PEOPLE VS GERENTE

FACTS:
The Valenzuela Police Station received a report about a
mauling incident. Upon learning at the hospital that the
victim died on arrival and being informed of the death,
the policemen proceeded to the crime scene were they
found a piece of wood with blood stains, a hollow block
and two roaches of marijuana. After being told by the
eyewitness the identity of one of the three assailants, the
policemen went to appellant’s house where they
introduced themselves and apprehended him and
confiscated dried marijuana leaves.

ISSUE:
Whether or not the search of appellant’s person and the
seizure of the marijuana leaves in his possession were
valid.

RULING:
YES. The policemen arrested appellant only some three
hours after he and his companions had killed the victim.
They saw the victim dead in the hospital and when they
inspected the scene of the crime, they found the
instrument of death. The eyewitness reported the
happening to the policemen and pinpointed her neighbor,
the appellant, as one of the killers. Under those
circumstances, since the policemen had personal
knowledge of the violent death of the victim and of facts
indicating that appellant and two others had killed him,
they could lawfully arrest him without warrant. If they
had postponed his arrest until they could obtain warrant,
he would have fled the law as his two companions did.
The search conducted on appellant’s person was likewise
lawful because it was made as an incident to a valid
arrest.