People v. Rosado (a) Berria
People v. Rosado (a) Berria
Opinion of the Court
On June 23, 1952 an information was filed against appellant herein in the former District Court of Puerto Rico, Ponce Section, charging him with the crime of burglary in the first degree committed on April of that same year, consisting in breaking into the dwelling house of Mrs. Santos Martinez, at nighttime, ivith the intention to commit grand or petit larceny. At the trial held on October 10 following, after the evidence for the prosecution was introduced — which tended to prove that defendant’s intention in breaking into the aforesaid house was to commit rape on the person of Santos Martinez — the court sustained a motion of the defendant for his acquittal, based on a fatal variance between the averments of the information and the evidence introduced, to which the prosecuting attorney acquiesced. The court, in its judgment of acquittal, set forth that it acquitted defendant “without prejudice to the People to prosecute Case No. TS 52-G46 filed against this defendant, wherein he is charged with an alleged burglary in the first degree with intent to commit rape.” The information in the case mentioned by the Court in its judgment of acquittal, charged defendant with breaking into the same dwelling house of Santos Martinez, on the same date, set forth in the original information, but with the intent to commit rape. After the proper proceeding in connection with this second information, defendant was tried and convicted of the crime charged, and sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of from one to three years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary.
Since the evidence introduced in the first action brought against appellant herein established that he broke into the residence of Santos Martinez with the intent to commit rape, the evidence did not support the charge that his intention was to commit grand or petit larceny. Ford v. State, 54 S.W. 761 (Tex., 1899); People v. Crowley, 35 Pac. 84 (Cal., 1893); State v. Perry, 50 So. 799, 802, 803 (La., 1909). The variance, therefore, was fatal and the trial court acted correctly in acquitting defendant in the first action. Cf. People v. León, 67 P.R.R. 522.
Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides: “If the defendant toas formerly acquitted on the ground of variance between the information and the proof, or the information was dismissed upon an objection to its form or substance, or in order to hold the defendant for a higher offense, without a judgment of acquittal, it is not an acquittal of the same offense.” (Italics ours.)
The instant case comes squarely within the provisions of the aforecited section and defendant’s defense of double
Since the error assigned was not committed, the judgment will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.