5. Impossible Crime

Art. 4. Criminal liability. — Criminal liability shall be incurred:

• By any person performing an act which would be an offense against persons or property, were it not for the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or on account of the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.

An impossible crime is punished to suppress the lawlessness or to teach a lesson to the offender. Subjectively, the offender is a criminal although objectively, no crime has been committed. (Boado, Compact Reviewer in Criminal Law)

REQUISITES:

• The act performed would be an offense against Persons or Property;

If the act performed would be an offense other than a felony against persons or against property, there is no impossible crime;

Felonies against Persons:

• Parricide;
• Murder;
• Homicide;
• Infanticide;
• Abortion;
• Duel;
• Physical injuries; and
• Rape

Felonies against Property:

• Robbery;
• Brigandage;
• Theft;
• Usurpation;
• Culpable insolvency;
• Swindling and other deceits;
• Chattel mortgage;
• Arson and other crimes involving destruction; and
• Malicious mischief.
• The act was done with Evil intent;

If the offender with intent to kill stabbed the victim not knowing that he is already dead, this is an impossible crime. The accused shall incur criminal liability for performing an act which would have been homicide were it not for the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment. He will be punished because of his criminal tendency to kill a person. (1961 & 1976 Bar Exams)

If the offender stabbed the victim knowing that he is already dead, this is not an impossible crime since it was committed without evil intent to kill, the second requisite of impossible crime. The act does not show criminal tendency, which is the basis of penalizing impossible crime, because he is aware that he is not killing someone at time of stabbing. (Campanilla, Criminal Law Reviewer Volume I)

• Its accomplishment is inherently Impossible or the means employed is either inadequate or ineffectual; and

“Inherent impossibility of its accomplishment”

• Legal impossibility – The intended acts, even if completed, would not amount to a crime (e.g. killing a person already dead).
• Physical impossibility – Extraneous circumstances unknown to the actor or beyond his control prevent the consummation of the intended crime (e.g. a man puts his hand in the coat pocket of another with the intention to steal the latter’s wallet and finds the pocket empty).

Offender should not be aware of the impossibility of his actions

The offenders, intending to kill X, fired at X’s bedroom. However, X was in another city then. The Court found the offenders guilty of an impossible crime, not attempted murder. Congress has not yet enacted a law that provides that intent plus act plus conduct constitutes the offense of attempt irrespective of legal impossibility. (Intod vs. CA, G.R. No, 103119)

• The act performed should not constitute a Violation of another provision of the RPC.

If the accused performed an act constituting impossible crime and another crime such as arson or serious physical injuries, he will be prosecuted for the latter. (Campanilla, Criminal Law Reviewer Volume I)

No attempted or frustrated impossible crimes

In impossible crime, the person intending to commit an offense has already performed the acts for the execution of the same, but nevertheless the crime is not produced by reason of the fact that the act intended is by its nature one of impossible accomplishment or because the means employed by such person are essentially inadequate or ineffectual to produce the result desired by him. (See Art. 59, RPC)

Since the offender in impossible crime has already performed the acts for the execution of the same, there could be no attempted impossible crime. In attempted felony, the offender has not performed all the acts of execution which would produce the felony as a consequence.

There is no frustrated impossible crime, because the acts performed by the offender are considered as constituting a consummated offense. (Reyes, Book I)

Stages of Execution

Art. 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies. — Consummated felonies as well as those which are frustrated and attempted, are punishable.

A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment are present; and it is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of execution which would produce the felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.

There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a felony directly by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance.

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