Consummated crime

What makes a person liable for bigamy? This is the issue involved in these cases between Carding and Carla.

When he was still a bachelor, Carding has been involved in romantic relationships with several women. Apparently however, he was seriously courting Carla and Leslie only. Eventually Carla won his heart and the two got married. But they did not live happily ever after as Carding still continued wooing other women, particularly Leslie.

So, only a little over three months after marrying Carla, Carding also got married secretly to Leslie. Somehow Carding was able to hide from Carla his subsequent marriage to Leslie. But as years passed, Carla started getting suspicious until five years later she finally discovered that Carding has continued his romantic liaisons with Leslie. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Carla discovered that Carding also got married to Leslie only just about three months after marrying her.

And so Carla first filed a civil case for the declaration of nullity of the second marriage between Carding and Leslie before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of the city where they reside. Later on she also decided to charge Carding with the crime of bigamy before the RTC of the city where Carding married Leslie.

Upon learning that he was also charged with bigamy, Carding filed a motion to suspend the proceedings therein because of the pending prejudicial question of the nullity of the second marriage with Leslie. He contended that in the event his second marriage with Leslie is declared null and void, it would exculpate him from the charge of bigamy.

The RTC hearing the bigamy case thus suspended the proceedings. Then true enough the RTC trying the nullity case, rendered a decision declaring the second marriage between Carding and Leslie null and void from the beginning.

Using this decision, he therefore asked the RTC trying the bigamy case to dismiss the charge on the ground that the second marriage between him and Leslie has been declared void. Acting on his motion, the RTC dismissed the bigamy case. Was the RTC correct?

No. The subsequent judicial declaration of the nullity of the second marriage does not bar the prosecution of Carding for the crime of bigamy. He can still be charged with and convicted of the crime of bigamy even if there is a subsequent declaration of the nullity of the second marriage, so long as the first marriage was still subsisting when the second marriage was celebrated. The subsequent judicial declaration of the nullity of the second marriage is immaterial because prior to the declaration of nullity, the crime has already been consummated. What makes a person criminally liable for bigamy is when he contracts a second marriage during the subsistence of a valid first marriage (Capili vs. People, G.R. 183805, July 3, 2010, 700 SCRA 443)

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