‘The Trayvon Hoax’ Documentary
In this stunning work of investigative journalism, filmmaker Joel Gilbert uncovers the true story of the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a case that divided America. By examining Trayvon’s 750-page cell phone records, Gilbert discovers that the key witness for the prosecution of George Zimmerman, the plus-sized 18-year-old Rachel Jeantel, was a fraud. It was in fact a different girl who was on the phone with Trayvon just before he was shot. She was the 16-year-old named “Diamond” whose recorded conversation with attorney Benjamin Crump ignited the public, swayed President Obama, and provoked the nation’s media to demand Zimmerman’s arrest.
Gilbert’s painstaking research takes him through the high schools of Miami, into the back alleys of Little Haiti, and finally to Florida State University where he finds Trayvon’s real girlfriend, the real phone witness, Diamond Eugene. Gilbert confirms his revelations with forensic handwriting analysis and DNA testing. After obtaining unredacted court documents and reading Diamond’s vast social media archives, Gilbert then reconstructs the true story of Trayvon Martin’s troubled teenage life and tragic death. In the process, he exposes in detail the most consequential hoax in recent American judicial history, The Trayvon Hoax, that was ground zero for the downward spiral of race relations in America. This incredible film (and book) has the potential to correct American history and bring America back together again.
This is a review from a lawyer and I think he says it well”
Entertaining, brilliant expose of a sham prosecution with enormous consequences!
As a long-time criminal lawyer, I’ve seen lots of weird ploys and surprising developments in cases over the years. People resort to all sorts of subterfuge when disinterested, honest justice, a principled application of reason and law to the evidence won’t get them where they want to go.
I once had an expert in a murder trial duck out of testifying by sending a letter to the court saying that he was double-booked across the country when really he wanted to visit his mistress (he was found in contempt). I’ve seen prosecutors withhold critical exculpatory evidence, cops lie but also defendants and their witnesses lie, lie, lie, sometimes rather elaborately at that.
But I’ve never seen anything quite like this. And definitely never in a trial of such momentous significance.
Joel Gilbert does some excellent, clever detective work here to uncover the staggering fact that the prosecution’s star witness, Trayvon’s purported girlfriend who was talking with him on the phone in the moments preceding his death, was an impostor! The trial centered around this girl’s testimony and it was a total fabrication.
Incredible!
The film is gripping. You see how Gilbert thought this out, carefully tested his hypotheses and, well, I won’t spoil it for you. The movie plays like the best imaginable CSI episode except for two things.
One, it’s real. These are real people — or real “fake” people to be more accurate – and it’s fascinating to watch Gilbert carefully expose their ruse.
Even if this story was about a relatively insignificant trial, it would be a striking portrait in human machinations and the kind of mischief people resort to to try to trick lady justice.
But it’s not an unimportant case and that’s the second point. The Zimmerman / Martin case had cataclysmic impact on race relations in America. Black Lives Matter emerged in a texting conversation of a few disgruntled black women who couldn’t believe that Zimmerman’s acquittal was a possible fair verdict.
To the contrary, the guy should never have been charged in the first place.
Joel Gilbert has done something spectacular with this investigation. This story deserves maximum exposure, the sooner the better. The Trayvon case rocked America. But the trial was a farce and the truth not just neglected but suppressed. This movie brings it clear out into the open.
