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Distinction Between an Ordinary Physician
and a Medical Jurist:

•1. An ordinary physician sees an injury or disease on the point of view of treatment, while a medico-jurist sees injury or disease on the point of view of cause.

•2. The purpose of an ordinary physician examining a patient is to arrive at a definite diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be instituted, while the purpose of the medical jurist in examining a patient is to include those bodily lesions in his report and testify before the court or before an investigative body; thus, giving justice to whom it is due.

•3. Minor or trivial injuries are usually ignored by an ordinary physician in as much as they do not require usual treatment. Superficial abrasions, small contusion and other minor injuries will heal without medication.

Other Definitions:

•Law is a rule of conduct, just, obligatory, laid by legitimate power for common observance and benefit.

• It is a science of moral laws founded on the rational nature of man which regulates free activity for the realization of his individual and social ends under the aspect of mutual demandable independence.

•(1 S.R.) The word "law" includes regulations and circulars which are issued to implement a law and have, therefore, the effect of law.

Characteristics of Law:

•1. It is a rule of conduct;

•2. It is dictated by legitimate power and

•3. Compulsory and obligatory to all (Civil Code by Padilla).

Forms of Law:

•A. Written or Statutory Law (Lex Scripta): This is composed of laws which are produced by the country's legislations and which are defined, codified and incorporated by the law-making body.  Example: Laws of the Philippines

• B. Unwritten or Common Law (Lex non Scripta): This is composed of the unwritten laws based on immemorial customs and usages. It is sometimes referred to as case law, common law, jurisprudence or customary law. Example: Laws of England.

•In Forensic: It denotes anything belonging to the court of law or used in court or legal proceedings or something fitted for legal or public argumentations (Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed.)      

Branches of Law Where Legal Medicine may be Applied:

•1.Civil Law — is a mass of precepts that determines and regulates the relation of assistance, authority, and obedience between members of a family and those which exist among members of a society for the protection of private interest (Sanchez Roman).

•2. Criminal Law — is that branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their nature and provides for their punishment. It is a body of specific rules regarding human conduct

•3.Penal laws – is law and those of public security and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn in the Philippine territory, subject to the principles of public international law and to treaty stipulations (Art. 14 Civil Code).

•4. Remedial Law - is that branch or division of law which deals with the rules concerning pleadings, practices and procedures in all courts of the Philippines. It is the law which gives a party a remedies for what is right.

Legal Medicine may be applied in the following provisions of the Rules of Court:

•a. Physical and mental examination of a person (Rule 28);

•b. Proceedings for hospitalization of an insane person (Rule 101); and

•c. Rules on evidences (Part IV).

Special Laws

•a. Dangerous Drug Act (R.A. 6425, as amended)

•b. Youth and Child Welfare Code (P.D. 603)

•c. Insurance Law (Act No. 2427 as amended)

•d. Code of Sanitation (P.D. 856)

•e. Labor Code (P.D. 442)

•f. Employee's Compensation Law

Some Basic  Principles Governing Application and Effects of Laws

•1. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith or "ignorantia legisnominem excusat" (Art 3, Civil Code): The main reason for the provision is to prevent ignorance of the law as a means of defense for violation of the law.

•2. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is provided (Art. 4, Civil Code): A law can only be applied to cases after its promulgation arid must not be given retroactive application. A law, however, may be given retroactive effects in the following instances:

• a. When the law provides the contrary (Art. 4, Civil Code).

• b. Penal laws shall be given retroactive effect if favorable to the accused who is not habitually delinquent (Art. 22, Revised Penal Code).

• c. When the statute is remedial in nature because there is no vested right in the rules of procedure.

•d. When the law creates a new substantive right. 3. Rights may be waived, unless the waiver is contrary to law, public order, public policy, morals or good customs, or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law (Art. 6, Civil Code): A right is the power, privilege, faculty which entitles a man to have, or to do, or to receive from another within the limits prescribed by law.

Some Basic  Principles Governing Application and Effects of Laws

•Special Crime with Legal Medicine is the subject of inquiry.

•Physicians are frequent recipients of dying declaration in the medical clinics and emergency rooms of hospitals. To be admissible it must be shown that the declarant was conscious of his impending death, that the declaration must be with regards to his impending death; that the declarant was in full possession of his mental faculties when he made the declaration; and that such evidence is presented in court in a case of homicide, murder or parricide wherein the declarant was the victim.

Some Basic  Principles Governing Application and Effects of Laws

•1. Expert Witness: A physician on account of his training and experience can give his opinion on a set of medical facts. He can deduce or infer something, determine the cause of death, or render opinion pertinent to the issue and medical in nature. Sec. 42, Rule 130, Rules of Court — Opinion Rule — General Rule — The opinion of witness is not admissible, except as indicated in the following section. Sec. 43, Rule 130, Rules of Court.

•2. Expert Evidence — The opinion of a witness regarding a question of science, art or trade, when he is skilled therein, may be received in evidence. The probative value of the expert medical testimony depends upon the degree of learning and experience on the line of what the medical expert is testifying, the basis and logic of his conclusion, and other evidences tending to show the veracity or falsity of his testimony.

•3. Experimental Evidence: A medical witness may be allowed by the court to confirm his allegation or as a corroborated proof to an opinion he previously stated. The issue as to how long a person can survive, after the administration of lethal dose of poison can be shown by the administration of the said poison to experimental animals within the view of the court.

•4. Documentary Evidence: A document is an instrument on which is recorded by means of letters, figures, or marks intended to be used for the purpose of recording that matter which may be evidentially used. The term applies to writings, to words printed, lithographed or photographed; to seals, plates or stones on which inscriptions are cut or engraved; to photographs and pictures; to maps or plans (Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed.).

•5. Medical Documentary Evidence may be: A. Medical Certification or Report on: (1) Medical examination. (2) Physical examination. (3) Necropsy (autopsy). (4) Laboratory. (5) Exhumation. (6) Birth. (7) Death. B. Medical Expert Opinion. C. Deposition — A deposition is a written record of evidence given orally and transcribed in writing in the form of questions by the interrogator and the answer of the deponent and signed by the latter.

•6. Physical Evidence: These are articles and materials which are found in connection with the investigation and which aid in establishing the identity of the perpetrator or the circumstances under which the crime was committed, or in general assist in the prosecution of a criminal. The identification, collection, preservation and mode of presentation of physical evidence is known in modern parlance as criminalistics. Criminalistics is the application of sciences such as physics, chemistry, medicine and other biological sciences in crime detection and investigation.

On the investigator's viewpoint, the following are the different types of physical evidences:

•A. Corpus Delicti Evidence — objects or substances which may be a part of the body of the crime. The body of the victim of murder, prohibited drugs recovered from a person, dagger with blood stains or fingerprints of the suspect, stolen motor vehicle identified by plate number and by body or engine serial numbers are examples of corpus delicti evidence.

•B. Associative Evidence — these are physical evidences which link a suspect to the crime. The offender may leave clues at the scene such as weapon, tools, garments, fingerprints or foot impression. Broken headlights glass found at the crime scene in "hit and run" homicide may be associated with the car found in the repair shop. Wearing apparel of the offender and other articles of value may be recovered where the crime of rape was committed.

•C. Tracing Evidence —these are physical evidences which may assist the investigator in locating the suspect. Aircraft or ship manifest, physician's clinical record showing medical treatment of suspect for injuries sustained in an encounter; blood stains recovered from the area traversed by the wounded suspect infer direction of the movement are examples of tracing evidence.

•D. Preservation of Evidences -the physical evidences recovered during medico-legal investigation must be preserved to maintain their value when presented as exhibits in court. Most medical evidences are easily destroyed or physically or chemically altered unless appropriate preservation procedure is applied.

Prima Facie Evidence

•to warrant filing of the case in court it means that proof of the first fact permits, but does not require, the fact finder, in the absence of competing evidence, to find that the second fact is true beyond a reasonable doubt.

•Prima facie evidence - The term comes from Latin and means "on its face" or "at first sight”.

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Methods of Preserving Evidences:

1. Photographs / audio and /or video tape, micro-film, photostat, xerox, voice tracing, etc. Photography is considered to be the most practical, useful and reliable means of preservation

2. Sketching — If no scientific apparatus to preserve evidence is available then a rough drawing of the scene or object to be preserve is done. It must be simple, identifying significant items and with exact measurement.

Kinds of Sketching:

•A. Rough Sketch — this is made at the crime scene or during examination of living or dead body. On the latter, an anatomic figure of the front, back and side part of the body must be made and the bodily lesions indicated.

•B. Finished Sketch — this sketch prepared from the rough sketch for court presentation. Essential Elements to be Included in a Sketch: a. Measurement must be accurate. b. Compass direction must always be indicated to facilitate proper orientation in the case of crime scene. c. Essential item which has a bearing in the investigation must be included. d. Scale and proportion must be stated by mere estimation. There must be a title and legend to tell what it is and the meaning of certain marks indicated therein.

•3. Description — this is putting into words the person or thing to be preserved. Describing a thing requires keen observation and a good power of attention, perception, intelligence and experience. It must cause a vivid impression on the mind of the reader, a true picture of the thing described.

The following are the minimum standard requirements which must be satisfied in the description of the person or thing to make it complete:

•A. Skin Lesion — kind, measurement, other descriptive information of the lesion itself, location, orientation.

•B. Penetrating Wound (Punctured, Stab or Gunshot) — kind, shape, other information from the wound itself, location, orientation, direction, other structures involved, complications and foreign elements that may be present.

•C. Hymenal laceration — location, degree, duration, complication.

4. Manikin Method — In a miniature model of a scene or of a human body indicating marks of the various aspects of the things to be preserved. An anatomical model or statuette may be used and injuries are indicated with their appropriate legends. Although it may not indicate the full detail of the lesion, it is quite impressive to the viewer as to the nature and severity of the trauma.

5.Preservation of the Mind of a Witness — A person who perceived something relevant for proper adjudication of a case may be a witness in court if he has the power to transmit to others what he perceived.

Principal drawbacks of preserving evidence in the mind of the witness:

•A. The capacity of a person to remember time, place and event may be destroyed or modified by the length of time, age of the witness, confusion with other evidences, trauma or disease, thereby making the recollection not reliable.

•B. The preservation is co-terminus with the life of the witness. If the witness dies, then the evidence is lost.

•C. Human mind can easily be subjected to too many extraneous factors that may cause distortion of the truth. Other persons may influence a witness to serve the interest of another or state untruthful facts to justify an end.

•6. Special Methods — a special way of treating certain type of evidence may be necessary. Preservation may be essential from the time it is recovered to make the condition unchanged up to the period it reaches the criminal laboratory for appropriate examination. Preservation may be needed for the remaining portion of the evidence submitted for future verification and/or court presentation.

Some of the Special Ways of Preservation are:

•A. Whole human body — process of embalming, to preserve a corpse from decay, originally with spices and now usually by arterial injection of a preservative

•B. Soft tissues (skin, muscles, visceral organs) — 10% formalin solution.

•C. Blood — refrigeration, sealed bottle container, addition of chemical preservatives.

•D. Stains (blood, semen) — drying, placing in sealed container.

•E. Poison — sealed container.

Kinds of Evidence Necessary for Conviction:

•1. Direct Evidence - it proves the fact in dispute without the aid of any inference or presumption. The evidence presented corresponds to the precise or actual point at issue.

•2. Circumstantial Evidence -The proof of fact or facts from which, taken either singly or collectively, the existence of a particular fact in dispute may be inferred as a necessary or probable consequence. When is circumstantial evidence sufficient to produce conviction?

•a. When there is more than one circumstance; b. When the facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and c. When the combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt (Sec. 4, Rule 123, Rules of Court).

Weight and Sufficiency of Evidence:
Rule 133, Rules of Court:
Section 1. Preponderance of evidence

•How to determined? — In civil cases, the party having the burden of proof must establish his case by a preponderance of evidence. In determining where the preponderance or superior weight of evidence on the issues involved lies, the court may consider all the facts and circumstances of the case, the witnesses' manner of testifying, their intelligence, their means and opportunity of knowing the facts to which they are testifying

Preponderance of Evidence

The following factors must be considered which party's evidence preponderate.

•a. All the facts and circumstances of the case.

•b. The ‘witnesses' manner of testifying, their intelligence, their means and opportunities of knowing the facts to which they are ' testifying.

•c. The nature of the facts to which the witnesses testify.

•d. The probability and improbability of the witnesses' testimony.

•e. The interest or want of interest of the witnesses.

•f. Credibility of the witness so far as the same may legitimately appear upon the trial.

•g. The number of witnesses presented, although preponderance is not necessarily with the greatest number.

Section 2 - Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt

In a criminal case, the defendant is entitled to an acquittal, unless his guilt is shown beyond reasonable doubt.

Proof beyond reasonable doubt does not mean such a degree of proof as, excluding possibility of error, produces absolute certainty.

Moral certainty only is required, or that degree of proof which produces conviction in an unprejudiced mind. It is presumed that a person is innocent of a crime until the contrary is proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The doubt, the benefit of which an accused is entitled in a criminal case, is a reasonable doubt, and not a whimsical or fanciful doubt, based on imagined and wholly improbable possibilities and unsupported by evidence.

Deception Detection

•The knowledge of the truth is an essential requirement for the administration of criminal justice.

•The success or failure in making decisions may rest solely on the ability to evaluate the truth or falsity of the statement given by the suspect or witness. The task for its determination initially lies on the hand of the investigator.

•Modern scientific methods have been devised utilizing knowledge of physiology, psychology, pharmacology, toxicology, etc. in determining whether a subject is telling the truth or not.

•Although the scientific methods of deception detection have not yet attained legal recognition to have their results admissible as evidence in court, they have been considered very useful as aids in criminal investigation

Methods of Deception Detection

Methods of Deception Detection which are currently being used or applied by law enforcement agencies may be classified as follows:

Devices which record the psycho-physiological response:

1. Use of a polygraph or a lie detector machine

2. Use of the word association test

3. Use of the psychological stress evaluator -the use of drugs that try to "inhibit the inhibitor": an administration of "truth serum'' narcoanalysis or narcosynthesis.

4. Intoxication

5. Hypnotism

6. By observation Scientific interrogation

7. Confession

8. Recording of the Psycho-Psychological Response.

Phases of the Examination

•1. Pre-test interview

•2. Actual interrogation and recording through the instrument

•3. Post-test interrogation

•4. Supplementary Test

Purpose of the interview:

•1. To determine whether the subject has any medical or psychiatric condition or has used drugs that will prevent the testing;

•2. To explain to the subject the purpose of the examination;

•3. To develop the test questions, particularly those of the types to be asked;

•4. To relieve the truthful subject of any apprehension as well as to satisfy the deceptive subject as to the efficiency of the technique;

•5. To know any anti-social activity or criminal record of the subject.

•B. Actual interrogation and recording: With all the gadgets attached to the body of the subject, the instrument will start running by applying pressure on a button.

The subject then will be asked to answer the following standard test questions:

•1. Irrelevant questions — These are questions which have no bearing to the case under investigation.

•2. Relevant questions — These are questions pertaining to the issue under investigation.

•3. Control questions — These are questions which are unrelated to the matter under investigation but are of similar nature although less serious as compared to those relevant questions under investigation.

•4. Post-test interrogation: The purposes of further questioning after the test are: a. To clarify the findings; b. To learn if there are any other reasons for the subject's responding to a relevant question, other than the knowledge of the crime; c. To obtain additional information and an admission for law enforcement purposes

•5. Supplementary tests: Aside from the standard tests described above, the following special tests may be performed and incorporated as a part of the standard procedure or may be used as supplementary tests depending upon the result

Supplementary tests

•A. Peak-of-tension test — The subject may be given this test if he is not yet informed of the details of the offense for which he is being interrogated by the investigator, or by other persons or from other sources like the print media.

•B. Guilt complex test -this test is applied when the response to relevant and control questions are similar in degree and consistency and in a way that the examiner cannot determine whether the subject is telling the truth or not

•C. Silent answer test — This test is conducted in the same manner as when relevant, irrelevant and control questions are asked, but the subject is instructed to answer the questions silently, to himself, without making any verbal response.

Reasons for the Inadmissibility to the Court of the Result of Polygraph Examination:

•1. The polygraph techniques are still in the experimental stage and have not received the degree of standardization of acceptance among scientists.

•2. The trier of fact is apt to give almost conclusive weight to the polygraph expert's opinion.

•3. There is no way to assure that a qualified examiner administered the test. The polygraph is capable of a high degree of accuracy only when conducted under controlled conditions by an examiner who is highly qualified due to his ability, experience, education and integrity.

•4. Since the polygraph involves a certain unconscious quality of the examinee, he may unwittingly waive his or her right against self-incrimination.

•5. The test itself cannot be relied upon because it has many errors.

The factors that are responsible for the 26% errors of the lie detector are as follows:

1. Nervousness or extreme emotional tension experienced by a subject who is telling the truth regarding the offense in question but who is nevertheless affected by:

a. Apprehension induced by the mere fact that suspicion or accusation has been directed against him;

b. Apprehension over the possibility of an inaccurate lie detector test result;

c. Over-anxiety to cooperate in order to assure an accurate test result;

d. Apprehension concerning possible physical hurt from the instrument;

e. Anger resentment over having to take a lie-detector test;

f. Over-anxiety regarding serious personal problems unrelated to the offense under investigation;

g. Previous extensive interrogation, especially when accompanied by physical abuse; and

h. A guilt-complex or fear of detection regarding some other offense which he had committed.

2. Physiological abnormalities such as: a. Excessively high or excessively low blood pressure; b. diseases of the heart; and c. Respiratory disorder.

Factors that are responsible for the 26% errors of the lie detector are as follows:

3. Mental abnormalities such as: a. Feeblemindedness, as in idiots, imbeciles and morons; b. Psychosis or insanities, as in manic-depressives, paranoids, schizophrenics, paretics, etc. c. psychoneurosis and psychopathy, as among the so-called "peculiar" or "emotionally stable" persons are those who are neither psychotic or normal, and those from the borderline between these two groups.

4. Unresponsiveness in a living or guilty subject, because of: A. No fear of detection; B. Apparent inability to consciously control response by means of certain mental sets of attitudes; C. A condition of "sub-shock" or "adrenal exhaustion" at the time of the test; D. Rationalization of the crime in advance of the test to such an extent that lying about the offense arouses little or no emotional disturbance. e. Extensive interrogation prior to the test.

5. Attempt to "beat the machine" by controlled breathing or by muscular flexing.

6. Unobserved application of muscular pressure which produces ambiguities and misleading indications in the blood pressure tracing

USE OF DRUGS THAT "INHIBIT THE INHIBITOR"

•A. Administration of Truth Serum: The term "truth serum" is a misnomer. The procedure does not make someone tell the truth and the thing administered is not a serum but is actually a drug.

•B. Narcoanalysis or Narcosynthesis: this method of deception detection is practically the same as that of administration of truth serum. The only difference is the drug used.

•C. Intoxication with alcohol: The apparent stimulation effect of alcohol is really the result of the control mechanism of the brain, so alcohol, like truth serum, and narcoanalytic drugs "inhibit the inhibitor".

•D. Hypnosis is the alteration of consciousness and concentration in which the subject manifests a heightened of suggestibility while awareness is maintained.

•Reasons Why Deception Detection Obtained Through Hypnosis Is Not Admissible in Court:

  1. It lacks the general scientific acceptance of the reliability of hypnosis per se in ascertaining the truth from falsity;

•2. The fear that the trier of fact will give uncritical and absolute reliability to a scientific device without consideration of its flaw in ascertaining veracity.

•3. The possibility that the hypnotized subject will deliberately fabricate;

•4. The prospect that the state of heightened suggestibility in which the hypnotized subject is suspended will produce distortion of the fact rather than the truth; and

•5. The state of the mind, skill and professionalism of the examiner are too subjective to permit admissibility of the expert testimony

Psychological Signs and Symptoms of Guilt:

•1. Sweating - accompanied with a flushed face indicate anger, embarrassment or extreme nervousness. Sweating with a pallid face may indicate shock or fear. Sweating hands indicate tension.

•2. Color change (Pallor)- if the face is flushed, it may indicate anger, embarrassment or shame. A pale face is a more common sign of guilt.

•3. Dryness of the mouth - nervous tension causes reflex inhibition of salivary secretion and consequently dryness of the mouth. This causes continuous swallowing and licking of the lips.

•4. Excessive activity of the Adam's apple- on account of the dryness of the throat aside from the mouth, the subject will swallow saliva from the mouth and this causes the frequent upward and downward movement of the Adam's apple. This is observed in many guilty subjects.

•5. Fidgeting - subject is constantly moving about in the chair, pulling his ears, rubbing his face, picking and tweaking the nose, crossing or uncrossing the legs, rubbing the hair, eyes, eyebrows, biting or snapping of fingernails, etc. These are indicative of nervous tension.

•6. Peculiar feeling inside - there is a sensation of lightness of the head and the subject is confused. This is the result of his troubled conscience.

•7. Swearing to the truthfulness of his assertion- usually a guilty subject frequently utters such expression. "I swear to God I am telling the truth" or "I hope my mother drops dead if I am lying", "I swear to God". . . etc. Such expressions are made to make forceful and convincing his assertion of innocence.

•8. "Spotless past record" - "Religious man" where subject may assert that it is not possible for him to do "anything like that" inasmuch as he is a religious man and that he has a spotless record.

•9. Inability to look at the investigator "straight in the eye-the subject does not like to look at the investigator for fear that his guilt may be seen in his eyes. He will rather look at the floor or ceiling.

•10. "Ah or that I remember" expression- the subject will resort to the use of "not that I remember" expression when answering to be evasive or to avoid committing something prejudicial to him.

Scientific Interrogation - is an Interrogation is the questioning of a person suspected of having committed an offense or of persons who are reluctant to make a full disclosure of information in his possession which is pertinent to the investigation.

•1. A suspect is a person whose guilt is considered on reasonable ground to be a practical possibility.

•2. A witness is a person, other than the suspect, who is requested to give information concerning the incident. He may be a victim a complainant, an accuser, a source of information, an observer of the occurrence, a scientific specialist who has examined physical evidence or a custodian of official document.

•Attitude and Conduct of an Investigator: In the course of an interrogation of a suspect or witness, the interrogator must observe the following:

•1. The interrogator should avoid creating an impression that he is an investigator seeking a confession or conviction. It is better for him to appear in the role of one who is merely seeking the truth.

•2. Such realistic words or expressions as "kill", "steal", "confess" your crime, etc. should not be used by the interrogator. It is more desirable, from the psychological standpoint, to employ a milder terminology like "shoot", "take", "tell the truth", etc.

•3. The interrogator should sit fairly close to the subject and between the two, there should not be a table or other pieces of furniture.

•4. The interrogator should avoid pacing about the room. To give an undiverted attention to the person being interrogated, make it as such that will be more difficult for him to evade detection of deception or conceal his guilt.

•5. The interrogator should avoid or at least minimize smoking, and he should also refrain from fumbling with a pencil, pen or other room accessories, for all these tend to create an impression of lack of interest or confidence.

•6. The interrogator should adapt his language to that used and understood by the subject himself. In dealing with an uneducated and ignorant subject, the interrogator should use simple words and sentences.

•7. Since the interrogator should always occupy a fearless position with regards to his subject and to the condition and circumstances attending the interview, the subject should not be handcuffed or shackled during his presence in the interrogation room. The interrogator should face the subject as "man to man" and not as policeman to prisoner.

The Purposes of Investigation: The Following are the Different Types of Criminal Offenders:

•1. Based on behavioral attitude: a. Active aggressive offenders — They are persons who commit crime in an impulsive manner usually on account of their aggressive behavior.

•2. Based on the state of mind: A. Rational offenders — Those who commit crime with motive or intention and with full possession of their mental faculties

•3. Based on proficiency: A. Ordinary offenders — These are the lowest form of criminal career. They are only engaged in crimes which require limited skill.

•4. Psychological classification: A. Emotional offenders— These are persons who commit crimes in the heat of passion, anger, or revenge, and also who commit offenses of accidental nature.

•Emotional offenders usually have feeling of remorse, mental anguish or compunction as a result of their acts. They have the sense of moral guilt. Their conscience "bother" them and they have difficulty resting or sleeping because of their feeling of guilt. The most effective interrogation approach to use for them is based upon sympathetic consideration regarding their offense and present difficulty. b. Non-emotional offenders — These are persons who commit crimes for financial gain and are usually recidivist or repeaters.