Practice question
A new statute retrospectively aggravates a previously completed offense by converting the same act into a more serious criminal classification. The State says the maximum sentence is unchanged, so ex post facto review is impossible. What category has it overlooked?
- Only numerical sentence changes can ever count
- Aggravating a crime or making it greater than when committed
- All reclassification is always permissible
- Only the prosecutor’s label governs
- No substantive protection exists if a fine remains the same
Legal references
- Constitution Article III Section 22; Lacson v. Executive Secretary, GR128096, January20 1999, main decision, ex post facto categories: https://lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html ; https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1999/jan1999/gr_128096_1999.html
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