Echegaray vs. Secretary of Justice, G.R. No.

132601, January 19, 1999

(in scribed digest)

220. ECHEGARY VS. SOJ
suspension of execution of decision

Echegaray y Pilo for the crime of rape of the 10 year-old daughter of his common-
law spouse and the imposition upon him of the death penalty for the said crime.
Petitioner duly filed a Motion for Reconsideration raising for the first time the issue
of the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 7659 (the death penalty law) and the
imposition of the death penalty for the crime of rape.
In the meantime, Congress had seen it fit to change the mode of execution of the
death penalty from electrocution to lethal injection, 4 and passed Republic Act No.
8177,
Petitioner filed a Petition 8 for Prohibition, Injunction and/or Temporary
Restraining Order to enjoin respondents Secretary of Justice and Director of the
Bureau of Prisons from carrying out the execution by lethal injection, claiming it
as cruel form of punishment, among many others.
the Court resolved, without giving due course to the petition, to require the
respondents to COMMENT thereon within a non-extendible period of ten (10) days
from notice, and directed the parties "to MAINTAIN the status quo prevailing at
the time of the filing of this petition."

(from poli compendium: The decision sentencing him to death pursuant to RA 7659
became final. Upon motion of the petitioner, the SC issued a TRO restraining his
execution on the ground that there is a possibility that Congress might repeal RA
7659. Respondent argued that the TRO was illegal because in effect it granted
petitioner a reprieve, which was the exclusive prerogative of the President)

SC:
The constitutional provision granting the Presidnet the power to grant reprieves
cannot be interpreted as denying the power of the courts to control the enforcement
of their decisions after their finality. An accused who has been convicted by final
judgment still possesses collateral rights, and these can be claimed in a proper court.
For instance, a convict who becomes insane after his final conviction cannot be
executed while in a state of insanity. The suspension of death sentence is an exercise
of judicial power.