Transcripts For WMAR Nightline 20091010 : vimarsana.com

captions paid for by abc, inc. tonight on nightline amanda knox. the case of a young american on trial for murder in italy reaches closing arguments today, and her family remains hopeful, despite the grim reality she may face a life sentence. it s an abc news exclusive. prize fight. just nine months into office, president barack obama is the surprise recipient of the nobel peace prize. so, does he deserve it? plus, photo shop gone wild. how those spotless images have gotten completely out of control. it s tonight s sign of the times. announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden and martin bashir in new york city, and terry moran in washington, this is nightline, october 9th, 2009. good evening, i m terry moran, and we begin tonight with the story of an american college student on trial for murder in italy. it s a high profile case that today moved into its final phase. the defendant is 22-year-old amanda knox. she s from washington state, and she s one of three people charged in the bloody killing of her study abroad roommate, meredith kercher. it s been nearly two years since this murder. for the family of amanda knox, as for the kercher family, this has been a grueling process. and while amanda knox s family remains hopeful that she will be acquitted, they are steeling themselves for any outcome. elizabeth vargas spoke to the knox family, and tonight she s in italy. reporter: after nearly eight months on trial and nearly two years in prison, amanda knox was back in court today here in italy. her lawyers are asking the judge to appoint a panel of independent experts to analyze the forensic evidence in this case, hoping to bolster their argument that italian police made mistakes. for amanda s family, it s just another step in their long and painful journey. as summer turns to fall in this seattle suburb, the passing season is another reminder of the gaping hole at the center of one family s life. the missing piece is amanda knox, as she has been for the past 23 months. tonight, amanda is 6,000 miles away, in an italian prison. edda mellis is amanda s mother. how are her spirits? i worry. i don t want her to have to go through disappointment if they don t come to the correct decision. reporter: it s hard, though, to get that hopeful. it is. she took this picture of me. reporter: hope is what amanda s family has clung two in two years. definitely excited to see amanda. going to be a long time away from home. reporter: as they shuttle back and forth to be near amanda, who is charged with the mudder of her british roommate. meredith kercher was bestrayed, say police, in the most gruesome fashion. reporter: edda, a math specialist in a local school, measures her time in troops to italy. nearly a dozen now, as amanda slowly winds her way through the italian justice system. as a family, you decided it was important to have somebody in italy with amanda at all times. yes. reporter: why was that so important to you? well, as a mom, are you going to leave your innocent child in a foreign country alone with nobody to visit her there? she really doesn t have anybody else, and somebody needed to be there to visit her. reporter: when amanda s mother isn t in italy, amanda s father kurt is. no. reporter: kurt and edda divorced since amanda was young, and are united in their quest to free their oldest daughter. she has been phenomenally strong and kept a positive attitude. she knows she s innocent. but there s that huge weight on her chest, and having somebody else take your life in their hands and say, guilty or innocent? reporter: the wait is being felt by kurt s two young daughters, ashley and elaine. growing up with their father away nearly half the time. i wish he was here. he couldn t be here, because he was in italy. we know he s over there doing a good thing. we love her and support her. and it will be over soon. the right thing will come out that she s innocent. reporter: kurt has lost his job, and is looking for a new one, but the financial toll keeps rising. between amanda s mother and myself, we ve spent over $1 million so far. we ve literally mortgaged everything. used our retirement funds. you do what you take, because you re not going to leave your daughter in a foreign country for something that she didn t do. reporter: and then there is amanda s younger sister, and best friend, deanna. 20 years old. excited to go visit where you are going to live in italy? yeah. really looking forward to actually getting a place to live. reporter: two summers ago, deanna shot this home video as the two made their way to italy, and amanda s dream. you had helped her find this little cottage that she ended up renting. yeah. i actually found it. reporter: are you ever struck by the difference between that snapshot, that vignette, two years ago, and where everything stands today? nothing in my mind would have ever gone through my head that something like this would happen. i was just like, oh, my sister is going to have a great time. she found really great roommates. i thought it would be perfect for her. reporter: but two months later, one of her roommates, meredith kercher, was brutally murdered in her bedroom. within days, amanda and her new boyfriend, raffaele sollecito, were thrust into a international storm. when police arrived here that friday morning. reporter: since then, it s been two years of legal twists and turns. a low point when a judge ordered amanda to stand trial. when that horrible ruling came down, it was devastating. reporter: that was probably one of the hardest moments. it was. reporter: because it meant she wasn t going to come home soon. right. reporter: this past summer, nightline followed edda as she made the lounge journey to italy to testify about those harrowing early days. she said she was very upset at this horrible situation. she felt terrible. reporter: it was her first time in the courtroom. because she was a witness, edda was not allowed in court to see her daughter testify. and tell of a long interrogation of being slapped in the head by police, and called a liar. they called me a stupid liar and they said that i was trying to protect someone. reporter: amanda signed is a statement that she said she had a vision she was there the night meredith was killed. she later said she wasn t there, but the prosecution argues that amanda s story doesn t add up. the police either were questioning or interrogating amanda for over 41 hours. you know, where there is psychological abuse, physical abuse. she was hit. the neurologist pointed out that when people are under stress, they have false memories. reporter: by her own count, deanna has been to italy a half dozen sometitimes, including tht summer. you just tolt me you re turning 21 soon and amanda better be home. yeah, she promised like a year ago when i turned 20, she was like, believe me, i ll be there for the next one, because he missed by 19th and 20th. she promised she would be home for that one. i m going to hold her to it. reporter: but that will be up to the italian jury of six local residents and two judges. now, as the trial enters its final phase, amanda s family says the ordeal has brought together this blended family in unexpected ways. it was difficult to stay close with him, because we are so close with our mom. in a way, it pushed our dad to the side, but he s really stepped in and became dad that we always knew he could be. reporter: but it s been a hard road for deanna, who has taken time off from college. there was simply too much attention from reporters. so, deanna has moved closer to home, and gotten a job, where no one knows who she is. do you like it that way? yeah. i don t really like being asked questions about it. it almost forces me to think about the fact that she s there and she s in jail. it makes me sad. reporter: for more than a year, amanda s parents have rented a small apartment on the outskirt outskirts. when they re not here, or at court, they re allowed to visit amanda twice a week, for one bittersweet hour. it s one hour that you literally just get to spend talking to her. and if there s anything that s good about this whole thing, it s really kind of having that time to really kind of sit and talk to her, which has been extremely nice and we ve grown a lot closer. reporter: with kurt looking for a job, and edda back at school, they don t plan to return to italy until closing arguments. the separation is painful. do you ever worry about your mom and dad in all of this? oh, of course. every day. reporter: can you ever contemplate a possibility that she isn t going to come home? no. i i just can t. i can t imagine it in my head. i just can t picture it. i need her home. reporter: how much do you think the rest of the family will be able to pick up and go back to life as it was? can you ever really go back to life as it was after what you ve been through? you know, none of us is ever going to be the same. but we ll all make a new normal and just go from there. and until i hear those words of you re innocent, i just i just need to hear that. reporter: for nightline, i m elizabeth vargas in italy. late today, the judge in the amanda knox trial denied that unusual defense request for an independent panel to review the forensic evidence. closing arguments are scheduled for next month with a verdict expected in early december. our thanks to elizabeth vargas for that. when we come back, we ll turn to president obama s nobel peace prize, and the question on everyone s mind. 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david wright has tonight s report. reporter: almost 24 hours ago in oslo, moreway, the keepers of the world s most prestigious prize named for the inventor of tnt dropped a bomb. barack obama. reporter: the people there in the room weren t the only ones caught offguard. well, this is not how i expected to wake up this morning. reporter: the president himself had no idea he was even being considered. malia walked in and said, daddy, you won the nobel peace prize, and it is bo s birthday. and then sasha added, plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up. so, it s it s good to have kids to keep things in perspective. reporter: to keep things in perspective, it s also valuable to look at history. teddy roosevelt won his nobel prize five years into his presidency, after helping to negotiate an end to the russo-japanese war. woodrow wilson got it after he negotiated the treaty of versailles. jimmy carter had to wait 20 years before getting his. gandy never got one. to be honest, i do not feel that i deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored. reporter: this award puts president 0 bam many in the company of nelson mandela, mother teresa. but for many, it becks the question, what has president obama done to deserve such an honor. when you look at my record, it s very clear what i ve done so far, and that is nothing. reporter: just this past weekend, saturday night live ran down obama s to do list. looking at this list, i m seeing two big accomplishments. jack and squat. reporter: today, conservatives seized on that line of attack. the chair of the republican national committee sniped, one thing is certain. president obama won t be receiving any awards for job creation, fiscal responsibility or backing up rhetoric with concrete action. on the left, there were detractors, as well. he s considering putting 40,000 more troops in afghanistan. we re still not out of iraq. we still have a military budget that is more than every other military budget in the world combined. i don t think this is what alfred nobel would think to give a nobel peace prize to. reporter: today, obama accepted the award, almost as an endorsement of what he hopes to accomplish. throughout history, the know bale peace prize has not been used to honor specific achievement, but also as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. and that is why i will accept this award as a call to action. we hope it will strengthen his hand, and we think president obama has some very good ideas, and he has taken some very significant initiatives. reporter: the five nobel committee members were impressed by obama s speeches, which they say make mihm a global spokesperson. in prague, he promised to work toward nuclear disarmament. i state clearly and with conviction, america s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. reporter: in cairo, he extended an open hand to the muslim world. just as muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, america is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. reporter: and at the u.n., he called for a new era of engagement. and now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges. reporter: today, the favorite parlor game among the white house press corps was what s next for obama? a grammy? he s got two of those. the oscar? well, al gore beat him there, too. there is always the heisman trophy. the power ballotry. maybe the publisher s clearinghouse. the white house says obama will travel to oslo to accept the nobel peace prize. my first reaction is, it s not copenhagen, is it? reporter: at least on this trip, obama knows he s got it in the bag. but he still has to prove he s worthy of the honor. for anyone, a lot to live up to. nim david wright for nightline at the white house. that s for sure. a call to action, he called it. our thanks to david wright. when we come back, what s wrong with this picture? find out in tonight s sign of wrong with this picture? find out in tonight s sign of the times. =4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4=4 in the middle of the night? 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(announcer) perdue® oven ready roaster. the cure for roasterphobia. announcer: nightline continues from washington with terry moran. they say a picture is worth a thousand words. well, with the help of modern technology, a picture now can say whatever you want it to, with just a few clicks of the mouse. of course, reality bites, and when it does, for stephanie sy, it s a sign of the times. reporter: famed fashion house ralph lauren has an image problem on its hands. super skinny models are nothing knew in fashion advertising, but wait a second. are the proportions on this model even humanly possible? not even our ad industry expert can analyze the photo with a straight face. well does i m sorry. the more you think about this image, the stranger it becomes, actually. the most obvious thing is their her head is wider than her hips. unnaturally thin and appears to be disjointed from her pelvis, as well. her thighs are like sticks. there is no flesh on her upper arms and one of her hands is about half the size of the other one. reporter: thanks to the errors of an unnamed photo editor, model phillipa hamilton has proportions akit to a bratz doll. editors are wields digital enhancement shop ware like scalpels. remember twiggy? well, now pitching 60, her ads for an anti-aging cream appear to erase many of the wrinkles she seems to have when not retouched. the technology can do wonders. in a sexy ad for raincoats, a pregnant gisele bundchen s baby bump was smoothed out. and jessica alba got photo enhanceme enhancement. of course, every medium has it tricks, including television. standing in front of a green screen? i can pretty much be, well, anywhere. in print advertising, a photograph is only a starting point, which means a picture is worth a thousand clicks. reporter: tv guide once made the decision to attach oprah s head to the body of a young ann margaret. kate winslet was infuriated when a men s magazine made her legs appear longer and skinny. steams the are gross errors. gnarly fingers, missing limbs and extra ones. it s hard to tell if ralph lauren s ad was a mistake or an instance of the fashion world promoting an unattainable body type. there s a problem the fashion world has. and that is that they just want unusually thin women in their amds. and they always have. what this ad sort of representatives that taken to the extreme. reporter: now websites like photo shop disasters are calling companies out. when a blogger and boing boi boing.net published the picture, ralph lauren threatened to sue. we felt that ralph lauren was used to getting it own way. it doesn t like to be made fun of. and because of that, it reacted to someone making fun of it, and a very heavy-handed and kind of dumb fashion. reporter: ralph lauren issued a statement, admitting responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman s body. but the online feud was on, with the website vowing to reproduce the original criticism, publish ralph lauren s quote spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, and offer nourishing soup and sand wishes to the models. now whose head is bigger? i m stephanie sy for nightline in new york. thanks to stephanie sy for that. and when we come back, does president obama deserve the nobel prize? first, what s up next on jimmy kimmel live. thanks, terry. tonight on the show, malin ackerman, the backstreet boys, and american versus canadian with michael moore, so, stay up.