Valenton, Francis Angelo T.

Criminal Law 2

1S

People vs. Whisenhunt (G.R. No. 123819)

Facts: The plaintiff-appellee is the People of the Philippines. The accused-appellant is Stephen
Mark Whisenhunt. In the case bar, the herein accused and the deceased, Elsa Santos-Castillo
were lovers. They met at the Apex Motor Corporation where the herein accused was the
Manager and the deceased was the Assistant Personnel Manager. Both of them were married, but
they were estranged from their respective spouses. One day, the Demetrio an employee of said
company drove the deceased to the condominium owned by the herein accused. While Demetrio
was there, the accused told him that he has a problem. He told him that Elsa was dead because of
bangungot. Demetrio then suggested that her body be autopsied, but the herein accused already
beheaded her. They then bought a black garbage bags and wrapped the body of the victim with
it. They went to Laguna and dumped the body by the roadside. They then throw another bag of
body in Bataan. Later on, the accused ordered Demetrio to clean the car. The NBI then was able
to figure out the death of the deceased with the help of Demetrio. Upon autopsy of the body it
was found out that the cause of death was stab wounds. The trial court found him guilty of the
crime of murder

Issue: Is the accused guilty for murder.

Held: The Supreme Court said that they do not agree with the trial court for appreciating the
qualifying circumstance of abuse of superior strength. There was no evidence to prove such
allegation. However, the Supreme Court affirmed the presence of the qualifying circumstance of
outraging and scoffing at the corpse of the victim. It is for the reason that the body of the
deceased was cut into pieces and was distributed to different places.