Quirico Mari v. Court of Appeals

Summary

This Supreme Court case involved criminal liability for serious slander by deed arising from a workplace incident at the Department of Agriculture. Petitioner Quirico Mari was convicted for shouting invectives and choking co-employee Norma Capintoy after being asked to explain missing documents from borrowed personnel files. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but corrected errors in the application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law made by all lower courts. The Court found that the alleged aggravating circumstance that the victim was a woman was not properly proved, as there was no evidence of deliberate intent to offend her womanhood. Considering the offense was committed in the heat of anger as reaction to perceived provocation, the Court imposed a fine of P1,000 instead of imprisonment, exercising the alternative penalty provision under Article 359 of the Revised Penal Code.