Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-08-21

JUDGE ZUBIA'S DECISION.
why the Mexican Jurist Held Cut
ting as Guilty Of a Crime

Cry OF MEXICO, Aug. 13.-Thc
Diario, the official government organ,
to-day contains important documents
regarding the Cutting case, including
the full text of the decision OF Judge
Zubia at Paso Del Norte, which shows
clearly and Enthusiastically that the court
held Cutting for a crime begun on Mex
lean soil, and continued simultaneously
i'm Texas and Mexico. This puts Il
new phase on the case, as it shows
Judge Zubia regarded the case as one
continuous act. In passing sentence
Oh Cutting the judge said the basis OF
the criminal proceeding against the De
PENDANT was the first proof before nm
that he had committed an otlense class
ed as a crime by the law, the evidence
OF which was afforded beyond dispute
by a publication which appeared i'll +!
Centinella, OF June q last, a paper pup
lished on Mexican soil; secondly, that
although it was true there was an act
of cancellation which would have sat
isfied the offended party had it been
complied with, it was also + this act
of Cancellation was not fulfilled and,
therefore, the crime still stood; third,
proof of lack OF compliance with the
aim of Cancellation is found i'll Il COM
m%unication printed by Cutting i'll the
Ell Paso Sunday Herald in which he re-
neWed his defamatory charges against
Medina, and at the same time publish
ed an article in Ell Centinella on Next
can soil, in which he suppressed the
capital letters and put the name of
Medina in microscopic type in order to
make it's reading difficult; fourth, the
renewal of the charges did not con-
stitute a new offense but was coniirma-
ton of previous charges; fifth, this
being so the criminal responsibility OF
Cutting arose from the publication III
Ell Centinella, which was renewed III a
Texas paper, his renewal or ratification
not constituting a new crime which
should be punished with q different
penalty than that which corresponded
to the first publication.
The Judge further says: "Even sup
posing, without %conceding it, that the
crime of defamation had been commit,
ted in Texas, the fact that Cutting had
in Paso del Norte copies of the lei Paso
Sunday Herald of which Medina com
planned, and which were by order OF
the court seized, on the premises OF
Cutting on Mexican soil, constitutes
properly a consumatiOn of the crime
according to the penal code"
Judge Zubia lays special emphasis on
the tact that Cutting actually circulated
on Mexican soil his renewal of the
libel published in Texas, and declares
that were the case reversed he would
be punished under the present cod in
Texas.
A. P. Cushing, am American lawyer,
sums up Zubia's decision thus: Cutting
was convicted of Il repetition of the
libel first published in Mexico and re-
printed more virulently in Texas, which
he then brought Owe and distributed
in Mexico and it was the distribution
in Mexico of the second libel and not
the printing of the same i'll Texas for
which he was convicted, The libel hav-
ing been read by three or more per
sons, as required by the statutes OF the
state of Chihuahua. Cutting pleaded
in bar to the jurisdiction of the Mexican
court that the paper had been printed
in Texas. He did not, however, deny
that the paper had been circulated on
the Mexican side, which was a faci
numerous copies having been seized
there by order of the court. This
aspect of the case takes away the
phase of a conflict of law of the two
countries. The publication of a full
text of Judge Zubia's decision is re
garded here as putting the case out oi
international controversy.