People v. Ortiz Morales
People v. Ortiz Morales
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Two separate complaints were filed against Dimas Ortiz Morales in the Municipal Court of San Germán: one for aggravated assault and battery, and the other for unlawfully carrying a revolver used in the commission of the aggravated assault. In the former he was charged with having assaulted Fernando Mercado with a revolver, firing two shots at him but missing him. He was convicted of both offenses, and feeling aggrieved by the judgments whereby he was sentenced to pay a fine of $50 on the charge of assault and to one month’s imprisonment in jail on the charge of carrying a weapon, he took these two appeals which we will determine in a single opinion herein.
Both appeals are based on a single assignment in which it is claimed that the lower court committed manifest error of fact and of law in convicting the defendant without sufficient evidence to support the allegations of the complaints and without taking into consideration defendant’s evidence.
We will make a summary of the evidence of both sides.
Fernando Mercado testified that on the day of the occurrence he was driving an automibile along the public road from Lajas to San Germán; that upon reaching Kilometer 4, Hectometer 4, of said road, he had an accident in which he struck a man whose name was Luis Ortiz Ramirez, defendant’s father, who later died; that on alighting from the car to pick up the injured man, the defendant appeared and fired a shot at him with a nickel-plated revolver, but the witness could not state whether it was a large or a small re
Maria Collado, upon being examined by the district attorney, testified: That she was traveling in the car driven by Fernando Mercado in the direction of San Germán and saw when the ear killed a man while crossing the road; that she saw Dimas Ortiz firing two shots at Mercado with a nickel-plated pistol; that she heard two shots. On cross-examination by the defendant, she stated that, after the first shot, she stayed in the car, but that when a second shot was fired she went away; that she did not know whether the weapon was a pistol or a revolver, nor did she know its eal- ■ iber.
The district attorney and the defendant stipulated that the other witnesses for the prosecution, if called to testify, would make similar statements as Maria Collado had made. Thus was closed the evidence for the prosecution, the weapon not having been produced as the same had not been seized.
After a motion to dismiss the prosecution, on the ground that the weapon had not been identified in a clear and convincing manner, had been denied, counsel for the defense stated its theory “that the defendant was not conscious of the acts he was committing.” In support of that theory the following testimonial evidence was produced:
The defendant testified in his own behalf: That he was waiting for his father to have breakfast as usual; that he saw how the car that was coming uphill struck his father and threw him into the ditch; that then he saw no more, heard no more; that he became aware of what happened when on crossing over to the edge of the road his friends were saying to him: “Your father is still alive, he may survive”; that he then asked: “Who is the chauffeur?” and they told him that it was Fernando Mercado, and he then said to Mer
Dr. Nelson Perea, testifying as psychiatric expert, reported at length on what is called “temporary insanity” or “sudden attack of madness,” and said:
“Such madness, which is commonly called temporary insanity or sudden attack of madness, almost always comes immediately after an agitation or shock; an agitation stimulates the suprarenal glands which secrete a fluid that is carried rapidly by the blood stream and produces a contraction of the blood vessels all over the body, especially in the brain where it causes a temporary cerebral anemia which may result in a semi-conscious state lasting for several minutes. Such symptoms appear in a person and produce high blood pressure, paleness, excitement, and temporary insanity. During such moment of temporary insanity the subject appears to be in a semiconscious state.
“Q. — The defendant not being armed, the fact of his going into the house, of arming himself with a revolver, of covering the intervening distance and firing several shots, is it unconsciously that use is made of the revolver and the shots are fired?
“A. — Yes, Sir. Just as he seized a revolver he might have seized a knife or something else. Immediately upon witnessing the event a suprarenal secretion takes place. Such secretion occurs immediately and the person goes mad and at that moment he may arm himself with a revolver or he may behave in several ways, but such acts are committed in an abnormal condition, in a semi-conscious state.
“Q. — Is unconsciousness produced immediately?
“A. — He becomes unconscious immediately as a result of the su-prarenal secretion. ’ ’
Without being psychiatric experts ourselves, we know that it is logical and natural for a normal human being to feel an irresistible impulse and desire to punish or even to take the life of any person who has injured or killed a dear one. We are human and frail and we realize that if similarly placed we might also become victims to our own passions and impulses.
No citizen has the right to take the law in his own hands. The irresistible impulse that drives a person to commit an act of violence against someone who has injured or killed a dear one may, or perhaps should be considered by the court as a mitigating circumstance, but never as one exonerating such person from guilt. See People v. Echeandía, 23 P.R.R. 521; People v. Nazario, 53 P.R.R. 226; People v. Hoin, 62 Cal. 120.
The minimum penalties imposed in both cases clearly show that the trial court considered that the circumstances under which defendant had committed the acts mitigated his guilt.
Both judgments must be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.