piazza answered: “That a relative was killed and I want to tell him”, referring to an uncle of his, a prison guard; that later he said that he was the one who had killed; that he noticed that Piazza had imbibed liquor because he said one thing first and then another.
The evidence for the defendant:
Detectives Luis Modesti and Pablo Díaz- Casiano, testified in relation to the investigation carried out by them when they knew about Serrano’s death and about the statements made by Piazza, that he was the one who had killed Serrano.
The defendant Maximino Piazza testified: that in the night of the events he was at a dance up to ten; that he was drunk; that when he reached the San Juan Alley he heard a shot, turned around and when he arrived he found Serrano dead; that then Ramón Ruiz called him and said: “Maximino, come here, look, I have been operated; I have eight children; you have to-be grateful to me, and you have to prove it to me”; that he asked: “How do you want me to prove it to you?” and Ruiz answered: “Take this revolver and go and surrender yourself ’ ’; that as he was drunk, he did as he was told; that when he arrived at the road to “El Vigía”, he fired the revolver, and that then Anacleto Vélez appeared and took the revolver awajr from him; that he was drunk and that when he awoke he found himself in jail; that when he came out under bail, Anacleto gave him the revolver and told him: ‘ ‘ Take this, it was sent by Ramón, I- gave it back to him and he said to me no, because they would find it, and so on”; that Pedro Serrano was like a brother to him, and that they never had any quarrel; that Ramón Ruiz, the defendant, and Pedro Serrano, the deceased,
Testifying in his defense, the defendant appellant made a long account tending to show that he is the victim of a conspiracy among the witnesses for the prosecution to extort money from him.
Ex-district Attorney Pérez Marchand testified on rebuttal, explaining how the boy G-uillermo Levy and Piazza had told him what they knew about the crime, in the same way that they testified it before the jury. The last on<3 to testify, Josefa Rosado, mother of the deceased, said: that his son and the defendant Ramón Ruiz had had an argument over a store and an attachment and that they had quarrelled for money that Serrano claimed from Ruiz; that she was related to Ruiz; that the day Ruiz left the hospital, about 2:00 P. M., while she was seated next to the bed of Ruiz, in his establishment, he asked her if Serrano was still with his things and ideas; that she answered that Serrano was without a job and worthy of pity since Ruiz attached the store, to which Ruiz answered: “Josefa, what you say may be true, but if Pedro does not mend his ways, I will be forced to act”; that after saying this, Ruiz got up and went to
All this evidence, with its contradictions- and conflicts, was submitted to the jury, judges of the facts, and the only ones authorized by law to appraise the evidence and to pass over the credibility of the witnesses. The evidence for the prosecution, to which the jury gave full credit, is in our opinion sufficient to sustain and justify the verdict and the judgment appealed from, wMch must be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.