00:00:08
Amanda Knox. >> Amanda Knox. >> Thank you to everyone who's believed in me, who's defended me, who's supported my
00:00:21
family. >> Being able to get up when you want, step in the grass when you want. She's almost
00:00:28
kind of reborn in a way. >> At night, he called me up to his third floor in an empty office. He was fixated
00:00:38
on the topic of sex. Now, I realized that he was testing me to see if I reacted badly. He wanted to
00:00:46
get a reaction or some information from me. [Music] >> She's developed quite the fear, a fear
00:00:54
of people that she never had before. How do you lock up a 20-year-old girl for four years for something that she
00:01:01
didn't do? >> When he looked in the eyes of Amanda Knox, he thought that she was evil.
00:01:10
>> 54 mistakes in the gathering of the DNA in that room. We've got to find out why and how this
00:01:18
happened. >> I lost one of my daughters for a while. It's not going to happen again.
00:01:27
[Music] >> Amanda Knox, the untold story. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] The welcome home signs in Seattle say it
00:02:19
All [Applause] >> my family is the most important thing to me right now and I just want to go and
00:02:31
be with them. And Amanda Knox is doing just that, reconnecting with family, friends, and
00:02:40
adjusting to freedom. Her dad, Kurt Knox. We've now kind of woken up and realized
00:02:47
that the nightmare is over. Living for 4 years inside a a concrete and steel, you
00:02:55
know, prison. And now being able to kind of just look around, smell the air makes
00:03:00
a huge difference. It's almost hard to believe that days earlier, her face was filled with fear as Amanda Knox stood up
00:03:08
in court with the whole world watching to deliver the most important speech of her young life.
00:03:19
>> In fluent Italian, she spoke forcefully and emotionally, proclaiming her innocence in the murder of her roommate,
00:03:27
Meredith Kercher. Fore cream. [Music] More than 10 hours later, the tension was almost unbearable.
00:04:06
>> A judge read the verdict. >> Not guilty. >> Amanda was quickly rushed from the
00:04:17
courtroom. It was the end of a long and difficult road for her family. I watched Amanda
00:04:25
and I saw her slump and I went, "No. And then our attorney that speaks English uh
00:04:34
turned around and said, "She's free." Couldn't tell you. Couldn't be couldn't be better. Her family had sacrificed
00:04:42
everything to be near her. And so did one very determined best friend, 24year-old Madison Paxton.
00:04:51
Madison moved to Peruia last year and played a crucial behindthe-scenes role as morale booster and confidant. As
00:04:59
Amanda prepared for her new trial, >> your spunkiness and the nature of your relationship with Amanda, you've really
00:05:06
encouraged her to stand up and fight. >> Oh, yeah. Very much so. I remind her that you can be mad, that you should be
00:05:14
mad, and that it's fine for you to defend yourself. [Music] Just about every Tuesday and Saturday
00:05:22
for the past 10 months, Madison took a 15-minute bus ride and then set out on a 20-minute walk to see her best friend in
00:05:31
prison. Her visits provided much needed human contact during times of desolation and
00:05:41
despair. I remember one time when I visited her and she just had an eyelash and so of
00:05:46
course I just brushed it off and the letter I got from her a few days later, she wrote how much it meant to
00:05:53
her that I brushed off her eyelash just because it's like a kind, friendly physical gesture and that just doesn't
00:05:59
exist for her anymore. >> Madison kept a video diary at 48 hours request. >> I don't know. She's beyond heartbroken.
00:06:09
She's she is depressed. She's she's absolutely terrified of >> the powerful entries provide us with an
00:06:16
inside look at what Amanda was thinking and feeling while trapped behind bars. >> And Amanda, she's just like, "Why do
00:06:26
people feel they have a right to like make these presentations about my life when I've never met them and they don't
00:06:32
know me?" And I turned to her and I was like, "Babe, cuz you're a character to them. You're not a person. You're a
00:06:38
character." Our investigation reveals an incredible story of how police and a powerful prosecutor twisted the evidence
00:06:47
to fit their theory of the crime. And it started on November 2nd, 2007 with the murder of her 21-year-old British
00:06:57
roommate. >> Police say Meredith Kerser was found partially clothed and had been left in a
00:07:02
pool of blood with a deep cut to her throat. Amanda had no idea how quickly she would
00:07:09
turn from witness to suspect. Her troubles began with a kiss that would be played over and over again
00:07:18
on Italian TV. Investigative journalist and CBS news consultant Bob Graham. And from right at the beginning with those
00:07:28
series of kisses, Amanda Knox was demonized in the Italian mind. >> Yes. It showed a callousness. It showed
00:07:36
a a disregard for this moment when her flatmate had been been murdered. >> And if Amanda could be so cold,
00:07:43
prosecutor Juliano Manini thought that meant she could also be involved. Amanda's mother, Edelis, had a very
00:07:52
different view. >> It's not passionate kissing. It's comforting and consoling behavior. She
00:07:57
was devastated. You can tell she's in shock. Ironically, Amanda's eagerness to stay in Peruia and help the police was
00:08:05
backfiring on her. >> She had the opportunity on several occasions to leave the country. Her her
00:08:10
aunt in Germany phoned and said, "Amanda, your mom says you should get out of the country." And she said, "No,
00:08:16
I want to stay here. I want to help solve my my my flatmate's murderer." >> Amanda was interrogated for a total of
00:08:23
50 hours over 4 days. No attorney. None of the questioning was recorded. >> And these are people who are trained to
00:08:33
break mafia suspects. >> They break mafia. And here they had a little 20-year-old yoga hippie from
00:08:38
Seattle who thought that everybody was wonderful and just wanted to go have coffee together.
00:08:44
>> The brutal interrogation ended with Amanda confessing, putting herself at the scene and implicating another
00:08:52
person, her boss at a local bar where she worked, Patrick Lumumba. Author Nina Burley has been studying the case.
00:09:00
>> She signed a statement that says, "I see myself in the house. Patrick is with me.
00:09:06
Patrick Lambo, he has gone into Meredith's bedroom and I can hear her screams." >> The statement Amanda signed implicated
00:09:13
Patrick with a bizarre and awkward line. I confusedly remember that he killed her. I take offense with the word
00:09:22
confession because Amanda never says that she participated in the murder of her friend. She never confesses to being
00:09:29
part of that crime ever. >> There were many troubling details about that so-called confession. But it was
00:09:37
all the police chief of Perua needed to arrest Amanda Raphael and Patrick Lumumba for the murder of Meredith
00:09:45
Kercher. >> And he had the nerve to say, "Case closed. We've solved this murder. That's
00:09:50
okay if you've got the evidence. >> In fact, none of the forensic evidence, including the DNA testing, had even come
00:09:58
back. But the prosecutor insisted his gut and Merida's near naked body, told him how the murder had occurred during a
00:10:08
drugfueled orgy. And Amanda was the ring leader. Amanda was presented as extremely
00:10:17
attractive, having lots of sex, decided one night to act on these completely diabolical urges and bewitched two men
00:10:28
into attacking her roommate. >> And the world's media ate it up. >> Amanda's beauty. Did that play a role in
00:10:37
all of this? It definitely tells more papers if you have two beautiful, beautiful women. And then headlines that
00:10:43
there was some attempt at an orgy between them. To prosecutor Manini, an orgy that led to a satanic killing.
00:11:02
[Music] The fate of Amanda Knox has always been inextricably linked to prosecutor
00:11:15
Juliano Manini. >> His worldview is evil walks on this earth. There are people in his community who
00:11:24
are practicing oult rituals who maybe worship the devil. Nina Burley, author of The Fatal Gift of
00:11:34
Beauty, says that the closer Manini looked at Meredith Kercher's murder. >> A body has been found, it's very spooky.
00:11:41
It's the night after Halloween. >> The more he began to see not only evidence, but the spectre of the supernatural.
00:11:53
>> It happened on a Thursday night. That's when the witches held their Sabbath. >> Witches. The Sabbath. It sounds
00:12:01
laughable, but Nenah says Manini sees the face of evil everywhere. >> I think that when he looked in the eyes
00:12:08
of Amanda Knox, he thought that she was evil. >> To Manini, a staunch Catholic with a
00:12:17
medieval mindset. Amanda Knox was a sinner who took part in a satanic orgy that resulted in the murder of an
00:12:25
innocent. >> This is ridiculous. This is absolutely insane and it's unfounded. Amanda's
00:12:30
friend, Madison Paxton. >> The claims that they put against Amanda that that she was so sexually powerful
00:12:37
that she could manipulate these two men who she didn't even really know, it tells you a lot more about the person
00:12:44
making the claims than about the person those claims are made against. >> But Manini did not back down.
00:12:51
>> Not even when he was forced to release Patrick Lumumba, who had a solid alibi.
00:12:57
And not even when the DNA evidence came back and seemed to exonerate Amanda and Raphael.
00:13:04
>> There is nothing in that room out of all those 400 samples that places Amanda or
00:13:08
Raphael in that room. You can't go into a room and selectively just clean up your DNA and leave everybody else's DNA
00:13:14
there. It's impossible. It's it can't be done. >> A bloody fingerprint found at the scene
00:13:21
gave Manini a new suspect. Rudy Geday, an African immigrant who is known to have confronted people with a knife.
00:13:29
>> He was hanging around with these students and partying with them and pretending to be like them, but he
00:13:36
wasn't like them at all. And in order to keep up with them, he started apparently
00:13:42
getting involved in breaking and entering. >> GDay was tracked down, arrested, and
00:13:48
charged with Merida's murder. >> His bloody fingerprint is there. >> Absolutely. His footprint is there.
00:13:54
>> DNA. >> Absolutely. >> And he fled to Germany. >> And he admits he was there. He admits
00:13:58
cradling her body as she as she was bleeding to death, feeling bad about it. So bad that he ran out of there carrying
00:14:05
her money. He felt so bad that he went to a disco and partied. He felt so bad that he disappeared to Germany to let
00:14:13
other people take the rap for it. That's how bad he feels. Even with GDay in custody, Manini refused to believe that
00:14:20
only one person was responsible. >> He believes deeply in conspiracies. Conspiracy is part of his investigative
00:14:30
DNA. >> Manini believed he was in possession of the murder weapon, a kitchen knife found
00:14:37
in the apartment of Raphael Seleletch, Amanda's boyfriend. The Roman scientific police claimed they found an
00:14:47
infinitesismal amount of DNA on the handle related to Amanda and an infinitesismal
00:14:53
amount of DNA on the blade relating to Meredith. >> All that was left for Manini was to
00:15:00
establish a link between Rudy Gadeet, Amanda, and Raphaeli. The police began pressuring GDay.
00:15:07
>> First statement from Rudy Geday. Amanda had nothing to do with it. Those are his
00:15:11
own words. Following statements, he's moving her more into the story. He gets up and
00:15:18
says, "She did have something to do with it. She was there >> and was the instigator."
00:15:23
>> And was the instigator. >> In 2008, GDay went on trial first. He was convicted of killing Meredith
00:15:31
Kercher and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Manini told the court that GDay had expressed remorse and later his
00:15:40
sentence was reduced to 16 years. The stage was set. Amanda and Raphael's trial began in
00:15:50
January 2009, and by then, Manini had another piece of evidence that reportedly had Raphael's DNA on it. a
00:16:00
piece of Meredith Kercher's bra that had been cut off by the killer. >> Manini barreled ahead with his
00:16:08
prosecution, convinced that Amanda, Raphael, and Rudy Goodday all conspired and took part in the murder of Meredith
00:16:16
Kercher. And the press, Graham says, played a key role. I don't just blame the the
00:16:25
prosecutor and the police in this. I also attribute a lot of blame to the media. They bought the lies. They helped
00:16:32
create the perception that that existed that Amanda Noox was the shevil and Raphael Sashto was her slave. At nearly
00:16:39
every turn, Amanda was losing the publicity war. After the kiss came this videotape showing Amanda shopping for
00:16:48
quote unquote sexy underwear a day or two after Meredith's murder. Never mind that all her clothes were locked up at
00:16:57
the crime scene. >> The public was fed a diet of untruths, myths, rumors, falsehoods, lies about Amanda Knox and
00:17:07
Raphael Celestito. >> Manini spun a fantastic tale for jurors filled with graphic details about the
00:17:16
violent sex orgy on the night Meredith was murdered. >> It was made up. It was fantasy. An
00:17:23
Italian magazine created these drawings based on Manini's theory, showing Amanda
00:17:29
plunging a knife into Meredith. In December 2009, after a trial that lasted nearly a year, a smiling Amanda
00:17:40
Knox walked into the court at nearly midnight, convinced the jury had seen the truth and that she'd soon be going
00:17:48
home. She did not think for a single moment that she was actually going to be convicted. It never really fully entered
00:17:55
into any of our minds that it could actually happen. It's I mean like she she very ideally
00:18:03
thought that the truth was enough. >> But the jury found a different truth. Amanda was found guilty of killing
00:18:10
Meredith Kercher and sentenced to 26 years. Raphaeli got 25 years. >> It's a complete miscarriage of justice
00:18:20
and it's a travesty to the Italian judicial system. >> Amanda trapped in an Italian prison soon
00:18:29
had a more immediate problem. A prison official she feared was on the prowl for sex.
00:18:39
[Music] 48 Hours has learned just how frightening those first dark days in prison were for Amanda Knox.
00:18:56
Right from the beginning, she was terrified that she might be sexually assaulted.
00:19:02
This is a letter that came to me from Amanda. >> Investigative journalist Bob Graham read
00:19:10
Amanda's letter detailing cruel manipulation and incidents of sexual intimidation. She described how a
00:19:18
highranking prison administrator ordered her into his office alone at night to talk about sex.
00:19:28
He was fixated on the topic of sex with whom I'd done it, how I liked it, if I would like to do it with him. When I
00:19:36
realized that he really wanted to talk to me about sex, I would try to change the subject.
00:19:42
>> Amanda writes that she was particularly frightened because the administrator quote acted as if he was the king of the
00:19:49
castle. >> Therefore, I thought he didn't have to answer to anyone for his behavior.
00:19:54
Amanda eventually came to believe that the administrator had a different motive, that he was perhaps trying to
00:20:00
support the prosecution's theory that she really was a sex crazed sheevil who killed Meredith during a violent orgy.
00:20:09
>> I realized that he was testing me to see if I reacted badly to understand me personally. He wanted to get a reaction
00:20:15
or some information from me. I did not get the seriousness of the situation. The intimidation reportedly ended after
00:20:22
Amanda's lawyers complained. >> What does this letter say to you about what she's been going through?
00:20:28
>> It says at a time when she was clearly traumatized by the the murder of her flatmate. And here she was being
00:20:36
pressured in a prison system, a system that at least she should have had some some degree of of safety. And there was
00:20:44
this guy, a senior officer in this prison, now pressing her about sex. Pressing her, "Do you want to have sex
00:20:52
with me?" >> Bob Graham spoke with the administrator who admitted he and Amanda discussed the
00:20:58
topic of sex, but claims she brought it up. >> Madison Paxton says Amanda stood her
00:21:08
ground, showing remarkable strength. It's still her life and the only way that the prosecution wins is if she
00:21:16
becomes some broken, bitter person who relies on the free and abundant tranquilizers at the prison. She has
00:21:22
never done that and she's beyond determined to not do that. >> Her focus was the appeal and she soon
00:21:32
had a worldrenowned ally. >> This case horrifies me. I'd like to say it shocks me, but I've seen others like
00:21:40
it. >> Psychologist and professor Saul Kassen is an expert on police interrogations.
00:21:47
>> That what you're saying to him is not on record, right? >> Your signature on record.
00:21:51
>> On his own initiative, Kassen filed a report with the Italian court on Amanda's behalf. It outlines some of the
00:21:58
psychological reasons why Amanda could have confessed to a murder she did not commit. Amanda Knox like everybody has a
00:22:06
breaking point. She reached her breaking point. Eight or 10 or 12 police officials in a tag team manner come in
00:22:15
and interrogate her. Their goal is a confession, and they're not leaving that room without it.
00:22:20
>> At her first trial, Amanda told the court just how badly the Italian police had intimidated her.
00:22:27
>> I was very, very scared because they were treating me so badly. I didn't understand why.
00:22:35
They told me that I was trying to protect someone, but I wasn't trying to protect anyone, but they continued to
00:22:42
call me a stupid liar. >> She's obviously in a state of grief or shock. She is accused. She's called a
00:22:49
liar when she denies having any involvement. She's in a foreign place and she's being interrogated in a
00:22:54
language in which she's not fluent. >> And what does that do to someone? >> She's confused. She's disoriented. Hour
00:23:00
after sleepless hour passed with no food, no water, no bathroom breaks, and no attorney. During that brutal
00:23:09
interrogation, Amanda's mother says it was the police who first brought up the name Patrick Lumumba, Amanda's boss.
00:23:18
They had discovered that Amanda had exchanged texts with him the night of the murder.
00:23:25
Amanda's last message said, "See you later. See you later. Yeah. Is an American way
00:23:31
of saying goodbye. Yeah. But in in Italian it's not, is it? >> No. And they took that to mean we're
00:23:36
making an appointment to get together later tonight. That's the way they interpreted it.
00:23:41
>> They kept saying, "You said this thing to Patrick. We know that you left the house. We know." I just said his name.
00:23:47
>> She didn't know it at the time, but the moment she named Patrick Lumumba would
00:23:52
seal Amanda's fate. She described it in the letter to Bob Graham. >> So I said, "Patrick." Nearly all the
00:24:02
police officers leapt up. They hugged each other and would off in search of Patrick. In the meantime, I just cried.
00:24:07
I curled up into a ball and balled my eyes out. I don't know how long I cried. I was so tired. I couldn't think.
00:24:14
>> Hours later, Amanda signed that confession that placed her in the house where Meredith was killed.
00:24:22
>> I believe Amanda's confession is false. I believe Amanda is innocent. If she was
00:24:27
there, wouldn't she have known that Patrick wasn't there? Wouldn't she have known that Rudy was there? The reason
00:24:33
she didn't know those things is that she wasn't there. She later recanted, but it was too late.
00:24:40
The damage done, she was officially under arrest. 3 years after the murder, Amanda is
00:24:48
ready to attack all the prosecution's evidence head on at her appeal. the confession, the eyewitnesses,
00:24:57
and the DNA. [Music] >> You can't even put into words as as we sit here and talk to you what it must be
00:25:06
like for her. I mean, our lives are not on the line. Her life is it's it's going
00:25:12
to be put in somebody else's hands again. >> And the prosecution would not go down
00:25:19
without a fight. [Music] Amanda Knox. >> Amanda Knox. >> Amanda Knox. >> With all the brewhaha over Amanda Knox,
00:25:42
it's sometimes easy to forget the murdered woman at the center of this case. >> Meredith still leaves quite a big hole
00:25:50
in our lives. Yeah. >> Meredith Kercher seen here in this music video. [Music] >> But Amanda's father, Kurt, says his
00:26:06
thoughts are never far from the Kercher family. >> They've experienced the worst thing that
00:26:11
a parent could ever experience at the loss of a child. You know, you can't even describe what
00:26:21
they must be going through as well. The ordeal was still far from over for any of the families, Meredis, Amanda's,
00:26:33
or Raphael Selechos. It was back to court as Amanda and Raphael appealed their murder
00:26:41
convictions. >> We know she's innocent. She knows she's innocent. She's not afraid of the truth.
00:26:48
>> A lot had changed in Peruia since the first trial ended. If we were to walk up
00:26:54
to an average person here in Peruia and ask them, describe Amanda Knox, what would they say after all of this media
00:27:02
beliefs? >> 3 years ago, everyone would have said, "She is evil. She's, you know, she is
00:27:07
the killer." Now, I think you would get a pretty strong number of people who would say, "Well, perhaps she's not the
00:27:15
person that we thought she was." >> That attitude carried into this second trial, which was presided over by a new
00:27:25
judge. He started the appeals trial with a very clear statement and that was the only
00:27:34
thing we know for certain is that Meredith Kercher is dead. >> True to his word, this judge asked
00:27:45
independent experts to review the key DNA evidence in the case. >> What they discovered shocked most
00:27:55
observers. 54 mistakes in the gathering of the DNA in that room. That's shoddy work. That's
00:28:04
appalling work. >> During the first trial, prosecutor Manini had said a kitchen knife found in
00:28:13
Raphael's house had Amanda's DNA on the handle and Meredith on the blade. Damning if true.
00:28:21
>> Meredith Kerch's DNA was not on the blade. >> Not on the blade. Not on the blade.
00:28:27
Indeed, Amanda Noxes was on the handle, but she never doubted it. >> And why was Amanda's DNA on the handle?
00:28:33
>> Cuz she cooked in Raphael's house. Her DNA was on the handle and rye bread residue was on the blade. So obviously,
00:28:40
she had been using that knife to cut bread in Raphael's house. >> And then there was that small clasp from
00:28:47
Meridus Bra, supposedly containing Raphael's DNA. The bra clasp, the one piece of evidence that prosecutor Mini
00:28:57
said definitely put Raphael Seleto in the murder room. What happened to that piece of evidence?
00:29:03
>> Again, thrown out. Thrown out. Contaminated. >> In this police video, crime scene
00:29:11
technicians collect this key piece of evidence 6 weeks after the murder. Using dirty gloves, they pick it up and
00:29:21
then place the bra clasp back on the floor. >> Go back to the phrase, "The forensics
00:29:27
will tell us everything." And it did. And it does. There is zero evidence against Nox and zero evidence against
00:29:36
Celestial. [Music] In fact, not a single text, email, or phone call has ever been found that
00:29:45
links Amanda and Raphael to Rudy Goodday. >> I'm a vampire, >> who has admitted holding a blood soaked
00:29:55
Meredith in his arms the night of the murder. And important witnesses from the first
00:30:04
trial appeared to be discredited this time around. One of the biggest witnesses was a
00:30:12
homeless guy who was a drug addict who said that he saw Amanda and Raphaeli arguing nervously standing around above
00:30:21
the house around the time that the murder would have occurred. Well, come to find out in the appeal, this guy's a
00:30:27
heroin addict. He could barely walk to the to the witness stands. >> The judge even stopped the questioning
00:30:33
and basically just said, "You're out of here. >> I've heard enough of you. take him away.
00:30:40
>> Things were looking up for Amanda, but she couldn't help but worry, said her friend Madison Paxton.
00:30:46
>> As things start to slowly look better with the trial, it kind of hurts to hope
00:30:52
because we know what it felt like the first time that they were convicted. and you have
00:30:59
this acknowledgement in your head that's like, "Wow, this would actually genuinely destroy her if she was
00:31:05
convicted again." In some ways, it's easier psychologically to be filled with despair. Does that make sense?
00:31:13
>> One irony in this case is that the Italian authorities actually did a great job. In less than 3 weeks, they had the
00:31:21
person who murdered Meredith Kercher. Indeed, >> they arrested Rudy Geday and they had
00:31:27
the evidence against him. >> Absolutely. They'd also dug a hole so deep that they couldn't get out of it.
00:31:32
That was the problem. And pride, vanity, whatever it was, ensured they just kept
00:31:38
digging. >> But Manini would not let go of his theory that Gadeet did not kill Meredith
00:31:46
by himself, but had help from Amanda and Raphaeli. So, as prosecutor Manini watches his case collapse around him,
00:31:55
what does he do during the course of this appeal? He says that her sentence should be lengthened to life.
00:32:02
>> Exactly. It's mind-boggling. They're not going to give it up easily. I mean, there's a reason why vendetta is an
00:32:09
Italian word. >> After nearly 4 years in prison, Amanda was itching to get outside again. She
00:32:17
said today, she's like, "Madison, it's been 3 years since I've been able to walk outside past 3:00 p.m. I miss
00:32:25
walking at night. I miss stars. I I miss that so much." >> But Amanda would never see those stars
00:32:33
again if prosecutors had their way. In closing arguments, prosecutors dismissed all questions
00:32:44
about their forensic evidence and stood by their witnesses. >> Nothing they said had changed.
00:32:53
Amanda and Raphaeli were still guilty of murder. >> What do you expect for tomorrow? I don't
00:33:06
know. >> As the verdict nears, the world's media has now descended on Puja. [Music]
00:33:15
>> As the final act of this 4-year saga came to a head, it was clear that Amanda Knox was no
00:33:22
longer the trusting 20-year-old hippie from Seattle, but instead a 24year-old prisoner.
00:33:34
A lot of people have noticed she's lost weight. There's so much concern on her face. Are you worried?
00:33:40
>> Well, of course, as a mom, you're worried. You look at her and you know she's suffering. You know she's lost
00:33:45
weight. She tells you she can't eat, she can't sleep because of the stress. Of course, it
00:33:52
breaks your heart to watch that as a parent and know that she's dealing with all of that.
00:33:58
Yeah. Just as he did with the infamous kiss, Manini in his rebuttal attacked Amanda
00:34:09
and Raphael's behavior, saying they did not react appropriately when gruesome crime scene photographs of Meredith
00:34:16
Kercher were shown in court. You sit there and, you know, you want to yell out lies, but you have to sit and
00:34:29
quietly and remain composed. You watch your daughter being tortured, you know, emotionally tortured sitting there
00:34:35
having to listen to that stuff. >> How are you feeling today, Mr. >> But then Raphael and Amanda got their
00:34:49
turn. The jurors were riveted as Raphaeli removed a plastic bracelet. A hush fell over the courtroom
00:35:16
>> as a visibly shaken Amanda began to speak. After thanking Raphael for his support,
00:35:37
Amanda addressed her so-called confession. As she ended her dramatic speech, three
00:36:00
jurors were in tears. volume. It I forlo. [Music] That night, the first verdict gave
00:37:17
everyone pause. >> Guilty. Amanda had slandered her former boss, Patrick Lumumba. She was sentenced
00:37:27
to 3 years, time served. But then, the verdict Amanda longed for. She and Raphael's murder convictions
00:37:44
overturned. [Music] The emotional upheaval of her lost years was etched on her face. Her former
00:38:01
boyfriend Raphaeli stayed calm as did the family of Meredith Kercher who were in the courtroom.
00:38:10
Meanwhile, the streets of Peruia exploded. An extraordinary scene out here. The crowd surged forward. There was great
00:38:21
disappointment. You can still hear some whistling. People are quite upset. upset that she was found not guilty.
00:38:30
[Applause] It was time for Amanda to make her last trip back to prison. And this time she had company. Sitting
00:38:52
next to her was the boy turned man who had been with her on every step of this journey, Raphael Seleto. They were
00:39:00
actually able to both sit in one of the cars that took them back to the prison. It kind of to me kind of became you're
00:39:08
now a human being again versus you're a prisoner. Amanda was crying so much that
00:39:14
Raphael, you know, was telling her we're free. You know, hey, why are you crying?
00:39:22
At the prison, Amanda said goodbye to some of her guards, including one who showed Amanda a touch of humanity.
00:39:31
>> There was actually a female guard there that actually put money on Amanda's account one time, you know, because it
00:39:38
was kind of that motherly thing. >> They're reminding me to speak in English um cuz I'm having problems with that.
00:39:45
>> She missed a lot during her four years in prison. And now that she's free, Amanda is focused once again on her
00:39:52
future. >> Maybe in five years, she may be, you know, an advocate uh for people that
00:39:59
have been wrongfully convicted, trying to have them feel what she felt and let it be known that there still is a light
00:40:06
at the end of the tunnel. [Music] [Music]