American Trial: The Eric Garner Story

Airing on Reelz this hybrid fiction-documentary engaged the services of two actual legal teams to create a rigorous, legally based fictional—yet unscripted—trial that never happened for one of the nation’s most disturbing tragedies.

On July 17, 2014 in NYC, in an attempt to take Eric Garner into custody for selling ‘loosies’ (loose cigarettes without a tax mark), police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed Eric Garner in a chokehold. Garner repeated 11 times he could not breathe and died shortly thereafter. The autopsy report later determined compression to the neck and chest as the cause of death and categorized the death as a homicide. A cell phone video documenting the entire incident went viral, sparking nationwide protests. Demonstrations and media debates continued when Pantaleo was later not indicted for any crime.

The idea is powerfully simple: engage the services of two actual legal teams to create a rigorous, legally based fictional—yet unscripted—trial that never happened for one of the nation’s most disturbing recent tragedies. The accused is Officer Daniel Pantaleo (only recently fired by New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill), charged in the July 17, 2014 death of Eric Garner with reckless manslaughter and strangulation in the first degree. The judge is played by a seasoned defense lawyer, while the officer is played by the only actor in the cast (Anthony Altieri). Eyewitnesses, bystanders, friends, and his widow, Esaw Snipes, all come to testify; meanwhile, credible expert witnesses who would have likely been called to testify in a real trial provide their testimonies for both the prosecution and the defense to create fair judicial proceedings.

In the most accurate, balanced and unbiased way possible, using former NYS prosecutors, real attorneys, and the actual witnesses, we provide the audience with the facts necessary for them to determine “was Pantaleo guilty?”

No script. Only real people and real testimonies in a courtroom setting, with a cinematic lens.