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. reporter: guisti had more than faith in michelle. he also had the computer research michelle s mom and dad had done on the emails at the heart of the case. michael hadley was convinced they d found something crucial. reporter: why are michelle s
than faith in michelle. he also had the computer research michelle s mom and dad had done on the emails at the heart of the case. michael hadley was convinced they d found something crucial. reporter: why are michelle s digital fingerprints on this thing? they re not. there s no digital fingerprints whatsoever. reporter: it looks like it s coming from michelle. it looks like somebody s trying to make it look like it s coming from michelle. that s for sure. reporter: the hadleys spreadsheet showed some of the incriminating emails were sent when michelle could prove she was in a classroom at chapman university. here s michelle at school. she s at chapman and here s emails coming. and she s in class. she was in class doing her final course presentation. there s no way she s gonna be sending this email. reporter: the hadleys and defense attorney guisti thought they had it, proof that michelle was innocent. but they knew it would be tougher to convince prosecutors. a dist