PROCEDURE IN THE SUPREME COURT

Category: Criminal Procedure

RULE 125 - PROCEDURE IN THE SUPREME COURT

Section 1. Uniform Procedure. – Unless otherwise provided by the Constitution  or  by  law,  the  procedure  in  the  Supreme  Court  in original and in appealed cases shall be the same as in the Court of
Appeals.

HOW MANY VOTES ARE NEEDED?

> The rule is that the majority is needed to decide a case en banc
> An exception is that when all are not present, majority of all those present/who constitute a quorum and actually participated in the deliberations.
o      There must be a quorum  
o      Majority of those who participated and voted shouldn’t be less than 5
> Division of 7: majority not less than 5; division of 5: majority not less  than  3;  division  of  3:  unanimous  decision,  if  the  unanimous decision  couldn’t  be  obtained,  2  justices  must  be  temporarily assigned to the division by raffle  

Sec.  2.  Review  of  decisions  of  the  Court  of  Appeals.  –  The procedure  for  the  review  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  decisions  in criminal cases rendered by the Court of Appeals shall be the same as in civil cases.

Sec. 3. Decision if opinion is equally divided. – When the Supreme Court  en  banc  is  equally  divided  in  opinion  or  the  necessary majority  cannot  be  had  on  whether  to  acquit  the  appellant,  the case shall again be deliberated upon and if no decision is reached after  re-deliberation,  the  judgment  of  conviction  of  lower  court shall be reversed and the accused acquitted.

WHY SHOULD THE JUDGMENT RESULT IN ACQUITTAL IF NO DECISION IS REACHED AFTER RE-DELIBERATION?

> Because of the presumption of innocence where all doubts should be  resolved  in  favor  of  the  accused  and  the  principle  that  when inculpatory facts are susceptible of 2 or more interpretations, the ambiguity must be decided in favor of the accused.