Claudio Teehankee, Jr.
| Decided 6 October 1995 | |
|---|---|
| Ponente Reynato Puno | |
| G.R. Nos. 111206-08 | |
| Unanimous Regalado, Mendoza and Francisco, JJ., concur; Narvasa, C.J., was on leave.[1] |
|
The Hultman–Chapman murder case (formally People of the Philippines vs. Claudio Teehankee, Jr.) was a murder case that gained wide publicity in the Philippines during the early 1990s because Claudio Teehankee, Jr., the perpetrator of the crime, was the son of the late former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee and the brother of former Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee. The case helped sway the public view and lawmakers on crime and restore the death penalty in the Philippines.
Court records show that Roland John Chapman, Maureen Hultman, and another friend, Jussi Olavi Leino, were coming home from a party at around three o'clock in the morning of 13 July 1991. Leino was walking Hultman home along Mahogany street in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City when Teehankee came up behind them in his car. He stopped the two and demanded that they show some identification. Leino took out his wallet and showed Teehankee his Asian Development Bank ID. Teehankee grabbed the wallet. Chapman, who was waiting in a car for Leino, stepped in and asked Teehankee: "Why are you bothering us?" Teehankee drew out his gun and shot Chapman in the chest, killing him instantly. After a few minutes, Teehankee shot Leino, hitting him in the jaw. Then he shot Hultman on the temple before driving away. Leino survived and Hultman died two months later in hospital due to brain hemorrhages caused by the bullet fragments. Teehankee was arrested several days later on the testimony of several witnesses. The witnesses were Domingo Florence and Agripino Cadenas, private security guards, and Vincent Mangubat, a driver, all three being employs of residents of the village.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines, on 6 March 1992, dismissed Teehankee, Jr.'s certiorari petition to annul the trial court's admission of the amended information, the arraignment and appointment of PAO lawyer as counsel de oficio of Teehankee, Jr., inter alia. On 22 December 1992, Judge Job B. Madayag, Makati City Regional Trial Court, Branch 145, convicted Teehankee, Jr. The Supreme Court of the Philippines on 6 October 1995, modified the trial court's decision and found Teehankee, Jr. guilty of the crimes of murder, homicide and attempted murder, for which, he was meted out 3 sentences, respectively, reclusión perpetua (defined effectively as 30 years by the Revised Penal Code) and 2 indeterminate sentences of reclusion temporal, each for 8 years and 1 day to 14 years (now, as finally amended by the Supreme Court in 1995). Under Article 70 of the Revised Penal Code, the maximum combined sentences cannot exceed 40 years.
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