Hands Tied – Episode 9: Amanda Knox

Podcast: Hands Tied by iHeartPodcasts
Host: Maggie Robinson Katz
Date: October 1, 2025

Overview

This special bonus episode features a compelling conversation between journalist/host Maggie Robinson Katz and Amanda Knox—a woman whose own widely publicized wrongful conviction in Italy parallels the Sandy Melgar case at the heart of this series. The discussion dives deep into the experiences of women accused of crimes against loved ones, the biases and narratives that shape wrongful convictions, the lasting trauma of imprisonment, and new forensic developments in Sandy’s case presented by the Innocence Project of Texas. The episode offers rare insight into the victimization, stigma, and search for justice faced by both Knox and Melgar, while providing updates that could impact Sandy’s hope for exoneration.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Parallels Between Amanda Knox and Sandy Melgar’s Cases

• Amanda’s Immediate Connection to Sandy’s Story
  Amanda reflects on the striking similarities between her case and Sandy Melgar’s:
  • Both women were accused of killing someone close to them under circumstances with strong evidence of a break-in.
  • In both cases, authorities quickly dismissed the break-in as staged, fixating on the women as prime suspects.

  “They almost immediately fell upon me as being the foreigner, the youngest person in the house, the person who called the police, and the person who they assumed was reacting in not the way that you would expect an innocent person to react.” – Amanda Knox (07:53)

• Behavioral Expectations and Gendered Bias
  Amanda discusses the double standards regarding women’s emotional reactions during crisis:
  • Women are judged on whether they grieve “properly” or exhibit “strange” behavior.
  • Investigators interpret innocent inconsistencies or distress through a “lens of guilt.”

  “There’s all of these subjective interpretations…They have a gut feeling that she’s guilty, and then they’re viewing her responses…in light of this view.” – Amanda Knox (10:28)

2. The Danger of Assumptions and Storytelling in Court

• Police Cognitive Bias and Its Domino Effect
  Both Sandy and Amanda suffered from investigative tunnel vision:

  • Investigators substituted an absence of forensic evidence with psychological interpretation.
  • Once a suspicion was formed, ambiguous facts were interpreted as evidence of guilt.

  “If you have assumed guilt, you just find fault in the person you have accused. And that’s especially tragic…where we were victims of crime before we became victims of the criminal justice system. What an utter betrayal.” – Amanda Knox (12:55)

• The Power of Story over Truth in Trials
  Maggie references Amanda’s writing, highlighting how trial outcomes can hinge less on evidence and more on which side presents a more compelling (or sensational) narrative:

  “So often our courtrooms are not like laboratories where competing information is boiled down to truth beyond a reasonable doubt, but more like battlegrounds where the most compelling story, not the most truthful, wins.” – Maggie Robinson Katz (16:20) Amanda adds: “I look at the prosecution story in Sandy’s case and I go, well, that’s a much more interesting story. But does it make sense? ... It looks like a break in, it smells like a break in...It’s a break in.” – Amanda Knox (17:05)

3. Interrogation and the Domino Effect of Early Missteps

• The Crucial First Hours
  • Amanda recounts being questioned for 53 hours over five days, often without recording, and not being informed she was a suspect or being given her rights.
  • Lies and inconsistencies, however trivial, were used as linchpins for prosecution theories.

  “I am convinced that I never, ever would have been arrested, imprisoned, put on trial, and convicted were it not for that interrogation. There was simply no evidence that I had anything to do with this crime.” – Amanda Knox (14:49)

4. The Emotional and Psychological Aftermath of Incarceration

• Life “Before,” “During,” and “After” Prison

  • Both Amanda and Sandy’s daughter Lizz feel their lives split into “before” and “after.”
  • Amanda describes periods of denial, self-preservation, and eventually creating purpose by helping other prisoners.

  “My opportunities weirdly expanded once I looked around me in the prison environment, and I realized that many of the women…were actually less privileged than me, despite me being the innocent person in prison.” – Amanda Knox (29:15)

  • Upon exoneration, Amanda struggled with stigma and “hauntedness” by trauma:

  “There is the realization the girl nothing bad had ever happened to no longer existed. And I was carrying with me a deep knowledge and experience of suffering that I didn’t have before...” – Amanda Knox (33:44)

  • She highlights universal themes:

  “We’ve all had something happen to us that was out of our control. And it is finding that common ground that we can see each other and support each other.” – Amanda Knox (37:30)

Memorable Quotes

• Amanda Knox on Investigative Bias:

  “Police officers are trained to have confidence in their gut judgments of people. … But once you have that cognitive bias in place, you are going to interpret really subjective things … with a guilt-presumptive lens.” (11:33)

• On Storytelling in Court:

  “For some reason, it’s a sticky story, a story that stays in our head, but does that mean that it actually makes sense?” – Amanda Knox (17:24)

• On Prison Survival and Purpose:

  “The possibilities for any single person in prison are very, very limited, but they are there … surviving in prison meant that I took everything day by day. I did not have dreams of my future.” – Amanda Knox (30:49)

• On Life After Exoneration:

  “I was very rudely awakened to the reality that … I could never go back to being an anonymous person in the world. … I was carrying the stigma of that accusation forever with me.” – Amanda Knox (33:55)

Latest Developments in Sandy Melgar’s Case

[From 43:25 onward]

New DNA Testing and Its Impact

• New Forensic Evidence

  • The Innocence Project of Texas, working on Sandy’s behalf, has had more evidence from the original crime scene retested.
  • A new test revealed two sets of foreign DNA at the scene:
    • One unknown person’s DNA found on the bindings used to tie Sandy.
    • A separate, unknown DNA on the murder weapon (the knife).
  • Mike Ware explains:

    “There’s no reason to believe there was not at least two people. … One person's DNA on the bindings of Sandy, another person's DNA on the murder weapon.” – Mike Ware (44:54)

• Testing of Hairs Found in Jim Melgar’s Hand

  • Short, rootless hairs found in the victim’s hand are being tested.
  • If these belong to an unknown individual (not Sandy or Jim), it will further point to the involvement of another person.
  • This could support a federal writ of habeas corpus (request to review Sandy’s possible wrongful conviction).

• Cautious Optimism

  • The district attorney is cooperating, and a judge has signed an order to move forward with the post-conviction DNA testing.

  “I feel very cautiously optimistic … hopefully that will speed the process.” – Mike Ware (47:34)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Amanda Knox parallels Sandy’s case: [05:33] – [11:00]
• Bias and behavior in wrongful convictions: [11:00] – [13:00]
• Impact of early police interrogations: [13:00] – [16:08]
• Court stories vs. truth: [16:08] – [21:13]
• Amanda on prison, trauma, and coping: [25:38] – [33:26]
• Discussion on before/after trauma experiences: [33:26] – [37:55]
• Latest DNA & forensic updates from Innocence Project: [43:25] – [48:20]

Tone and Language

• The episode maintains an intimate, conversational, and sometimes cathartic tone, with Amanda candidly sharing both practical and emotional realities.
• Discussion is empathetic, personal, and often philosophical, particularly regarding trauma, memory, identity, and injustice.

Conclusion

This episode of Hands Tied is a multidimensional exploration of the wrongful conviction of women, combining the personal narrative of Amanda Knox with the unfolding, possibly transformative, scientific developments in Sandy Melgar’s case. Through firsthand accounts, lived experience, and new forensic evidence, it shines a light on inherent biases in the criminal justice system and reminds listeners of the universal impact of trauma—and the long, arduous journey toward justice and healing.