A Philippine judge, who has earned a reputation in...

A Philippine judge, who has earned a reputation in Cabanatuan City as a "hanging judge," reversed his decision to impose the death penalty on a 43-year-old man charged with rape.
Judge Feliciano Buenaventura meted out the death penalty to the man, a native of Llanera, Nueva Ecija, on January 6, 1999 for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter on March 15, 1998.
Buenaventura, the presiding judge of the regional trial court for heinous crimes here, said he acquitted the man after his lawyer presented new evidence that showed he was insane when he committed the crime.
In the new evidence, a doctor testified that the man was diagnosed as suffering from "diagnostic organic mental disorder" when he consulted him in March and May 1994. Another psychiatrist at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) also told the court that the man was "suffering from organic mental disorder due to an injury or disease of the brain."
The defence presented another psychiatrist who conducted several tests on the man for 14 months and testified that "he was assessed to be insane or psychotic before, during and after the commission of the alleged crime."
The man, who was committed in the NCMH on April 27, 2000 but was returned to Cabanatuan City for the re-trial, said he did not remember anything about the rape incident.
Buenaventura, in his decision, pointed out that under Article 12 of the Revised Penal Code "an imbecile or an insane person is exempt from criminal liability, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval."
In acquitting the man, Buenaventura directed his relatives "to continue the intake of the medicine prescribed to the accused and that he be regularly brought to the hospital for follow-up to maintain his improved condition and prevent relapse."
"I did what I have to legally do in the light of the new evidence presented," said Buenaventura, who has imposed the death penalty on at least 10 people.