People v. Miller

Defendant was informed against in the county of Santa Clara for the crime of libel alleged to have been committed December 5, 1896, and was by the jury convicted. Judgment was accordingly entered, and the defendant was sentenced to he imprisoned in the county jail for the term of one year. Defendant appeals from this judgment and from the or *86 der denying motion for new trial. The charge was that defendant being the “author, editor, and proprietor of a newspaper .... called .... ‘the Illustrated World/ .... printed im the city and county of San Francisco, and published and circulated in said city and county and circulated in said county of Santa Clara, upon Saturday of each week; .... in one of the-regular weekly issues of said paper, did willfully and maliciously print, .... publish and circulate .... the following mali- - cious defamation .... to wit: ‘If the conversations of Chas, W—t and Judge R could be heard, how much crooked work would it reveal?’ ‘Would it not be well for those having cases before the judge to employ attorney W—t?’ ” It was alleged that the terms and names “Judge B” and “the judge” meant, and were intended to mean and were by the public understood…