Custodial investigation
PEOPLE VS. EDUARDO PAVILLARE
G.R. NO. 129970 (2000)
Facts: A, without the assistance of counsel, was identified by the complainant in a police-line up as one of the kidnappers. He was subsequently found guilty with kidnapping for ransom.
Issue: Whether the identification made by the complainant in the police line-up is inadmissible because A stood up at the line-up without the assistance of counsel.
Held: No. The Constitution prohibits
custodial investigation conducted without the assistance of counsel. Any evidence obtained in violation of the constitutional mandate is inadmissible in evidence. The prohibition however, does not extend to a person in a police line-up because that stage of an investigation is not yet a part of custodial investigation. Custodial investigation commences when a person is taken into custody and is singled out as a suspect in the commission of the crime under investigation and the police officers begin to ask questions on the suspect’s participation therein and which tend to elicit an admission. The stage of the investigation wherein a person is asked to stand in a police line-up is outside the mantle of protection of the right to counsel because it involves a general inquiry into an unsolved crime and is purely investigatory in nature.