The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (2025) s01e06 Episode Script
Colpevole
1
- [suspenseful music playing]
- [knives clanking]
What were our lawyers so upset about?
Mignini was supposed
to give them the DNA report
so they can prepare our defense,
but they are stalling.
But it's okay. We'll fight and we'll win.
[reporters shouting]
[crowd shouting]
[overlapping shouting continues]
[voice distorting, echoing]
- [cameras clicking]
- [reporters shouting]
- [high-pitched ringing]
- [voices distorting]
[Curt Knox] Amanda! We love you!
Don't take her! Don't take her!
- [high-pitched ringing continues]
- [people continue shouting]
[Amanda gasps]
Amanda.
Amanda!
- [buzzer blaring]
- [Amanda Knox] No.
[prisoners shouting]
[crying] No, no.
[groaning] No.
No!
[officer speaking Italian]
[sobbing] No.
No.
[buzzer blaring]
No, please, please.
No, no, no, no, no, please!
Please, please, no, please.
Please, no, no.
- [Amanda sobbing]
- [cell gate slamming]
No, no, no, no, no, please, please.
[officer speaking Italian]
Please, don't take me back, please!
[crying]
Please, please.
Please, no, please, please.
[sobbing]
[gate thudding]
[door slamming, echoing]
[inmates shouting, muffled]
[inhales sharply]
[camera clicking]
[bubbling echoes]
[Chris Mellas] [distorted]
We'll do whatever it takes
to bring Amanda home.
[Edda Mellas] [distorted]
Amanda, like the rest of us,
is extremely upset by the decision.
[cameras clicking]
[normal] We're all in shock.
But we are heartened by the support
that she's received
from all over the world.
It's gonna take a little bit longer,
but she's gonna come home.
[reporters shouting]
[reporter speaking Italian]
Do you think your daughter
is entitled to her freedom
because she's American?
Amanda is entitled to her freedom
because she is innocent.
[reporter speaking Italian]
She named an innocent man.
She's not above the law.
I didn't hear.
Was there a question in there?
Did you ask a question?
[reporters shouting]
[tense music playing]
[buzzer blaring]
[Edda] We're all here for you, honey.
How have you been?
It's nice they made allowances
for us to all visit at once.
- [Chris] Yeah.
- [Edda] Right?
Well, Dad will come for the next shift.
Yeah, that's right, he's, uh
he's with Carlo and Luciano right now,
just working on experts
for the appeal, but he He'll be here.
You know Dad and his spreadsheets.
- [Edda chuckles]
- [Deanna Knox] We're all slotted
to be at each of your visitations.
[Edda] Yeah, Delaney and Ashley too.
[Deanna] Until they have to go home
for school and stuff.
And we we'll all be on the phone
for every call, okay?
- It's it's not much, but it's
- Ten minutes every seven days.
It's something.
- Yeah.
- I'm moving here full-time.
Yeah, so you'll You'll always
have someone nearby.
[Chris] Yeah, us computer geeks
get to work remote,
so I'm gonna be here so much,
you're gonna get sick of me.
[Deanna]
Hey, are you able to call Raffaele?
I mean, he's going through what
you're going through, so maybe
He's in prison for 25
years because of me.
- No. No.
- Hey, buddy, come on, it's not your fault.
That's not true, Amanda.
We're We're gonna beat this on appeal.
Okay, it's not like the U.S.
All cases in Italy go to appeal,
and and Carlo said that decisions
get reversed like 90% of the time.
[Chris] Yeah, it's gonna be
a totally new trial, a new judge,
a new look at their so-called
DNA evidence.
- [Edda] Right, all of it.
- [Chris] Experts to tear it apart.
- A fresh start.
- When?
- Well, we hope sooner than later, so
- When?
Well, it could be up to two years.
[somber music playing]
[softly] Okay.
[somber music continues playing]
[keyboard synthesizer thuds]
- [upbeat percussive music playing]
- Wow, samba!
[scatting rhythmically]
[music stops abruptly]
[glass thumping]
[somber music playing]
[glass thumping]
- Huh?
- [thumping continues]
[suspenseful music playing]
[window thumping]
[wings fluttering]
- [bird chirping]
- [thumping continues]
[somber music playing]
[children chattering and laughing]
[Mena giggles]
[laughter and chattering continue]
[somber music continues playing]
[Gregora speaking Italian]
[people chattering]
[keys jingling]
- [buzzer blaring]
- Dad.
Hey, honey. Sweetheart, are you okay?
What is it?
You want me to get you a doctor?
[sobbing] Please get me out of here.
- Please get me outta here, Daddy.
- Honey, honey, I'm trying.
- Listen, I got Listen.
- Please.
- Please.
- Listen to me. Listen to me.
Listen, listen, listen, take a breath.
We have got a solid PR plan.
And that's a big deal,
it's gonna make a big difference.
- We've got DNA experts.
- Okay.
And the head of
the Idaho Innocence Project
is writing you a brief,
calling total bullshit
on the prosecution's entire case, okay?
- Listen, listen.
- [whimpering] Okay.
Next week, when I get
back home to Seattle,
- I'm gonna be checking
- No, no, no, no, no, please don't go.
Please don't go.
- Please don't leave me, Daddy.
- I don't want to. I don't want to.
- I don't want to, sweetheart.
- Please! [sobbing]
- You know I don't. You know I don't want
- Please, save me.
- [both sobbing]
- Please, Dad.
I'm trying.
[sobbing]
- Dad.
- I'm doing everything I can.
[sobbing] I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
[both sobbing]
[Amanda] There was no fucking tapestry.
I started to understand
how you could feel so stuck
that you could be desperate to escape.
I heard about decisions
women made in prison
if they had no other choices left.
Each died from an act
of their own creativity.
The most dignified option
was bleeding to death.
- [knob squeaking]
- [water running]
[dark, solemn music playing]
The steam would keep
the guards from seeing in.
You could slit your wrists
and sink into oblivion
in a calm, quiet mist.
[glass clattering]
[sighs heavily]
And it would finally be over.
[dramatic music playing]
[glass shard dropping, clattering]
[buzzer blaring]
[Amanda] As an act of mercy,
Banti assigned the only other American
in Capanne Prison to be my roommate.
[Cecilia] Aw, I like this one.
"Dear Amanda, I've followed your case
since the beginning.
"Most of my Bible study
thinks you're innocent,
so we have included
$50 for your defense."
Which the guards have confiscated.
- Of course, they have.
- Uh, what are you doing?
I'm reading your letters.
Somebody's got to.
People in here are lucky enough
to get a couple letters a year,
and you have got stacks.
Okay, is that supposed
to make me feel better?
Honey, I don't know you.
I don't know what's gonna
make you feel better.
But pretending like you're
the only one in here hurting?
[paper rustling]
That's getting old.
Here. Read this. This is a nice letter.
- I'm I'm sorry, I
- Don't be sorry.
But get the hell out of bed.
[gentle music playing]
[sighs]
[Amanda] I'm not special.
[door closes]
Oh, shit.
[sighs]
[Edda] Of course you are, honey.
- [door slams]
- [Amanda] Okay, maybe I'm special
in that I'm the youngest person in here
with one of the longest sentences.
But thinking I was special
got me here in the first place.
Believing I could talk
to the police without a lawyer,
believing that my innocence
would actually mean something.
[Edda] Of course, it means something.
It means everything.
You're not supposed to be in prison.
[Amanda] "Supposed to be."
What does that even mean?
[inmates chattering]
[gentle music continues]
[Amanda sighs]
[Fulvio chuckles]
Mm.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, no!
- Ah! Oh!
- [laughing]
[Amanda] Nothing is owed to us.
Nothing is owed to me.
[speaking Italian]
[Amanda] I'm not the only one
in here with a painful story.
Everyone in here had a childhood once
- a life they left behind
- [inmate speaking Italian]
dreams they won't fulfill.
- [knocking at door]
- [gasps]
Oh, Jesus, Deanna, don't do that.
What?
Nothing. For a second you looked
[sighs] I thought you were Amanda.
No. Just me.
[Edda] I'm worried about you, Amanda.
You sound different.
- You're You're not sunny anymore.
- No, Mom, there's nothing to worry about.
I'm fine.
Well, I'm sorry I wasn't here
for your actual birthday.
Happy 23.
[chuckles softly] Thank you.
Cecilia baked me a cake.
She smuggled ingredients
into the kitchen for, like, months,
and then her and Fulvio slipped it to me.
It was, like, mushed in a garbage bag.
- [chuckles]
- And they sang to me.
It was really sweet, so
Yeah.
It's nice that Cecilia is looking out
for you in here,
but you got a lot of friends
back home thinking about you, okay?
Madison, and Brett, and DJ.
Oh, my God, DJ's gonna be an old man
with his own family
by the time I get home. [chuckles]
No.
No, come on, you got
you got your appeal.
And it's it's coming up.
We got experts,
we got great independent experts
just waiting to pull
the prosecution's case apart.
- You're getting outta here.
- Mom, Mom, Mom.
I love you. You you gotta stop
saying things like that.
Like what?
I'm not a tourist here.
I I have to live here, okay?
- Mentally and physically, I have to.
- No, you don't.
You don't, because the Amanda I know
doesn't give up.
N-No, no, I'm not giving up.
That's I'm not That's
I'm being realistic.
Okay?
Maybe this is the life I get.
I have to be okay with that.
I I have to.
[door opens]
- Amanda.
- Ciao, yeah.
Okay.
Look, I'm I'm I'm really not trying
to hurt you, Mom, I'm really not.
I'm just I'm trying to say
that I I might never get outta here.
And as much as I've had
to accept my life here, I
I think you need to start
accepting a life without me.
[breathing heavily]
- I have to go. I love you.
- Okay. Love you.
I love you.
[somber music playing]
[heavy breaths]
[inmate wailing]
[Mena crying]
- [Gregora wailing]
- [Mena continues crying]
No! [sobbing]
[Gregora wailing loudly]
[sighs]
[Chris] Edda.
Hey, what's going on? What is it?
I I can't. [sniffling]
[crying] I can't.
- I don't I don't think I can do this.
- What?
- I don't. My
- Okay.
My sweet girl.
- Okay, everything's gonna be alright.
- She's gone. Her fight, it's gone.
If I'm gonna [inhales sharply]
If I'm gonna lose her anyway,
then what's what's the point?
Just what what's the point? [sobbing]
- Just Just put me out my misery.
- It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Chris, just put Just put me
out of my misery.
Chris, please. Please. [sobbing]
[Chris] [whispering]
It's okay. I've got you.
Chris, please.
["Maybe Not" by Cat Power playing]
A dream that I see,
don't kill it, it's free ♪
[Amanda]
It's amazing what we allow ourselves
to accept when we have to.
I had made fragile peace
with Capanne as my home
when it all broke wide open.
[chuckles] What? What?
"Amanda, my name is Dr. Saul Kassin.
"I've been following your case
and wanted to contact you.
"I am an expert on interrogation methods
used around the world
"that coerce innocent people
"to confessing to crimes
they didn't commit.
I believe this is what happened to you
during your interrogation."
- Holy shit!
- I know.
Holy shit.
"These interviews are designed
to bewilder and deceive a suspect."
- Yeah!
- That's you!
It is an entire system of manipulation.
There There's this one
called The Reid Method
that they teach to fucking cops
in the U.S.
- Holy shit.
- I know.
- That is exactly what I said.
- [guard knocking, speaking Italian]
Look. "These interviews are designed
to bewilder and deceive a suspect.
First, the police ingratiate
themselves with a suspect."
They did this.
They totally did this to me.
You were the closest one to Meredith.
You're our most important witness.
"They make the suspect believe
they did something wrong and exploit it."
"A suspect will become compliant
when being interviewed
in intentional discomfort for hours."
I have I have my period.
Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?
Just quickly, please.
"In some cases, this goes even deeper,
and the suspect internalizes their own
false memories under duress."
[Translator Noce]
Trauma does funny things to the mind.
"Most people don't know
that the police can lie to you.
They do in order to get what they want."
[Translator Noce] There's hard evidence.
[Amanda]
"Many victims of coerced confessions
"spend so much energy blaming themselves.
"If you blame yourself, you must know
"you didn't stand a chance
against their method.
No one would."
That That is always what I thought.
If I had just been stronger,
if I didn't break down.
- Like, this is exactly what it is.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey. Whoa.
Look at all these
innocent people he talks about.
Grown men couldn't stand up to this.
You were a 20-year-old kid
in a foreign country
being questioned in a language
you didn't understand.
I know.
People have to know about this, Chris.
- Yeah.
- This is something they do.
Like, this is real. They do this.
This could help with my appeal.
- [upbeat percussive music playing]
- [chuckles softly]
What?
You got your cojones back.
[Chris laughing]
Your mom's gonna be so happy.
- This is good.
- Yeah.
[inmates chattering]
[Raffaele Sollecito] [on phone] Amanda.
I got your letter.
Yeah? Did Did you read it?
[Raffaele] A thousand times.
It's a fucking method.
I know, I know.
- [Raffaele] Those assholes.
- I know. Look, if
If we can just get the court
to understand it,
they'll they'll have
to reconsider everything.
I I asked Carlo to look
into getting this Saul Kassin guy
to come and and explain it
to the judge and jury,
and we we could raise money,
we could we could fly him out here.
- No, Amanda, Amanda.
- I don't know.
- Yeah?
- As soon as I got your letter,
I called my father about it.
- Okay, what'd he say?
- [Raffaele] An Italian judge
will never allow testimony from
an American expert in their courtroom.
Well, okay, we'll just get
an Italian expert, then.
There are none.
Not for this.
Did you hear about Mignini?
No, what about him?
He was convicted for abuse of office
in the Monster of
Florence case last week.
Wait, what? What?
[Raffaele] In the first-degree trial,
he was convicted
for illegally wire-tapping
and much other misconduct
you would recognize very well.
Sentenced to 16 months suspension.
Oh, my God, so
So he can't be our prosecutor, then?
Uh, well, he appealed this judgment,
so it's not for sure
if the suspension will happen.
Wait, I'm sorry. So what? In the
meantime, he just gets to come after us?
Jesus, this system is so fucked.
Amanda
when is the last time
you spoke to your lawyers?
Like, last week. Why?
Raffa, what? Just tell me.
Please, just tell me.
Mignini believes our sentence
was too light.
And this time, he will argue for life.
[upbeat music playing]
[sighs]
[upbeat music continues playing]
[gentle pensive music playing]
[Amanda] It had been 1,110 days
since I was first locked in a cell.
And though I'd slept through
many days of imprisonment,
I had never been more awake.
Understanding how I got here
ignited many things in me.
Relief, and rage, and the resolve
to be active in the trial for my freedom.
And the most dangerous thing of all,
I started to feel hope.
[server speaking Italian]
Prego.
[coins jingling]
[Don Saulo clears throat]
[suspenseful music playing]
[reporters shouting]
[Amanda]
It had to go differently this time.
[reporters continue shouting]
Amanda, do you feel confident?
[Amanda] I was back in the same place
with the same players,
but I was different.
I had studied my case,
I was fluent in Italian,
and I'd be damned if I'd do anything
to make them look at me
instead of the evidence.
[dramatic music playing]
[cameras clicking]
[people chattering]
[tense music playing]
[people murmuring]
[Amanda] And with that simple statement,
Judge Hellman was wiping the slate clean.
Yet I was suddenly seized by fear
for the first time in years.
Asking myself, "What if?"
What if this jury was going
to hear this case without bias,
without the influence of the media
or the trial that came before?
What if when presented
with Mignini's fiction,
they heard it is just that fiction?
What if they heard the lies of the police
and this time didn't believe them?
But what if they did?
What if all the notoriety
the case had received
made things better for me?
But with the Italian
justice system on trial now,
what if it was all worse?
What if? What if? What if?
Then, on day 161 of the appeal trial,
day 1,292 of my imprisonment
[Amanda] two independent
DNA experts were finally here
to rebut the so-called evidence
that pointed to my guilt.
What if their findings were as compelling
as I hoped they would be?
What if their testimony
changed everything?
The possibilities of "what if"
destroying me from the inside out.
[dramatic music playing]
[Amanda] As the courtroom watched in awe,
the experts read
the last trial's testimony
from Ippolito, head of forensics,
Fazio, who "found" the knife,
and other law enforcement
detailing how they collected evidence.
See? They have no shoe protection,
no face masks.
And they're going in and going out.
You have just someone
standing next to a bloodstain.
Complete nonsense.
- The police made this video?
- Yes.
And the mistakes are so bad,
their own team
are criticizing it on camera.
[Giulia] So now, they have someone
breaking into the house,
smashing a window, for some reason.
[people murmuring]
[file folder slamming]
[people murmuring]
[people murmuring]
[whispering indistinctly]
[inmates chattering in distance]
[soft footsteps]
[guard speaking Italian over PA]
[Cecilia] Don't you dare.
Don't make your bed.
And break your toothbrush.
Then, you won't come back here.
[sniffling]
You know the drill.
- [sighs]
- [kiss smacking]
- [toothbrush snapping]
- [sighs]
You're gonna owe me a new one
when I get back.
[gentle music playing]
[Amanda] Dear Mom
I love you.
I'm writing this letter
in case you come home
and I'm not there with you
to receive it
just in case we didn't win.
I want you to know I'm okay.
I'm not dead inside, I promise.
And I don't want you to be dead inside.
[gentle music continues playing]
Grazie.
The shit we can't control
the things that make us suffer
challenge us to be stronger,
smarter, better.
[sniffing deeply]
We are the only ones who know
just how much we and our lives are worth.
And we must choose to make the most
of every passing moment.
I've thought of ways
to make my life worth it.
And I want you to remember
exactly what makes your life worth it.
Don't be lost.
Don't lose yourself.
Read, walk, write, dance.
Breathe, because so will I.
I love you so much.
And remember, it's only you
who can make your life make sense.
[gentle music continues playing]
[exhales sharply]
[van door opens]
[sighs]
[softly] I think she looks so nervous.
[people quietly murmuring]
[clearing throat]
[person clearing throat]
[sighs]
[whispering]
"I was not present at this crime."
[sighs, clicking tongue]
[sniffling]
[people murmuring]
[Amanda sighs deeply]
The wait could be long.
Do you want to sit downstairs?
No, no, I wanna go back to Capanne.
[guard speaking Italian]
- [cameras clicking]
- [reporters chattering]
No matter what happens,
okay, I'm not going anywhere.
- Okay.
- [Edda] Okay? I'm with you.
- I love you.
- I love you.
[reporters continue shouting]
[somber music playing]
[distant buzzer blaring]
[inmates chattering in distance]
[chuckles softly]
- Wow.
- Ah.
- Wow.
- [chuckles]
[inhales sharply]
Mm.
Uh
Uh
[sighs]
[tapping fingers nervously]
[Amanda exhales sharply]
[chuckles]
[chuckles]
Okay.
- Just for you.
- [Don Saulo chuckles]
Okay.
[Don Saulo sniffling]
[playing "Maybe Not" by Cat Power
on keyboard]
There's a dream that I see ♪
I pray it can be ♪
Look cross the land, shake this land ♪
A wish ♪
Or a command ♪
[phone ringing]
A dream that I see,
don't kill it, it's free ♪
What we can ♪
So we can do ♪
Just one more thing ♪
We can all be free ♪
Maybe not with words ♪
Maybe not with a look ♪
But with your mind ♪
Listen to me, don't walk that street ♪
There's always an end to it ♪
Come and be free, you know who I am ♪
We're just living people ♪
We won't have a thing ♪
So we got nothing ♪
To lose ♪
We can all be free ♪
Maybe not with words ♪
Maybe not with a look ♪
But with your mind ♪
[song ends]
- [typewriter clacking]
- [bell dings]
[rooster crowing]
[fanfare playing]
- [suspenseful music playing]
- [knives clanking]
What were our lawyers so upset about?
Mignini was supposed
to give them the DNA report
so they can prepare our defense,
but they are stalling.
But it's okay. We'll fight and we'll win.
[reporters shouting]
[crowd shouting]
[overlapping shouting continues]
[voice distorting, echoing]
- [cameras clicking]
- [reporters shouting]
- [high-pitched ringing]
- [voices distorting]
[Curt Knox] Amanda! We love you!
Don't take her! Don't take her!
- [high-pitched ringing continues]
- [people continue shouting]
[Amanda gasps]
Amanda.
Amanda!
- [buzzer blaring]
- [Amanda Knox] No.
[prisoners shouting]
[crying] No, no.
[groaning] No.
No!
[officer speaking Italian]
[sobbing] No.
No.
[buzzer blaring]
No, please, please.
No, no, no, no, no, please!
Please, please, no, please.
Please, no, no.
- [Amanda sobbing]
- [cell gate slamming]
No, no, no, no, no, please, please.
[officer speaking Italian]
Please, don't take me back, please!
[crying]
Please, please.
Please, no, please, please.
[sobbing]
[gate thudding]
[door slamming, echoing]
[inmates shouting, muffled]
[inhales sharply]
[camera clicking]
[bubbling echoes]
[Chris Mellas] [distorted]
We'll do whatever it takes
to bring Amanda home.
[Edda Mellas] [distorted]
Amanda, like the rest of us,
is extremely upset by the decision.
[cameras clicking]
[normal] We're all in shock.
But we are heartened by the support
that she's received
from all over the world.
It's gonna take a little bit longer,
but she's gonna come home.
[reporters shouting]
[reporter speaking Italian]
Do you think your daughter
is entitled to her freedom
because she's American?
Amanda is entitled to her freedom
because she is innocent.
[reporter speaking Italian]
She named an innocent man.
She's not above the law.
I didn't hear.
Was there a question in there?
Did you ask a question?
[reporters shouting]
[tense music playing]
[buzzer blaring]
[Edda] We're all here for you, honey.
How have you been?
It's nice they made allowances
for us to all visit at once.
- [Chris] Yeah.
- [Edda] Right?
Well, Dad will come for the next shift.
Yeah, that's right, he's, uh
he's with Carlo and Luciano right now,
just working on experts
for the appeal, but he He'll be here.
You know Dad and his spreadsheets.
- [Edda chuckles]
- [Deanna Knox] We're all slotted
to be at each of your visitations.
[Edda] Yeah, Delaney and Ashley too.
[Deanna] Until they have to go home
for school and stuff.
And we we'll all be on the phone
for every call, okay?
- It's it's not much, but it's
- Ten minutes every seven days.
It's something.
- Yeah.
- I'm moving here full-time.
Yeah, so you'll You'll always
have someone nearby.
[Chris] Yeah, us computer geeks
get to work remote,
so I'm gonna be here so much,
you're gonna get sick of me.
[Deanna]
Hey, are you able to call Raffaele?
I mean, he's going through what
you're going through, so maybe
He's in prison for 25
years because of me.
- No. No.
- Hey, buddy, come on, it's not your fault.
That's not true, Amanda.
We're We're gonna beat this on appeal.
Okay, it's not like the U.S.
All cases in Italy go to appeal,
and and Carlo said that decisions
get reversed like 90% of the time.
[Chris] Yeah, it's gonna be
a totally new trial, a new judge,
a new look at their so-called
DNA evidence.
- [Edda] Right, all of it.
- [Chris] Experts to tear it apart.
- A fresh start.
- When?
- Well, we hope sooner than later, so
- When?
Well, it could be up to two years.
[somber music playing]
[softly] Okay.
[somber music continues playing]
[keyboard synthesizer thuds]
- [upbeat percussive music playing]
- Wow, samba!
[scatting rhythmically]
[music stops abruptly]
[glass thumping]
[somber music playing]
[glass thumping]
- Huh?
- [thumping continues]
[suspenseful music playing]
[window thumping]
[wings fluttering]
- [bird chirping]
- [thumping continues]
[somber music playing]
[children chattering and laughing]
[Mena giggles]
[laughter and chattering continue]
[somber music continues playing]
[Gregora speaking Italian]
[people chattering]
[keys jingling]
- [buzzer blaring]
- Dad.
Hey, honey. Sweetheart, are you okay?
What is it?
You want me to get you a doctor?
[sobbing] Please get me out of here.
- Please get me outta here, Daddy.
- Honey, honey, I'm trying.
- Listen, I got Listen.
- Please.
- Please.
- Listen to me. Listen to me.
Listen, listen, listen, take a breath.
We have got a solid PR plan.
And that's a big deal,
it's gonna make a big difference.
- We've got DNA experts.
- Okay.
And the head of
the Idaho Innocence Project
is writing you a brief,
calling total bullshit
on the prosecution's entire case, okay?
- Listen, listen.
- [whimpering] Okay.
Next week, when I get
back home to Seattle,
- I'm gonna be checking
- No, no, no, no, no, please don't go.
Please don't go.
- Please don't leave me, Daddy.
- I don't want to. I don't want to.
- I don't want to, sweetheart.
- Please! [sobbing]
- You know I don't. You know I don't want
- Please, save me.
- [both sobbing]
- Please, Dad.
I'm trying.
[sobbing]
- Dad.
- I'm doing everything I can.
[sobbing] I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
[both sobbing]
[Amanda] There was no fucking tapestry.
I started to understand
how you could feel so stuck
that you could be desperate to escape.
I heard about decisions
women made in prison
if they had no other choices left.
Each died from an act
of their own creativity.
The most dignified option
was bleeding to death.
- [knob squeaking]
- [water running]
[dark, solemn music playing]
The steam would keep
the guards from seeing in.
You could slit your wrists
and sink into oblivion
in a calm, quiet mist.
[glass clattering]
[sighs heavily]
And it would finally be over.
[dramatic music playing]
[glass shard dropping, clattering]
[buzzer blaring]
[Amanda] As an act of mercy,
Banti assigned the only other American
in Capanne Prison to be my roommate.
[Cecilia] Aw, I like this one.
"Dear Amanda, I've followed your case
since the beginning.
"Most of my Bible study
thinks you're innocent,
so we have included
$50 for your defense."
Which the guards have confiscated.
- Of course, they have.
- Uh, what are you doing?
I'm reading your letters.
Somebody's got to.
People in here are lucky enough
to get a couple letters a year,
and you have got stacks.
Okay, is that supposed
to make me feel better?
Honey, I don't know you.
I don't know what's gonna
make you feel better.
But pretending like you're
the only one in here hurting?
[paper rustling]
That's getting old.
Here. Read this. This is a nice letter.
- I'm I'm sorry, I
- Don't be sorry.
But get the hell out of bed.
[gentle music playing]
[sighs]
[Amanda] I'm not special.
[door closes]
Oh, shit.
[sighs]
[Edda] Of course you are, honey.
- [door slams]
- [Amanda] Okay, maybe I'm special
in that I'm the youngest person in here
with one of the longest sentences.
But thinking I was special
got me here in the first place.
Believing I could talk
to the police without a lawyer,
believing that my innocence
would actually mean something.
[Edda] Of course, it means something.
It means everything.
You're not supposed to be in prison.
[Amanda] "Supposed to be."
What does that even mean?
[inmates chattering]
[gentle music continues]
[Amanda sighs]
[Fulvio chuckles]
Mm.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, no!
- Ah! Oh!
- [laughing]
[Amanda] Nothing is owed to us.
Nothing is owed to me.
[speaking Italian]
[Amanda] I'm not the only one
in here with a painful story.
Everyone in here had a childhood once
- a life they left behind
- [inmate speaking Italian]
dreams they won't fulfill.
- [knocking at door]
- [gasps]
Oh, Jesus, Deanna, don't do that.
What?
Nothing. For a second you looked
[sighs] I thought you were Amanda.
No. Just me.
[Edda] I'm worried about you, Amanda.
You sound different.
- You're You're not sunny anymore.
- No, Mom, there's nothing to worry about.
I'm fine.
Well, I'm sorry I wasn't here
for your actual birthday.
Happy 23.
[chuckles softly] Thank you.
Cecilia baked me a cake.
She smuggled ingredients
into the kitchen for, like, months,
and then her and Fulvio slipped it to me.
It was, like, mushed in a garbage bag.
- [chuckles]
- And they sang to me.
It was really sweet, so
Yeah.
It's nice that Cecilia is looking out
for you in here,
but you got a lot of friends
back home thinking about you, okay?
Madison, and Brett, and DJ.
Oh, my God, DJ's gonna be an old man
with his own family
by the time I get home. [chuckles]
No.
No, come on, you got
you got your appeal.
And it's it's coming up.
We got experts,
we got great independent experts
just waiting to pull
the prosecution's case apart.
- You're getting outta here.
- Mom, Mom, Mom.
I love you. You you gotta stop
saying things like that.
Like what?
I'm not a tourist here.
I I have to live here, okay?
- Mentally and physically, I have to.
- No, you don't.
You don't, because the Amanda I know
doesn't give up.
N-No, no, I'm not giving up.
That's I'm not That's
I'm being realistic.
Okay?
Maybe this is the life I get.
I have to be okay with that.
I I have to.
[door opens]
- Amanda.
- Ciao, yeah.
Okay.
Look, I'm I'm I'm really not trying
to hurt you, Mom, I'm really not.
I'm just I'm trying to say
that I I might never get outta here.
And as much as I've had
to accept my life here, I
I think you need to start
accepting a life without me.
[breathing heavily]
- I have to go. I love you.
- Okay. Love you.
I love you.
[somber music playing]
[heavy breaths]
[inmate wailing]
[Mena crying]
- [Gregora wailing]
- [Mena continues crying]
No! [sobbing]
[Gregora wailing loudly]
[sighs]
[Chris] Edda.
Hey, what's going on? What is it?
I I can't. [sniffling]
[crying] I can't.
- I don't I don't think I can do this.
- What?
- I don't. My
- Okay.
My sweet girl.
- Okay, everything's gonna be alright.
- She's gone. Her fight, it's gone.
If I'm gonna [inhales sharply]
If I'm gonna lose her anyway,
then what's what's the point?
Just what what's the point? [sobbing]
- Just Just put me out my misery.
- It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Chris, just put Just put me
out of my misery.
Chris, please. Please. [sobbing]
[Chris] [whispering]
It's okay. I've got you.
Chris, please.
["Maybe Not" by Cat Power playing]
A dream that I see,
don't kill it, it's free ♪
[Amanda]
It's amazing what we allow ourselves
to accept when we have to.
I had made fragile peace
with Capanne as my home
when it all broke wide open.
[chuckles] What? What?
"Amanda, my name is Dr. Saul Kassin.
"I've been following your case
and wanted to contact you.
"I am an expert on interrogation methods
used around the world
"that coerce innocent people
"to confessing to crimes
they didn't commit.
I believe this is what happened to you
during your interrogation."
- Holy shit!
- I know.
Holy shit.
"These interviews are designed
to bewilder and deceive a suspect."
- Yeah!
- That's you!
It is an entire system of manipulation.
There There's this one
called The Reid Method
that they teach to fucking cops
in the U.S.
- Holy shit.
- I know.
- That is exactly what I said.
- [guard knocking, speaking Italian]
Look. "These interviews are designed
to bewilder and deceive a suspect.
First, the police ingratiate
themselves with a suspect."
They did this.
They totally did this to me.
You were the closest one to Meredith.
You're our most important witness.
"They make the suspect believe
they did something wrong and exploit it."
"A suspect will become compliant
when being interviewed
in intentional discomfort for hours."
I have I have my period.
Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?
Just quickly, please.
"In some cases, this goes even deeper,
and the suspect internalizes their own
false memories under duress."
[Translator Noce]
Trauma does funny things to the mind.
"Most people don't know
that the police can lie to you.
They do in order to get what they want."
[Translator Noce] There's hard evidence.
[Amanda]
"Many victims of coerced confessions
"spend so much energy blaming themselves.
"If you blame yourself, you must know
"you didn't stand a chance
against their method.
No one would."
That That is always what I thought.
If I had just been stronger,
if I didn't break down.
- Like, this is exactly what it is.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey. Whoa.
Look at all these
innocent people he talks about.
Grown men couldn't stand up to this.
You were a 20-year-old kid
in a foreign country
being questioned in a language
you didn't understand.
I know.
People have to know about this, Chris.
- Yeah.
- This is something they do.
Like, this is real. They do this.
This could help with my appeal.
- [upbeat percussive music playing]
- [chuckles softly]
What?
You got your cojones back.
[Chris laughing]
Your mom's gonna be so happy.
- This is good.
- Yeah.
[inmates chattering]
[Raffaele Sollecito] [on phone] Amanda.
I got your letter.
Yeah? Did Did you read it?
[Raffaele] A thousand times.
It's a fucking method.
I know, I know.
- [Raffaele] Those assholes.
- I know. Look, if
If we can just get the court
to understand it,
they'll they'll have
to reconsider everything.
I I asked Carlo to look
into getting this Saul Kassin guy
to come and and explain it
to the judge and jury,
and we we could raise money,
we could we could fly him out here.
- No, Amanda, Amanda.
- I don't know.
- Yeah?
- As soon as I got your letter,
I called my father about it.
- Okay, what'd he say?
- [Raffaele] An Italian judge
will never allow testimony from
an American expert in their courtroom.
Well, okay, we'll just get
an Italian expert, then.
There are none.
Not for this.
Did you hear about Mignini?
No, what about him?
He was convicted for abuse of office
in the Monster of
Florence case last week.
Wait, what? What?
[Raffaele] In the first-degree trial,
he was convicted
for illegally wire-tapping
and much other misconduct
you would recognize very well.
Sentenced to 16 months suspension.
Oh, my God, so
So he can't be our prosecutor, then?
Uh, well, he appealed this judgment,
so it's not for sure
if the suspension will happen.
Wait, I'm sorry. So what? In the
meantime, he just gets to come after us?
Jesus, this system is so fucked.
Amanda
when is the last time
you spoke to your lawyers?
Like, last week. Why?
Raffa, what? Just tell me.
Please, just tell me.
Mignini believes our sentence
was too light.
And this time, he will argue for life.
[upbeat music playing]
[sighs]
[upbeat music continues playing]
[gentle pensive music playing]
[Amanda] It had been 1,110 days
since I was first locked in a cell.
And though I'd slept through
many days of imprisonment,
I had never been more awake.
Understanding how I got here
ignited many things in me.
Relief, and rage, and the resolve
to be active in the trial for my freedom.
And the most dangerous thing of all,
I started to feel hope.
[server speaking Italian]
Prego.
[coins jingling]
[Don Saulo clears throat]
[suspenseful music playing]
[reporters shouting]
[Amanda]
It had to go differently this time.
[reporters continue shouting]
Amanda, do you feel confident?
[Amanda] I was back in the same place
with the same players,
but I was different.
I had studied my case,
I was fluent in Italian,
and I'd be damned if I'd do anything
to make them look at me
instead of the evidence.
[dramatic music playing]
[cameras clicking]
[people chattering]
[tense music playing]
[people murmuring]
[Amanda] And with that simple statement,
Judge Hellman was wiping the slate clean.
Yet I was suddenly seized by fear
for the first time in years.
Asking myself, "What if?"
What if this jury was going
to hear this case without bias,
without the influence of the media
or the trial that came before?
What if when presented
with Mignini's fiction,
they heard it is just that fiction?
What if they heard the lies of the police
and this time didn't believe them?
But what if they did?
What if all the notoriety
the case had received
made things better for me?
But with the Italian
justice system on trial now,
what if it was all worse?
What if? What if? What if?
Then, on day 161 of the appeal trial,
day 1,292 of my imprisonment
[Amanda] two independent
DNA experts were finally here
to rebut the so-called evidence
that pointed to my guilt.
What if their findings were as compelling
as I hoped they would be?
What if their testimony
changed everything?
The possibilities of "what if"
destroying me from the inside out.
[dramatic music playing]
[Amanda] As the courtroom watched in awe,
the experts read
the last trial's testimony
from Ippolito, head of forensics,
Fazio, who "found" the knife,
and other law enforcement
detailing how they collected evidence.
See? They have no shoe protection,
no face masks.
And they're going in and going out.
You have just someone
standing next to a bloodstain.
Complete nonsense.
- The police made this video?
- Yes.
And the mistakes are so bad,
their own team
are criticizing it on camera.
[Giulia] So now, they have someone
breaking into the house,
smashing a window, for some reason.
[people murmuring]
[file folder slamming]
[people murmuring]
[people murmuring]
[whispering indistinctly]
[inmates chattering in distance]
[soft footsteps]
[guard speaking Italian over PA]
[Cecilia] Don't you dare.
Don't make your bed.
And break your toothbrush.
Then, you won't come back here.
[sniffling]
You know the drill.
- [sighs]
- [kiss smacking]
- [toothbrush snapping]
- [sighs]
You're gonna owe me a new one
when I get back.
[gentle music playing]
[Amanda] Dear Mom
I love you.
I'm writing this letter
in case you come home
and I'm not there with you
to receive it
just in case we didn't win.
I want you to know I'm okay.
I'm not dead inside, I promise.
And I don't want you to be dead inside.
[gentle music continues playing]
Grazie.
The shit we can't control
the things that make us suffer
challenge us to be stronger,
smarter, better.
[sniffing deeply]
We are the only ones who know
just how much we and our lives are worth.
And we must choose to make the most
of every passing moment.
I've thought of ways
to make my life worth it.
And I want you to remember
exactly what makes your life worth it.
Don't be lost.
Don't lose yourself.
Read, walk, write, dance.
Breathe, because so will I.
I love you so much.
And remember, it's only you
who can make your life make sense.
[gentle music continues playing]
[exhales sharply]
[van door opens]
[sighs]
[softly] I think she looks so nervous.
[people quietly murmuring]
[clearing throat]
[person clearing throat]
[sighs]
[whispering]
"I was not present at this crime."
[sighs, clicking tongue]
[sniffling]
[people murmuring]
[Amanda sighs deeply]
The wait could be long.
Do you want to sit downstairs?
No, no, I wanna go back to Capanne.
[guard speaking Italian]
- [cameras clicking]
- [reporters chattering]
No matter what happens,
okay, I'm not going anywhere.
- Okay.
- [Edda] Okay? I'm with you.
- I love you.
- I love you.
[reporters continue shouting]
[somber music playing]
[distant buzzer blaring]
[inmates chattering in distance]
[chuckles softly]
- Wow.
- Ah.
- Wow.
- [chuckles]
[inhales sharply]
Mm.
Uh
Uh
[sighs]
[tapping fingers nervously]
[Amanda exhales sharply]
[chuckles]
[chuckles]
Okay.
- Just for you.
- [Don Saulo chuckles]
Okay.
[Don Saulo sniffling]
[playing "Maybe Not" by Cat Power
on keyboard]
There's a dream that I see ♪
I pray it can be ♪
Look cross the land, shake this land ♪
A wish ♪
Or a command ♪
[phone ringing]
A dream that I see,
don't kill it, it's free ♪
What we can ♪
So we can do ♪
Just one more thing ♪
We can all be free ♪
Maybe not with words ♪
Maybe not with a look ♪
But with your mind ♪
Listen to me, don't walk that street ♪
There's always an end to it ♪
Come and be free, you know who I am ♪
We're just living people ♪
We won't have a thing ♪
So we got nothing ♪
To lose ♪
We can all be free ♪
Maybe not with words ♪
Maybe not with a look ♪
But with your mind ♪
[song ends]
- [typewriter clacking]
- [bell dings]
[rooster crowing]
[fanfare playing]