In 1984, Deborah Sykes, a young white newspaper reporter, was assaulted, raped, sodomized and stabbed to death just blocks from where she worked in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Though no physical evidence implicated him, Darryl Hunt, a 19-year-old black man, was ultimately convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. Ten years later, DNA testing proved that Hunt did not rape Sykes, and cast serious doubts on his involvement in her murder, but he spent another decade behind bars for a crime he did not commit. The eye-opening HBO documentary THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT tells his riveting story – and the story of those who fought to clear his name – when it debuts this THURSDAY, APRIL 26 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.
More than a decade in the making, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT examines a community and criminal justice system subject to racial bias and tainted by fear. Told from the point of view of the principal subjects – Mark Rabil, the unyielding defense attorney, and Hunt, the wrongly convicted man – the film challenges the assumption that all Americans have access to unbiased justice.
Check out this exclusive interview with the real Darryl Hunt and the ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice
TRAILER 1 | TRAILER 2 | TRAILER 3
Be sure not to miss this story of how an innocent man’s fate can rest in the hands of the media rather than the truth when
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this looks really interesting. too bad i don’t have HBO in my dorm room
maybe i’ll catch it on demand when i come home.
Through this trial the African American community learned that when it comes to racism, facts don’t matter.
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Kind of heartbreaking but when they say facts don’t matter its true.Like Emmit Till was innocent, but since he was black he must be guilty forehand.The system is not fair.Everything is about race.I’m going to watch this.
Wow, this looks very interesting. The sad thing is this happens far too often.
I remember this one from the old talk shows back in the day. I’m prepared to get all worked up n shyt all over again!
This is going to b a big eye opener for some people, I can’t wait to see it!
sounds riverting…will def check it out!
i wonder if someone will upload this documentary onto youtube. they should have this on NETWORK TV to reach more people. i wonder why they won’t….
How heartbreaking is it that this man lost 20 years of his life for a crime that he didn’t commit, but this is nothing new… So many black men have been sent to prision for crimes they didn’t commit.
@ #3 that is sad but so true. I can’t wait to see the documentary. The evidence screamed INNOCENT but yet they still decided to send him to prison because in their eyes he was just another “n*gger.”
Society always thinks that the black doll is the bad one!
MizzLizz ~ I could buy you some cable and put you up in an apartment! lol!
i’ll be watching, how many others are in prison because dna wasn’t around at that time??
I will def. watch that!
Sad but oh so true. This does and still is happening way too often in America.
The justice system turns a deaf ear to the poor.
Wake up trigger happy, wanna be gangstas!
is SuCk dat a man had to waste 20yrs behind for doing something he didnt do .. and yEs it was because he was black its a damn same that when the good one try so hard to better themselves and Beat this damn system type shit like this happens man same with emmiit till ii mean people please wake up dont fuckin judge people by there race man i mean god must be thinking he worthless because he created a world that was once so wonderful and now people are making iit so hateful and all this discrimination crap.. i will def be watching this
They need to put a summary of incidents like this right after all the anti-stop-snitching stories (e.g. 60 minutes this past sunday with Cam’ron), maybe folks would understand.
You mean people really cant understand why black folks would follow the no-snitching-code?
Sad but it happens more often than we think. It was a man here (in NC as well) who was charged with raping two women. Thanks to DNA testing he was found not guilty. And they were supposed to pay him restitution (sp) for his time spent in jail. Needless to say I don’t think he got it or will ever get it.
on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
17. OnPoint said:
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They need to put a summary of incidents like this right after all the anti-stop-snitching stories (e.g. 60 minutes this past sunday with Cam’ron), maybe folks would understand.
You mean people really cant understand why black folks would follow the no-snitching-code?
Bill Said:
That’s what I’m talking about…
Cosign 101% !!!
How they going to pay this brother back for the 18 years of his life that he LOST !
You can get the movie on Netflix if you don’t have HBO…
So….why does Black America ALWAYS bring up race? Try watching this special then hit us back on these message boards!
17. OnPoint said:
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They need to put a summary of incidents like this right after all the anti-stop-snitching stories (e.g. 60 minutes this past sunday with Cam’ron), maybe folks would understand.
You mean people really cant understand why black folks would follow the no-snitching-code?
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Child you took the words right out of my mouth. Like I said before its too many gun-totting rednecks in NC. When I see the police I get as far away from them as possible.
@ 21 Well race do play a factor in a number of cases like this . I remeber watching a special on A&E a few yrs ago and a black man was accused of raping two white girls and the only thing that they could tell the police about the rapist was that he was black. They didnt even remeber the rapist face. but they put one dark skinned man in a line up full of white men ad they locked his black ass up ! he was appealing the case at the time I dont know if he ever got off or not but alot of cases like this are related to race,believe it or not .
I think more than being a factor of race, these no-evidence convictions are an economic issue. There are a number of white inmates as well as minorities that have been released through the work of the Justice Project. As usual in this country it is the haves vs. the have-nots.
First, I must say that I am sooooo happy that Concrete Loop reached out and posted a conscious story like this. Sometimes, in our “judging Beyonce’s bangs” comments, we forget about “our” everyday reality living here in the US. Thanks for posting this and I will put this documentary date/time in my planner!
Also, #17 and #22, that is the truth!!! Good point!
I had already planned on watching this. And also I agree, this unfortunately occurs WAY too often.
I almost cried looking at the first trailer. I never felt so emotional.
That’s real messed up that he was accused & spent 10 years of his life in prison. It happens all the time.
wow, this hurt my feelings, this was a horrible thing to do to this man.I’m glad that’s he’s going to be finally set free!
Now its shit like this that Al Sharpton should be on top of, not the typical bullshit over semantics. Don Imus, Rap artists, etc. are going to continue to spew the same hatred and self hatred they’ve been doing, but its REAL ISSUES like the inadequacies of the judicial and education system that are hitting our community hard. Darryl Hunt is far from the first and far from the last to loose their livelihood over unfair prosecution. It will continue to stay this way as long as we choose to protest words while the sticks and stones are killing us.
I agree wit RC!
At times I truly DISLIKE THE DAMN EUROCENTRIC Govt. This young man has lost TEN years of his life for a crime he didn’t commit and yeah it’s cool that he was cleared but NO AMOUNT of APOLOGIES or MONETARY SETTLEMENT can turn back the hands of time. He’s missed collegiate yrs, family events etc…I’m truly hurt by this. Hopefully he’ll decide to get into the judicial system himself as an attempt to prevent similar situations from occurring~
my fault…TWENTY yrs.
dammit! as soon as i discontinue HBO all the good stuff comes on. the US judicial system needs an upgrade.
This is a daggone shame. This happens so often it is not funny…Dam Dam Dam
Who is going to give this men and other bro’s falsely accused their lives back. They will always be known as a convicted felon innocent or not.
Bam Bam I haven’t received an e-mail from u yet.
Holla!!
hbo came to my job and showed this movie….well this documentary..it was very good and sad..i almost cried at work….you guy should check it out if you can!!!
i actually have a brother-in-law serving 18-24 yrs in prison for a rape he did not commit. the woman even came forth and said she was lying to get even with him and the state of NC still prosecuted him. I also have a best friend serving a 16 yr sentence for being associated with someone who may have robbed a man a week prior to visiting his home! and get this, that man who was actually accused of the robbery is walking aroung scott free! and who do you think pay to house and feed these falsely accused criminals? the taxpayers.
Wow , it’s funny that this is posted because my mom and I were talking about him the other day.
I live in Winston-Salem and my mom and dad actually know this man and went to his home not too long ago. He got paid a good grip of money for being in jail for so long after he was found innocent. Goodness.
Reading this got me so mad…This is so unfair. Where’s the justice??? I couldn’t image what’s it feels like to be wrongfully accused and spend 20 years in jailed for a crime I didn’t do. Anyways, I will be watching.
Definetly a must see for me and my children. Can’t even begin to imagine going through something like this. Shit like this gets me so heated but I have to believe the truth will always come to light. Unfortunately this brother missed out on something (his life) that can never be replaced.
This is truly an eye-opening documentary. It was one of the premier films last year in Nashville’s Film Festival. I actually got to meet Darryl and talk to him briefly. He spoke on his acceptance of this whole situation and how he has dealt with everything. It’s amazing this man’s strength & inner peace after having spent 2 decades in prison for a crime he never committed. I encourage everyone that can to catch this…on HBO or wherever you can see it.
see this is 1 of the main reasons i don’t believe in the death penalty. think of how many innocent people have been executed before dna was around. i would love to watch this but i too have no hbo.
and so does this mean they never caught the real rapist/killer? how many innocent woman have been victims of that same man because of the over zealous prosecution going after this man? we’ll never know.
I’ll have to catch it on the weekend….I know they’ll be running it again.
#12 I was wondering the same thing…..and how many cases have been opened up or would be open up now ???
funny how theres only a few posts compared to the beyonce bangs post.I can’t believe al sharpton,oprah,etc havn’t gotten on this issue.
I watched this doc on HBO and this man was not given justice for 20 years. The state hid so much from the defence it was crazy. Even after the DNA said that he wasn’t the one who rapped that woman they still kept him locked-up saying that he could have killed her. NC rapped that man of his life. It took members of the Black community and the White community to help this man get justice.