Practice question
An assailant causes a severe brain injury. Medical evidence establishes that injury as the cause of fatal decline. The family seeks assistance late, and the accused asserts that delay alone breaks the chain without proving a different causal account. Which is best?
- Any delay makes the assailant automatically innocent
- The established brain-injury chain is not automatically severed by the asserted delay
- The family’s delay necessarily becomes a new intentional felony
- The original blow is irrelevant once a hospital visit occurs
- The victim’s survival time decides guilt without medical evidence
Legal references
- https://lawphil.net/statutes/acts/act1930/act_3815_1930.html — RPC Article 4(1): causal responsibility for consequences.
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2005/mar2005/gr_155791_2005.html — Quinto v. Andres, G.R. 155791, March 16, 2005, main decision: distinct foreign active cause and criminal causation.
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2023/mar2023/gr_238798_2023.html — CICL XXX v. People, G.R. 238798, March 14, 2023, main decision: alleged medical delay does not automatically break the injury-to-death chain.
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2011/sep2011/gr_186412_2011.html — People v. Villacorta, G.R. 186412, September 7, 2011, main decision: evidentiary failure linking the initial wound to fatal infection, not a categorical infection rule.
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