People v. Rodríguez
People v. Rodríguez
Opinion of the Court
delivered tlie opinion of the court.
Delfín Rodríguez was charged with violation of §371 of the Penal Code
The defendant next contends that his motion for non-suit at the close of the case for the People should-have been granted. He relies in that connection on the fact that the evidence failed to sIioav that the tenants Avere in the house when the defendant entered their domicile.
A violation of §371 of the Penal Code can be committed as follows:
(1) by using force or violence in entering upon or detaining any lands, or other property, public or private, except in the cases and in the manner provided by law;
(2) by entering another person’s domicile against the express will of the tenant, or by intervening with such domicile,, altering it, performing acts of oAvnersfiip, or modifying it, etc.
The fact that thex^e are two ways of committing the offense in question is evident from the provision of the aforesaid Sec
People v. Díaz, 56 P.R.R. 96, and People v. Medina, 58 P.R.R. 924, arose under the first provision of §371. We held in those cases, in view of the requirement of force or violence in the said first provision, that the offense is not committed if the acts in question took place in the absence of the occupant or somebody representing him. But the situation is different herein, as the facts spell out a violation of the second provision of §371; namely, that the defendant had entered another’s domicile against his express will. Once it is clear that the act is done against the express will of the occupant, there need be no showing, as in the first provision, that force or violence was used, and consequently the absence of the occupant at the moment of entry is not fatal.
Juan Nazario, the tenant of the house, testified that while he was working on a farm owned by the defendant’s father, the defendant told him that “I had to leave the place around seven (referring to the house in which he was living) or before seven in the afternoon, because otherwise. . .”. Eloína Yélez, Nazario’s. wife, testified that on the same day the defendant had told her that she and her husband must leave their dwelling, because otherwise he would set the house on fire or would shoot them, and that she had replied “God forbid him in daring to force his way into my house. I told him that he could not do that, intervening or forcing it; that he should not force his way into that house, because that was my home and I was the owner while I lived there, and he said that it did not matter, that we had to leave the place
The testimony in this case was sufficient to show that the defendant, against the express will of the tenants, entered their domicile and exercised acts of ownership therein, thereby disturbing the peace in the manner the second provision §371 was designed to prevent.
The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.
(1)‘‘Section 371. Every person using, or procuring, encouraging or assisting another to use, any force or violence in entering upon or detaining any lands, or other property, public or private, except in the cases and in the manner provided by law, shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years nor less than six months, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars nor less than five hundred dollars. Every person entering another person’s domicile against the express will of the tenant, or who in any manner intervenes in such domicile, altering it, performing acts of ownership, or modifying it or attempting to make thereto any repairs whatsoever, except also in the cases and in the manner provided by law, shall be punishable by imprisonmént for not less than three months nor more than six months, or by a fine of from two hundred to five hundred dollars.”
(2)“ Section 438. Forcible entry and de lamer. Every person using or procuring, encouraging or assisting another to use, any force or violence in entering upon or detaining any lands or other possessions of another, except in the cases and in the manner allowed by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.