People v. Gunther

Brenner, M.

This hearing involves a charge of criminal libel under sections 1340 to 1344 of the Penal Law of New York. The question is whether sufficient evidence has been established to hold the defendant for having wrongfully and unjustifiably portrayed the complainant as a communist and thus exposed his person in the manner defined and prohibited by those penal sections of the statute.

The complainant, an American citizen, is a former Austrian public official, prominent in Austrian circles both abroad and in the country, who had suffered much under Hitler prior to his escape. He was one of…