The Trial
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The trial began on August 4, 1735. John Chambers, a young new lawyer, changed the jury list twice in order to ensure that the jurors were not biased against Zenger and were common men. However, he could not change the judge. The judge, Chief Justice James Delancy, was Cosby's friend, which meant that Zenger would probably be found guilty. The judge informed the jury that their only task was to determine if Zenger had printed the articles. If this were so, Zenger would have to be found guilty. Because Hamilton had admitted that Zenger had printed the articles, the jury had no choice but to find him guilty. The jury, though, had the same opinions as Zenger about Cosby. Although by the colonial standards of libel, Zenger was guilty, most people did not like the law about libel. Andrew Hamilton persuaded the jury that the law was not good because it did not allow printers to publish the truth about corrupt governments. As a result, the jury did the unthinkable. They determined that Zenger was proven not guilty, defying the judge and the governor's order, on August 5, 1735. The jury used nullification because they knew what Zenger did was against the law. They agreed with Zenger, and did not want to send him to jail for what they thought was the right thing to do. This was the first time jury nullification was used.
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