Republic of the Philippines - Campaign

APPELLANTS’ BRIEF
People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al.
S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64
Positive identification alone, made by a witness whose credibility is tarnished by
major inconsistencies between his sworn statement and his testimony in open court, is a
shaky foundation upon which to base a conviction for a very serious crime of murder.
More so if even with the identification made by the witness, there is still doubt as to
whether the suspects seen by the witness are the same persons as the accused. The
possibility of identifying all the perpetrators of the crime with certainty when the witness
saw the suspects for the very first time and only for a brief moment under stressful and
life-threatening circumstances is highly questionable.
This Court has in fact written about the dangers of unreliability in eyewitness
testimony in People vs. Teehankee, Jr:
“Identification testimony has at least three components.
First, witnessing a crime, whether as a victim or a bystander,
involves perception of an event actually occurring. Second, the
witness must memorize details of the event. Third, the
witness must be able to recall and communicate accurately.
Dangers of unreliability in eyewitness testimony arise at
each of these three stages, for whenever people attempt to
acquire, retain, and retrieve information accurately, they are
limited by normal human fallibilities and suggestive
influences. (G.R. Nos. 111206-08, October 6, 1995)
The credibility of the lone eyewitness presented in open court in this case is not
only suspect because of major inconsistencies and omissions which when summed up
point to a faulty, if not, tainted recollection of the whole incident but also because of an
apparent inability to capture the right words in describing the suspects and moreso,
because of the suggestive influences surrounding the circumstances of his identification
of the accused.
We thus assail the credibility of this lone eyewitness presented in open court on
the following points:
A. The sworn statement of Freddie Alejo executed before SPO1 Edilberto S.
Nicanor on June 13, 1996 at 1:55 p.m. or just about five hours after the
shooting incident, omitted material details which omission greatly affects his
credibility as a witness.
This court, in a line of decisions has ruled:
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