Tijam v. People

Summary

The Supreme Court acquitted Julius Enrico Tijam and Kenneth Bacsid of theft charges involving a Samsung Galaxy A7 cellphone. While the RTC and CA convicted them based on circumstantial evidence and the presumption of possession of recently stolen goods, the Supreme Court found the prosecution's evidence insufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The Court ruled that the circumstantial evidence did not form an unbroken chain pointing exclusively to the petitioners' guilt, and that Tijam's explanation for possessing the phone (finding it on the ground) was reasonable and rebutted the presumption. The decision emphasized that criminal convictions require proof beyond reasonable doubt, not mere conjectures or suspicions, and that the constitutional presumption of innocence must prevail when evidence is susceptible to multiple interpretations.