2016 BAR ANSWERS REFERENCE

INDETERMINATE SENTENCE LAW

This law is related to the probation law.

The purposes of this law are the following:

1.) Promote the prisoner's reformation by allowing him to serve sentence under a parole
officer
2.) Decongest the jails by allowing prisoners to be admitted into parole
3.) Allow the government to save money on maintaining the jails
4.) Prevent the prisoners' economic usefulness from going to waste.

The indeterminate sentence law is an old law, dating back to the American period -as can be
seen from its number: Act 4103 as amended by Act 4225. It's "Act," not RA or CA. It affects
all criminal laws, whether from the Revised Penal Code or not so long as they don't fall into
the instances enumerated by the indeterminate sentence law itself. Those instances are:

1.) Crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment

2.) Those convicted of treason, conspiracy or proposal to commit treason
3.) Those convicted of misprision of treason, rebellion, sedition or espionage
4.) Those convicted of piracy
5.) Habitual delinquents (but recidivists can qualify for indeterminate sentence -they're not
the same as habitual offenders)
6.) Those who escaped from confinement/service or sentence
7.) Those who were granted conditional pardon but violated the terms of the pardon
8.) In case the maximum prison term doesn't exceed 1 year
9.) Those already serving sentence when the indeterminate sentence law took effect (no
longer applicable because they're all dead)

Anybody who commits a crime falling under any of the above instances can't qualify for
indeterminate sentence. Consequently, a person who violated the Dangerous Drugs Act can
qualify for indeterminate sentence if the maximum penalty he's facing isn't in life
imprisonment; the death penalty was repealed in 2006 by RA 9346.

The indeterminate sentence law is all about parole. If convicted an indeterminate sentence
is imposed by the court, depending on the law in question. There are 2 possible scenarios:

1.) If the law is part of the Revised Penal Code

The maximum penalty is fixed in accordance with the rules of the Revised Penal Code,
taking into account the attending circumstances. The minimum penalty will be put within
the range of the penalty next lower than what the Revised Penal Code has prescribed. In
case of a complex crime (i.e. when a single act produces 2 or more crimes,) the full
range of the penalty next lower in degree will be considered in determining the minimum
penalty.

2.) If the law in question is a special law

The maximum term can't exceed the maximum that the law in question has prescribed and
the minimum can't be less than the prescribed minimum.

In case the penalty comes from the result of a plea-bargaining, the minimum penalty will be
the one lower than that of the downgraded offense.

Minimum and maximum penalties are specified in order to prevent unnecessary deprivation
of liberty and enhance his economic usefulness. The maximum penalty is necessary for the
imposition of accessory penalties while the minimum penalty is important to allow the
prisoner the chance for parole. In short, he is given a chance to redeem himself.

Once the minimum term is served, the prisoner becomes eligible for parole if he proves that
he has complied with the conditions imposed on him when he was made to serve sentence.
Parole doesn't mean a person has fully served sentence, however. It means that he is
allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence out of jail but under the supervision of an
appointed parole officer. He is required to report to this parole officer on appointed dates for
the remainder of the prison term. During parole, the prisoner released on parole must apply
himself to a legitimate occupation and prove himself to be a law-abiding citizen. His
residence will be fixed and changed from time to time under the discretion of the Board of
Indeterminate Sentence/Board of Pardons and Parole. The board can issue a final
certification of release if the paroled prisoner has proven himself to be a law-abiding citizen.

If he violates the terms and conditions of his parole he can be arrested again. If that
happens, he will have to serve the remaining term of his prison sentence behind bars.

Malfeasance
Definition:
wrongful conduct by a public official

Examples:
The mayor was convicted of malfeasance.

VS.

Misfeasance
Definition:
doing a proper act in a wrongful or injurious manner

Examples:
liable for misfeasance
VS.

Nonfeasance
Definition:
A failure to act when under an obligation to do so; a refusal (without sufficient excuse) to do that
which it is your legal duty to do

Examples:
it was nonfeasance on their part because they were responsible

Conspiracy is a separate offense, by which someone conspires or agrees with someone

else to do something which, if actually carried out, would amount to another federal crime or
offense. It is an agreement or a kind of partnership for criminal purposes in which each
member becomes the agent or partner of every other member. It is not necessary to prove
that the criminal plan actually was accomplished or that the conspirator was involved in all
stages of the planning or knew all of the details involved. The main elements that need to
be proven are a voluntary agreement to participate and some overt act by one of the
conspirators in furtherance of the criminal plan. If a person has an understanding of the
unlawful nature of a plan and knowingly and willfully joins in that plan on one occasion, that
is sufficient to convict him for conspiracy even though he had not participated before and
even though he played only a minor part. A conspiracy may exist when the parties use legal
means to accomplish an illegal result, or to use illegal means to achieve something that in
itself is lawful.

Wheel and chain conspiracies are two types of conspiracies described in prosecuting
offenders. A chain conspiracy involves parties linked together in a linear fashion. Typical
drug or firearm smuggling organizations are chain conspiracies. It may consist of a series of
drug deals, from manufacturer to the street dealer. In a wheel conspiracy, the ringleader is
the "hub" and subsidiary parties are the "spokes". It is generally easier for prosecution to
prove that a "chain" constituted a single conspiracy than it is to prove that a "wheel" was a
single organization

A wheel conspiracy is a conspiracy in a which a single member (usually the ringleader) or a

group engages in separate illegal dealings with two or more other member or groups, and
there exists a shared criminal purpose among all the member/groups engaged in the
activities. The ringleader or group which deals with other members or groups is called the
hub, and the subsidiary parties that maintain individual relationship with the hub is called
spokes. Such conspiracy is also known as hub-and-spoke conspiracy.

Parallel but separate objectives between similarly situated people do not make a wheel
conspiracy, it would instead constitute multiple chain conspiracies. A wheel conspiracy is
shown when a number of people, the spokes, are engaged in similar relationships with the
same individual, the hub. In a "wheel" conspiracy, the prosecution would have to prove that
the existence of the other spokes was known to a particular defendant, and that that
defendant did something in furtherance of a single, illegal enterprise to prove that s/he have
conspired with the other spokes of the wheel. [Bolden v. State, 44 Md. App. 643 (Md. Ct.
Spec. App. 1980)].

Chain conspiracy refers to a conspiracy in which the conspirators act separately and
successively. In other words, it is a single conspiracy in which each person is responsible
for a distinct act within the overall plan.

The chain conspiracy is a single conspiracy even though each member of the conspiracy
may not know every other member or each member may not be involved in all the activities
of the conspiracy. [ United States v. Warner, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 12169 (6th Cir. Mich.
Apr. 9, 1996)]