If the person is performing a lawful act but has the intention to cause an injury, it will be an

intentional felony, the second and third requisite will no longer apply.
 
NOTE: There is no incomplete exempting circumstance of insanity. There is no middle
ground between sanity and insanity.
 The mental condition of a person is indivisible.
 
CIRCUMSTANCES OF JUSTIFICATION OR EXEMPTION WHICH MAY GIVE PLACE TO
MITIGATION:
1. Art. 11 par. 1 - Self-defense;
2. Art. 11 par. 2 - Defense of relatives;
3. Art. 11 par. 3 - Defense of stranger;
4. Art. 11 par. 4 - State of necessity;
5. Art. 11 par. 5 - Performance of duty;
6. Art. 11 par. 6 - Obedience to order of superior;
7. R.A. No. 9344 - Minority above 15 but below 18 years of age;
8. Art. 12 par. 4 - Causing injury by mere accident;
9. Art. 12, par. 6 - Uncontrollable fear
 
 
2. That the offender is under eighteen years of age or over seventy years. In the case of the
minor, he shall be proceeded against in accordance with the provisions of Art. 80.
 
 This article is impliedly repealed by R.A. No. 9344 - Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.
 
 
Act No. 9344 or the "Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006," such offender may be exempt
from criminal liability should he/she acted without discernment.
 
On the other hand, if such offender acted with discernment, such child in conflict with the law
shall undergo diversion programs provided under Chapter 2 of Republic Act No. 9344.
 
DIVERSION PROGRAM - Page 236
 
UNDER 18 OR OVER 70 YEARS OLD
 
Coverage
Offenders who are:
1. Over 15 but under 18 years old who acted with discernment; and
2. Over 70 years old - only a generic mitigating circumstance.
 Privileged mitigating circumstance does not include over 70 years old since the death
penalty is already suspended under R.A. 9346:
1. When committed an offense punishable by death, the penalty shall not be
imposed;
2. When the death sentence is already imposed, it shall be suspended and
commuted.
 
NOTE: It is the age of the accused at the time of the commission of the crime which should be
determined.
 
 
Senility and its effect
Senility, or “second childhood” is generally used to describe the state of a person of very old
age with impaired or diminished mental faculties similar to but not on the level of the early years
of infancy. It can, at most, be only mitigating, unless the mental deterioration has become a
case of senile dementia approximating insanity, in which case it may be considered as an
exempting circumstance.
 
3. That the offender had no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed.
 
NO INTENTION TO COMMIT SO GRAVE A WRONG (PRAETER INTENTIONEM)
 The basis is diminution of intent.
 
 It is necessary that there be a notable and evident disparity/disproportion between the
means employed by the offender compared to that of the resulting felony. If the resulting
felony could be expected from the means employed, the circumstance of praeter
intentionem cannot be availed.
 
Factors in order to ascertain the intention
1. The weapon used;
2. The part of the body injured;
3. The injury inflicted; and
4. The manner it is inflicted.
 
This provision addresses the intention of the offender at the particular moment when the
offender executes or commits the criminal act and not during the planning stage.
 
GR: Praeter Intentionem is a mitigating circumstance.
XPN: 1. felonies by negligence
2. employment of brute force
3. Anti-Hazing law
 
Effect if the victim does not die in crimes against persons
The absence of the intent to kill reduces the felony to mere physical injuries. It is not considered
as mitigating. It is only mitigating when the victim dies.
 
NOTE: The mitigating circumstance of lack of intent to commit so grave a wrong as that actually
perpetrated cannot be appreciated where the acts employed by the accused were reasonably