There were raw emotions from Esaw Snipes-Garner, the widow of Eric Garner, as she took the stand Saturday in a mock trial of Officer Daniel Panteleo.

"Nobody cared that he was screaming that he couldn't breathe," Snipes-Garner said

The NYPD officer, she says, put her husband in a chokehold, killing him in July of 2014 on Staten Island.

After testifying and being grilled by lawyers, she got angry and broke down in tears.  

"After going through this, I don't think I would be able to sit through a real trial," she said. "I think I would be right next to my husband or either in jail."  

This mock trial is part of a docu-drama called "American Trial." The film uses real New York lawyers, medical and police experts to determine what could have happened if there had been a trial against Panteleo in the death of Eric Garner. In 2014, the Staten Island district attorney did not convince a grand jury that Pantaleo should have been indicted.  

"Personally, I would not be making this film if I didn't think there should have been a trial. That is my personal opinion," said Roee Messinger, the film's director.

But the director says he wants this film to be as honest as it can be.  

"I didn't write a script. The attorneys wrote their own questions. The witnesses are giving answers. They are real people, so they are giving the real answers that they would given. So I have very little control as a film director," Messinger said.

The director says the only actor in this film is the person portraying Pantaleo. The person defending him in the movie, Robert Brown, is a retired NYPD captain who is now a lawyer.  

"If it were to go to trial, he should not be found guilty of manslaughter or strangulation," Brown said. "I think his actions were justified. I think the move that was put on was not a chokehold."

James Knight was a friend of Eric Garner and was there when officers tried to arrest Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes, which is illegal. Knight testified before a state and federal grand jury in the case. He testified for this film as well, saying Garner was not selling "loosies" when police approached him.   

"I though he was going to get a ticket or go to jail. I didn't know he was going to die," Knight said. "That's what hurt the most. Because when they put him on the stretcher and brought past, I could tell with his arms, his eyes rolled to the back, his legs slumped over that he was not breathing and he was dead."

Federal prosecutors are continuing to investigate the case to see if there should be civil rights charges brought against any of the officers. But four years later, Garner's widow says she does not have any faith in the Justice Department.