SC affirms conviction of man who took dead lawyer’s identity

The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of a man who took the identity of a lawyer who died in May 1986.

In a 15-page decision, the SC Third Division sentenced him to imprisonment of four months for using a fictitious name and ordered him to pay a fine of P500.

The SC said the National Bureau of Investigation arrested him during an entrapment operation in 2011 after it received a complaint that the man was pretending to be a lawyer by signing pleadings and appearing before the court.

Authorities caught him while he was posing as a lawyer before the Binangonan MTC.

Meanwhile, the SC acquitted him for the crime of usurpation of authority or official functions, saying that lawyers are not considered a person in authority under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

The municipal trial court (MTC) initially found the man guilty of usurpation of authority and sentenced him to four months of imprisonment. 

--VAL, GMA Integrated News