John Peter Zenger, (born 1697, Germany—died July 28, 1746, New York City), New York printer and journalist whose famous acquittal in a libel suit (1735) established the first important victory for freedom of the press in the English colonies of North America.
The trial was a key step in the development of the freedom of press. John Peter Zenger's lawyer. He defended Zenger by telling the jury he was telling the truth and he wasn't lying in any sort of way.
He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press.
The most famous lawyer in the colonies, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, stepped up to defend Zenger. Hamilton admitted that Zenger printed the charges and demanded the prosecution to prove them false. In a stirring appeal to the jury, Hamilton pleaded for his new client's release.
Zenger's case established that truth cannot be libelous The importance of the case is that it established the principle, now firmly embedded in U.S. law, that truthful information cannot be libelous. Alexander Hamilton used this argument in the case of People v.
On August 4, 1735, a jury acquitted publisher John Peter Zenger of libel charges against New York's colonial governor, in an early landmark moment for the free press and the American legal system.
He was a journalist and printer for a newspaper in New York. He was an advocate for the freedom of press in the colonies. One of his newspapers was charged because he wrote a story about the corrupt government.
The Zenger trial took place between 1734 and 1735 in New York. It was a libel case against John Peter Zenger. This case established the principal that truthful statements about public officials could not be considered libelous. The royal colonies had governors that were appointed by the King of England.