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A documentary project that is currently faring well in the competition for the reality TV show Pursuit of Truth 鈥� a program on Glenn Beck鈥檚 Blaze TV network 鈥� purports to be about investigating the 鈥渢ruth鈥� about and several of his cohorts. But if a 鈥渟izzle reel鈥� video just released to promote the project is any measure, the film鈥檚 version of 鈥渢ruth鈥� may well be at variance with the established facts of the case.

Cox, declared , is currently serving a 26-year prison term for organizing a conspiracy to kill a federal judge and law enforcement officers in the Fairbanks area, where he lived. He and three other militiamen were and charged with the conspiracy and a bevy of related firearms violations.

In Pursuit of Truth, hosted by actor Vince Vaughn, a Salt Lake City filmmaker named Joshua Ligairi has been preparing a project purporting to demonstrate that Cox and his band of militiamen were railroaded by a rogue FBI investigation, and selling it to the show鈥檚 judges 鈥� quite successfully so far. His project, titled 鈥淧lan 241,鈥� was named a semi-finalist in the competition that aired last Wednesday.

The competition鈥檚 winner will get help from the show to produce a full-length version of their documentary.

The 鈥渟izzle reel鈥� 鈥� a two-minute preview of the film highlighting its most intriguing components 鈥� was released as part of the competition. It primarily features a handful of people telling the filmmakers how Cox and the others were railroaded by the FBI and an 鈥渙ut-of-control鈥� informant.

Much of the onscreen time is devoted to Aaron Bennett, the tattooed proprietor of a Fairbanks gun-and-gear shop called Far North Tactical and a friend of the convicted militiamen. At a key point in the video he describes some of the 鈥渙ut-of-control鈥� behavior of the key government informant in the case: 鈥淏ill pulled out a knife, grabs him and puts it up to his throat and says, 鈥榊ou say one more word, I鈥檒l kill you, I鈥檒l cut your throat.鈥�

Bennett is describing a verbal confrontation between the informant 鈥� a man from Anchorage named Bill Fulton who owned and operated a military surplus shop there 鈥� and Schaeffer Cox鈥檚 second-in-command, a Fairbanks man named Les Zerbe. But it is not at all clear that he鈥檚 giving an accurate description.

As blogger Jeanne Devon of Anchorage, who covered the trial daily, , Zerbe testified in court that Fulton 鈥渃ame at me with a knife鈥� but then admitted that he did not see a knife in Fulton鈥檚 hand: 鈥淚 was looking in the man鈥檚 eyes to see how serious he was on harming me. I did not see the weapon although I was told it was a knife.鈥�

that Aaron Bennett was in between himself and Zerbe during their altercation, which he described as purely verbal. So the court evidence suggests that if Fulton did have a knife 鈥� and Fulton himself testified that he had one but didn鈥檛 threaten Zerbe with it 鈥� it is highly unlikely it was brandished and held to Zerbe鈥檚 throat. Otherwise, Zerbe would have testified to that effect.

The other primary witnesses in the video are the parents of militiaman Coleman Barney, who, the evidence suggests, was accidentally caught up in Schaeffer Cox鈥檚 schemes and, accordingly, given a lighter sentence, . All of them express the opinion that the case against the men was unproven, though that was clearly not the opinion of the jurors who heard the evidence in the case.

During , Ligairi made clear that he had already decided on the angle for the film he wanted to make. He told them that 鈥渂asically, the FBI鈥檚 investigation crossed all these boundaries they weren鈥檛 supposed to cross,鈥� and described the agency鈥檚 behavior as 鈥淥rwellian.鈥� When one judge asked if he would be able to remain objective during the investigation, Ligairi indicated that he had already made up his mind: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 agree with what they鈥檙e doing, but I do not want to see innocent people go to jail.鈥�

For all its ominous music and implications, however, there is no evidence, physical or otherwise, in any of Ligairi鈥檚 footage so far to support the allegations of improper convictions in these cases.