People v. Santiago Correa
People v. Santiago Correa
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The appellant was prosecuted and convicted of abandonment of minors and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in jail, but the sentence was suspended provided the defendant paid to the mother of the abandoned minors the weekly sum of $5.00. •
The evidence of the district attorney consisted of the testimony of the prosecutrix and of the Clerk of the Munic
The testimony of the Clerk of the Municipal Court of Rio Grande was to the effect that on a certain occasion, the judge of that court, the defendant and the prosecutrix met in the former’s office and shortly thereafter the judge called the witness and told him to receive a certain amount .of money that the defendant would deposit weekly for the prosecutrix’s children; that on one occasion the defendant deposited $3.00 for that purpose; that subsequently the latter was ordered to deliver the weekly amount to the prosecutrix through the Justice of the Peace Court of Canóvanas of through the Police Headquarters of that town. In one part of his testimony he stated that the defendant, when delivering the $3.00, told him that they were “for defendant’s children,” but on cross-examination he denied that the defendant had told him that the minors were his children.
The only evidence offered by the defendant was the record in the divorce suit brought by Juan Fuentes against the prosecutrix. It appears therefrom that the birth of the first child took place after the 180 days following the celebration of the marriage with Juan Fuentes and within the 300 days following its dissolution.
It may be argued that the limitation as to who may challenge the legitimacy is within the purview of the Civil Code, and since no similar provision is contained in the Penal Code, § 116 is not applicable to criminal actions. This argument is untenable because § 116 establishes the public policy of the State in relation to contesting the legitimacy and, naturally, this policy should not vary with the nature of the proceeding brought.
If this were the only minor alleged to have been abandoned by the defendant, we would feel constrained to reverse the judgment. But the complaint in the instant case involves the abandonment of two minors and as to the second, Ana Francisca, the facts are not the same as those in the ease
The case of People v. Cáceres, 65 P.R.R. 344, may be easily distinguished from this case in that there the defendant at no time gave support to the alleged son.
We realize that the pronouncement suspending the sentence of imprisonment while defendant delivers to the pro-secutrix $5.00 weekly for the support of the children was probably made because of the two minors involved, but in view of the limited amount which in fact is insufficient for the support of the children, we shall not reduce the amount. The judgment will be modified to the effect that the $5.00 weekly that defendant must deliver to the prosecutrix shall be applied to the support of the minor Ana Francisca. As modified it is affirmed.
Sec. 113 of the Civil Code provides:
“Legitimate children are those born 180 days after the marriage has been celebrated and before 300 days have passed after the marriage has been dissolved.
“Against legitimacy no other proof shall be admitted than the physical impossibility of the husband to use his wife within the first one hundred and twenty days of the three hundred days that have preceded the birth of the child.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.