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
michelle. reporter: you stand before god on this thing and that s right. and that caused the police and and our investigators as well to look at it and say, well, this is michelle writing this. reporter: one thing was clear, though. the computer forensics had blown a sizable hole in the prosecution s case. guisti seized the moment and worked out a deal. the da would release michelle from jail. but he would not drop the charges against her. and the investigation would continue. after 88 days, michelle walked out of jail. on the outside, basically my parents. they were there waiting for me and got my coffee. got my reporter: famous coffee. the good cup of coffee, huh? yeah. the good cup of coffee which oh man i had been dreaming about that for so long. reporter: it was an incredible moment for the hadleys. a legal victory, but not the end of the road. she s still in jeopardy. she s still charged with the same crimes. reporter: and she s got an ankle bracelet on.
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. reporter: guisti had more
religious retribution made it appear to be michelle. reporter: you stand before god on this thing and that s right. and that caused the police and and our investigators as well to look at it and say, well, this is michelle writing this. reporter: one thing was clear, though. the computer forensics had blown a sizable hole in the prosecution s case. guisti seized the moment and worked out a deal. the da would release michelle from jail. but he would not drop the charges against her. and the investigation would continue. after 88 days, michelle walked out of jail. on the outside, basically my parents. they were there waiting for me and got my coffee. got my reporter: famous coffee. the good cup of coffee, huh? yeah. the good cup of coffee which oh man i had been dreaming about that for so long. reporter: it was an incredible moment for the hadleys. a legal victory, but not the end of the road. she s still in jeopardy. she s still charged with the same crimes.
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.