Litigation strategy for defending a non-violent theft of a commercial establishment in Mexico City, through the absolutory excuse

Abstract

In accordance with a case of non-violent theft from a commercial establishment that occurred in June 2016 in Mexico City, the aim of this article is to describe hypothetically the litigation strategy that could have allowed for a defense alternative through the absolutory excuse, assuming that the theft was committed by a single individual and involved an amount lower than 50 Measurement and Update Units (UMA). To this end, both substantive and procedural aspects are analyzed, which are essential for formulating, if necessary, an argument before the Public Prosecutor, so that they may propose a discretionary criterion that avoids the exercise of criminal action through a reparatory agreement in the investigative stage. If the public servant decides not to cooperate and moves the case to the judiciary, it will be the defense attorney's responsibility to demonstrate before the judge of control that, although the incident may appear to be a crime, the conduct and responsibility of the accused are not substantiated, and therefore no penalty should be imposed.