think, okay, i'm gonna wake up a second time. this is just a nightmare. and it wasn't. it was for real. i was starting to feel like i was slipping away. >> reporter: you felt your humanity slipping away? >> yeah. >> she looked absolutely not even close to a criminal. >> reporter: that you're gut talking, right? >> my gut's pretty good. >> reporter: michelle's parents hired defense attorney michael guisti to defend their daughter. guisti felt an instant connection to the hadleys. >> i looked at michelle's family and to a large extent i saw my family. i saw -- i saw a working class family who fiercely defended their child. she was a young, ambitious mba student who was nothing but bright-eyed and optimistic. >> reporter: and who was facing life in prison. >> for no reason. no reason. >> reporter: so this is, kind of, the case you go to law school for. >> this is the reason you become a lawyer.