Documentary Analysis Essay: Trials of Darryl Hunt

The documentary talks about a case of brutal rape and murder that involves a man by the name Darryl Hunt that was wrongly convicted. He went ahead to spend close to 20 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The story is about social justice, and the narrative is personally driven to describe the trials since the year 1984 to 2004. There is exclusive footage throughout the 20 years; the documentary implicates the emotions arising from the conviction of Darryl Hunt.

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The documentary also shows the backdrop of racial bias, as shown by the American justice system. The specific issues that appear in the video include prosecutorial misconduct, police conspiracy and redemption changes. The American criminal justice system is corrupt and sentences someone to life prison and execution without enough evidence, as shown in the documentary. It is filled with cross-racial eyewitness identification and inexperienced defense attorneys being assigned to capital cases, which should not be the case. No matter how much Darryl Hunt tried to show his innocence, the court did not listen at all, and they sentenced him to more years in prison.

The documentary shows prosecutorial misconduct when in 1994, the defense gained testing for DNA of physical evidence in the case. The evidence was not available at the trial during the year 1984. It revealed that Hunt had not committed the murder. However, the county judge ruled that the DNA could not be sufficient evidence to be used as an acquittal because they guessed that he could still have been involved in the murder. It was then that Hunt continued being held in prison till the year 2004 when he became fully exonerated of murder and got released. There was no sufficient evidence to show his involvement in the murder, but the court made him spend all those years in prison.

The redemption changes are revealed in the documentary after Hunt was released from prison and founded a project for freedom and justice. The project was devoted to educating the public concerning the flows that were present in the criminal justice system. It also advocated for those wrongfully incarcerated because of the flaws of the justice system as well as provide resources and necessary support for the ones trying to rebuild their lives. Hunt has kept on talking about the spread of wrongful convictions and has worked in areas of reforms for criminal laws.

The strengths of the documentary include the vivid description as from the research and analysis made throughout the 20 years of Hunt in prison and trials. It reveals how the criminal justice system has been unfair and creates insights that there must be more cases of the same nature. The documentary also reveals examples of where errors occurred in the saga of Hunt and offer future remedies as well as useful ideas that would help prevent similar cases. Hunt describes the need for reforms to prevent these cases as he states that he had the haunting reality of him being sentenced to death.

The documentary impacts on the understanding of race and the administration of justice such that there are more people who have been wrongfully convicted and it is upon the states to ensure that such cases are put to an end. The court systems should appoint more qualified prosecutors, police and crime victims to look at what leads to wrongful convictions and design proposals for reforms.