my daughter is in jail for having a high school girlfriend. and tonight, right here on "20/20," she's finally getting out. >> i just want my baby girl to come home. >> our cameras are there after she's released. the high school senior who went from leading cheers to leading the national news. locked up all because of a high school romance with another girl, who was just 14. tonight, she's back home but not home free. >> there's no taking this off? >> no. >> this is on. >> three years. >> three years? plus, a trusted teacher

ordering her teachers to punish her student. the kindergarten cop. the real cops caught breaking the law, speeding up to 120 miles an hour. and not in line of duty. >> one of those guys was going 80 miles an hour toward a doughnut shop this guy is going 07 in a 45 right now. tonight, "crossing the lines." we begin tonight here with a "20/20" exclusive. a simple case of high school love, or was this something else? a story we have been following for six months now. the relationship between two high school girls. >> we watched kaitlin hunt as she went to jail and our cameras were the only ones there as she shed that orange jump suit and

start a new life. abc's matt gutman has the exclusive interview. >> reporter: it's not your typical friday night for this teenager. she's not walking out the movies or some party with friends. this is kaitlyn hunt walking out of jail, just months after walking across the stage at her high school graduation. so why was this teen doing hard time? it all began on florida's treasure coast, sebastian river high, home of the sharks. "can't hide that shark pride," they say. but what was hidden in that teenage shark tank called high school no one is proud of. a sex scandal. felonious love. >> the sex scandal. >> reporter: kaitlyn hunt was a senior whose crush turned into a crime. her love, improbably landed her in lockup here at the

indian river county jail. >> a criminal relation never crossed my mind once. >> reporter: hunt was honor student, a choir girl. ♪ >> reporter: and the teen you see tossed in the air by her fellow cheerleaders here, was also voted "most school spirit." possessed of a big heart, ripe for love. >> we had lunch together. we just started hanging out in school, talking. we had fun together. >> reporter: the cheerleader, fell for the athlete. at first, just stealing kisses and then, sex in the school bathroom. >> i would say we had a really close relationship. we told each other everything. >> reporter: although kaitlyn was 18 at the time, the person she had sex with was just 14, but it gets more much complicated because this is not a classic romeo and juliet story. it's a juliet and juliet story.

the person 18-year-old kaitlyn hunt says she loved and had sex with was a 14-year-old girl. >> she's real funny. she was like that person you could go to if you were having a bad day. she would cheer you up in five minutes. she was just all around, just a good girl. >> reporter: kaitlyn's mother, kelley, says she knew her daughter was in a same-sex relationship, but didn't realize the other girl was so young. did you meet the girlfriend? >> mm-hmm, yep. >> reporter: what did you think of her? >> she was a sweetheart. i liked her. she was very sweet. >> reporter: did it ever dawn on you that the difference in age might be a dangerous thing? >> i did not know the girl was 14. i had no idea she was a freshman. she looks older than my daughter. >> reporter: something else she says she did not know, the younger girl ran away from home one night and had a sleep-over with kaitlyn in her home. eventually, it was a coach who revealed the relationship to the younger girl's parents.

the next day they and their 14-year-old daughter were in the sheriff's office. >> their feeling was the relationship was unhealthy and inappropriate. >> reporter: unhealthy and inappropriate. but how do you prove the nature of the relationship was sexual? crimes against children detective, jeremy shephard, with the help of the younger girl, sets a trap to confirm kaitlyn crossed the line. tell me how you decided to do this controlled phone call with the victim. >> that is a procedure that we often use in cases like this, in order to attempt to get the victim to get a confession from the suspect for us. >> does that mean anything to you? >> obviously, it means something to me. >> reporter: this is where sweet love, soured. in the state of florida, even consensual sex between an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old is against the law. kaitlyn was arrested. >> they had her in handcuffs in the driveway. >> reporter: put into a police cruiser, what's going through your mind? >> i was so shocked.

you know, i was scared to death because she was so scared to death. >> reporter: in an interrogation room, kaitlyn is questioned, asked about intimate details most people wouldn't want to discuss with their best friend, much less a police officer. >. would you say the first time you all had sex was before christmas or after christmas? >> after. >> okay. >> reporter: when we met kaitlyn at the indian river county jail, we expected to meet a bubbly teenager, but after two months in lockup, the high-spirited girl was gone. this kaitlyn appeared stunned, nearly speechless, still a bit bewildered by the whirlwind that landed her here. so, you literally didn't know you we breaking the law? >> no, i really didn't know. i wouldn't have continued. if i really knew what the laws were, and if i knew what i was getting myself into. >> reporter: authorities charged kaitlyn with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery. those are felonies. >> i don't think that either one of these girls thought that anything that they did was wrong.

>> i understand that kaitlyn is 18. you know, i'm well aware that she's 18, but in no way, shape, or form is that child an adult. >> reporter: after her arrest kaitlyn was released on bail. the judge set a condition. she could not contact her young girlfriend. but the peppy cheerleader and choir girl who dreamed of studying nursing, was now facing a severe penalty for her forbidden romance. a criminal record, sex-offender status and a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. voted most school spirit, and then you're in jail. >> it's like something you think you would never go through. i feel like my senior year was like, ruined. >> reporter: did she ever tell you about her sexuality? >> not out rightly. you know not like "hey, i'm a gay" or "hey, i'm a lesbian," or "hey, i'm bisexual." we never had that conversation. >> reporter: her mother claiming the prosecutor and the younger girl's family were motivated in part by an anti-gay bias. on facebook she aired her daughter's shakespearean lament, writing of the younger girl's parents. "they were out to destroy my daughter.

they feel like my daughter made their daughter gay." the family then came up with this line -- "stop the hate, free kate." >> i needed everybody to know what was going on, and for someone else to say you were right, like this is absolutely crazy and wrong. >> reporter: gay rights activists and others grabbed this digital gauntlet and rallied behind kaitlyn and her family. supporters donated tens of thousands of dollars. a petition against the prosecution got more than 300,000 signatures online. and this past summer kaitlyn flew to new york to march in the world's largest annual gay pride parade. what does it feel like to, in some ways, become this icon of the gay community? >> it's pretty awesome because you know, the support from the community is just, it's overwhelming. but nice at the same time. scared of losing my life, the rest of my life and not being able to go to college and be around kids and my sisters and my family. >> reporter: if kaitlyn were

kyle, how different would this be? >> my honest opinion is it would not be an issue. >> reporter: the prosecutor offered kaitlyn a plea deal. including no prison time. she rejected the offer. she wanted a trial to prove her innocence. tell me what you were fighting for. >> equality and justice. when we come back -- a shocking reversal. why she landed right back in jail and her parents, thrown into a tail spin over a phone call from their daughter. >> just hang in there, just calm down. >> behind bars and desperate. and what about the other parents? we'll hear they have suffered and their surprising views about the relationship that became a crime. stay with us. led to the one jobhing you always wanted.

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"20/20" returns. once again, matt gutman. reporter: "free kate" became the nationwide rallying cry for

kaitlyn hunt's army of supporters, coming to her side as she faced a looming trial. >> there has been a massive campaign all week on her behalf. >> reporter: the peppy florida high school senior had been arrested for having a sexual relationship with a ninth grader, a 14-year-old girl. did you love her? >> mm-hmm. yeah, i loved her. a lot. she was like my best friend. >> serious jail time. >> she's not a pedophile. she's this beautiful girl. >> reporter: kaitlyn hunt's family and supporters complained loudly that anti-gay bigotry was driving the prosecution. bias on the part of the state and the younger girl's parents. those supposedly bigoted, biased parents? jim and laurie smith. >> she definitely took our daughter's innocence away. in a way that should not have been done. >> reporter: when they were informed their daughter was involved with an 18-year-old, they say they don't even

remember being told it was an 18-year-old girl. >> 18? my daughter's only 14. she's not allowed to date yet. i knew that my daughter wasn't emotionally mature enough for any 18-year-old. >> reporter: if kaitlyn had been a kyle, would it have made a difference to you? >> if it was kyle, it still would've been wrong. >> reporter: but the hunts dug in. kaitlyn rejected plea offers that would have let her avoid jail. she and her family insisting that she was the victim, because of her sexual preference. >> you know, this thing is so wrong. i just want to do everything i can, everything i can to beat it. to win and get her, have her life back, our lives back. >> reporter: the smiths say they want their lives back too. lives they say have been

threatened in menacing phone calls like this one from people on sidelines, watching the case play out on television. >> it means that i'm going to have to come and murder you. >> reporter: they've been accused of being anti-gay. but what if your daughter came to you and said, "mom, dad, i'm gay." >> we've asked her that, and we've talked about it. and it's not really the issue for us. >> she's our daughter. we're going to love her no matter what. we love her until the day we die. >> reporter: they told me today that they would accept their daughter, whatever her sexuality might be, do you think that's true? >> no, i do not. i think that's a lie. i've always thought it was a gay issue for them. >> reporter: and from the time the young girl ran away and wound up, as they would later discover, in the bedroom of kaitlyn hunt? the girl's parents say, that was one of the worst days of their lives. laurie, of all the things that we've talked about, your daughter going missing seems to be the thing that is most painful to you. why? >> i thought someone had come

and taken her and my only thought was i should've been there. i'm supposed to take care of her, and this is my baby. >> reporter: but the smith family had not heard the last of kaitlyn hunt. in spite of the judge's order forbidding any contact whatsoever, police say kaitlyn had been exchanging text messages with the other girl. more than 20,000. sending her nude and lewd photos and videos of herself. and most damning, there was intimate physical contact. i wonder if you feel that you made a mistake here. >> if i made a mistake, hmm. do i think i made a mistake by dating someone in high school? that i went to school with and i played basketball with? no, i don't think i made a mistake. >> reporter: do you think you made a mistake by sending her 20,000 text messages, including nude pictures of yourself? >> yeah, i think that was a mistake. >> reporter: but you kept up the

contact, even though you knew you shouldn't, why? >> i needed closure. i felt like i had none when it first happened in february. you know, i was like forced to stop talking and forced to stop dating, and i just got wrapped up. >> reporter: 20,000 text messages. nude pictures. videos. >> i think kaitlyn hunt forced our daughter to stay in this relationship when our daughter didn't want to be in this relationship. >> reporter: the judge ordered hunt to wait out the rest of her time before trial in the county jail. the girl who dreamed of being a songbird, now finds herself growing older as a jailbird. her hard times obvious during our interview with her parents when kaitlyn called from lockup. >> okay, relax, relax.

tell me what's -- well, what happened? it's okay, calm down. i know. calm down, honey, calm down. >> reporter: kelley hunt says kaitlyn was upset, fellow inmates were harassing her. the parents try to put on a brave face for their daughter, but afterward, they can't hide their pain. >> i'm so sorry. >> reporter: i don't think anybody can imagine what you're going through? >> you can't. i mean, you just, i don't even -- i just can't really describe it. it's so hard. i mean, she's just a little kid, you know. >> reporter: do you think of kaitlyn hunt? do you think of her as a kid, like your daughter? or do you think of her as an adult? >> i honestly think of her as a child. i think that if she was an adult and she thought like an adult, then this would not have happened. >> reporter: should it be legal for someone who is 18, regardless of sex, to be

with someone who is 14? >> it's a tough question and i don't know if there's a right answer. what i know is that two teenage girls in high school that consent to a relationship, they shouldn't be felon for it. >> please raise your right hand. >> reporter: ultimately, there would be no trial for kaitlyn hunt. in october, she accepted a plea deal that would keep her behind bars for a total of four months followed by two years of house arrest and a long probation. >> hi. >> reporter: we are there in the central booking room where kaitlyn is being processed for her release after spending 120 days in jail. the now 19-year-old finally returning to once-spirited self. looking forward to two things. fast food. >> i really want salty fries from mcdonald's. >> reporter: and family. >> how is my mom? is she excited? >> reporter: but first, ever present reminders of her felony

offense, a parole officer and an ankle bracelet monitoring all of her movements. >> deviation from your schedule and approved schedule is a violation of your supervision if not approved. >> reporter: outside the jail, kaitlyn's family and friends gather for the big moment. >> i can't wait for my baby girl to come home. >> i can't believe it's you. i'm like in a state of shock still. >> reporter: when the family finally arrives at home, the first hugs in four months. >> i didn't think she would be like this at all. >> as long as i'm home with my family and i get to see everybody every day, then i think i'll be okay. >> reporter: then, a special delivery. >> oh, my god, let me smell it. >> reporter: a happy meal for a girl happy to be home. how does it feel to be back? >> oh, my gosh. i love it.

i'm so excited. it's not even real. i thought high school was bad. jail was bad. >> reporter: you said that you didn't regret it. you still feel the same way? >> yeah, i do. you know, i feel like everything happens for a reason. you go through things in life for a reason, you know. so, i might not know what the reason is now, but i will, you know, one day. >> reporter: you have new bracelets. >> no, i've had them. >> reporter: you've had them, but this one's new. >> reporter: how long is it? >> um, three years. >> reporter: three years? >> yeah. >> reporter: has this turned you off women? >> no, no. i'm still with my girlfriend. >> reporter: no, not that girlfriend. a new one. 27-year old l.t. the two have become inseparable. as for her former freshman flame, kaitlyn insists they've had no communication since being released. no, nothing? >> nope. >> reporter: like it never happened? >> yep. >> reporter: how do you feel about that? >> pretty happy about it.

now i just want to put it all behind me. i want to stay out of trouble. i want to do the right thing, and then get it over with, so i can move on with my life. >> reporter: the smiths say their daughter is moving on too, focusing on school work and sports. a relationship called out of bounds cost them so much. one lost her innocence. the other, her freedom. both lost their love. if you had been one of those parents, how would you have reacted? let us know on twitter. wait until you see what's coming up next here, cops, and this time, they're the ones being pulled off. trapped in our "20/20" speed trap. next, our matt gutman. the cops themselves. >> three lanes without using his blinkers, ladies and gentlemen. >> more crossing the line, coming up. i our own,t out on we ate anything. but in time you realize the better you eat, the better you feel.

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hunt for speeding cops, who kill. >> reporter: so this guy's going well over 80 right now. so there i was humming down the highway in a dodge challenger, trying to chase down a speeding north carolina state trooper. guys, this guy's going 70 in a 45 right now. how did i get here? well, it all started when we first saw this video. it's a florida state trooper in hot pursuit of a motorist flying up i-95 at speeds up to 120 miles per hour. but this is no ordinary speed demon. it's a miami-dade police officer. >> it is a miami police. >> reporter: the cop ignores the trooper's lights and sirens, and tears across lanes of traffic. finally, seven minutes later he pulls over. believing that only a criminal in a stolen car could drive so recklessly, the trooper approaches with gun drawn. >> put up your hands out that window right now! put your hands out the window! >> reporter: what's the big need for speed? turns out, the cop was running

late for his off-duty job as a security guard. >> i had to get there by 7:00 and i didn't think i was gonna make it. >> reporter: and we discovered, this guy isn't some kind of lone wolf. all around the country families have learned the painful way that speeding cops can kill. to be clear, we're not talking about police responding to an emergency with lights and sirens on. and when cops just gun it, results can be lethal. take a look at this. it's 2:15 a.m. on this connecticut road. a milford police department car speeding in a 40-mile-per-hour zone. suddenly, another cruiser rockets past at 94 miles per hour and rams into a passenger car. killed in the accident were two 19-year-old sweethearts. ashlie krakowski, a high school hockey star with dreams of becoming a nurse. and david servin, a talented musician who planned to go to business school. >> when we found out what exactly happened, it was unbelievable. >> reporter: did it make it hurt worse once you learned that it was a police officer who hit

them? >> i was disgusted that it was a police officer. you see them racing around all the time. and, you know, this time they didn't get away with it. >> reporter: so, why do cops speed? >> because they can. >> reporter: justin hopson is a former new jersey state trooper who wrote a book on corruption in his agency called "breaking the blue wall." and when they're speeding, where are they going, home? >> lunch, meeting another police officer. it's the mentality of "hey, i have a badge and the ability to go as fast as i need to go." >> what's he doing? what's he doing? >> reporter: the problem's gotten so out of hand, some motorists are striking back, catching speeding cops in the act. here, a caravan of hot rods on a joyride down a new jersey highway hit speeds over 100 miles per hour. >> doing 100. >> a new jersey state trooper suddenly appears, he's going to put a stop to this, right?

wrong. he shoots ahead of them to lead the way. >> he's going to give them an escort by state police! >> reporter: that pied-piper of sports cars was suspended. this angry motorcyclist with a helmet cam turns vigilante and takes off after a fast-moving police cruiser just to prove how fast he's going. folks, don't try this at home. >> i'm going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit right now. >> reporter: but none of the highway video avengers can match ron carr of raleigh, north carolina. after getting his hair blown back by lead-footed lawmen once too often, carr rigged his vehicle with cameras to expose what he calls rampant hypocrisy. >> watch this guy. you or i would get a ticket for doing what he's doing right now. >> reporter: yes. they're fast and he's furious. >> who's policing the police? what does it take for an officer to be charged? >> reporter: carr's now posting his greatest hits on, what else? his own youtube channel. >> i figured the more videos that i have, then folks will realize that it is a common problem. >> reporter: but it's a problem that police departments seem reluctant to acknowledge.

going back to that terrible connecticut crash, the officer involved was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison, though he's currently free as he appeals. the families of those two young victims wanted to uncover the scale of the problem, so they sued the police, demanding to see all dash cam video from the previous two years. >> we wanted to know, was there a culture of speeding? was this an isolated incident that you could forgive a little more easily? >> reporter: the families did receive 500 dash cam clips, including footage of an officer on a call racing at 113 miles per hour in a 45 zone. he was suspended. but then, milford pd claimed it accidentally deleted another 2,000 dash cam clips. 2,000 clips, an accident? the family isn't buying that. >> there appeared to be quite a culture of speeding to the extent that milford finally destroyed the tapes. >> reporter: former trooper

hopson says it's almost unheard of for cops to crackdown on each other over speeding. >> if you do so, you're deemed a stool pigeon. and there's ramifications for doing that. >> get out of the vehicle! >> reporter: want proof? then turn back to that video of florida trooper donna watts. remember she'd pulled over a miami police officer, who was later fired from his department and is now trying to get his job back. but watts says she was the one ultimately punished. after the incident she started receiving threatening phone calls and spotting strange police vehicles in front of her home. she's now suing the cops who were snooping on her, claiming the harassment made her life hell, prompting her to leave road patrol, even her home. don't you think it's a little hypocritical that police officers go 80 miles per hour and pull someone over? what's the big hurry? we set up our speed trap just to find out who these speedy cops are and just where they're

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"20/20" returns. once again, matt gutman. reporter: north carolina's home to some of nascar's fastest drivers.

but this isn't the charlotte motor speedway. it's a stretch of i-40 near downtown raleigh, where "20/20" will turn the tables on the cops by setting up our very own speed trap. we're going to be along this road. the objective? follow speeding cops to their final destinations and get some answers. we deploy our surveillance team, starting with ron carr. remember, he's the guy who's been documenting speeding cops in raleigh for months now. his job is to alert us of any fast-moving squad cars heading our way. >> white dodge charger, left lane. actually he's running hot. >> reporter: to accurately measure how fast any suspected speeding cops are traveling -- >> three, two, one, mark. >> reporter: we set up two checkpoints. >> three, two, one, mark. >> reporter: the plan is, if we confirm cops are speeding, we'll spring our trap, deploying my chase car to tail them to wherever they're going.

even though we chose something with some hefty horsepower, we don't want to get busted for speeding ourselves. so in case we lose them, we brought in the air cavalry, a "20/20" helicopter equipped with an aerial surveillance camera. those cops can run, but they can't hide from your eye in the sky. the "20/20" speed trap is set, and it's not long till this cruiser flies by our checkpoints at 75 miles per hour. >> mark. >> reporter: that's ten over the limit. no lights, no sirens. by the time the cruiser reaches us in the chase car, we estimate it's picked up even more speed. it's going at about 85. it's hard to catch up. my chase car is left in the dust, but luckily our chopper team gets us right back on track. >> the chopper is on it. >> it says sv crime lab. we're able to follow the car to its final destination and confront the lead-footed driver. i'm matt gutman from abc news. how you been? >> i'm good. >> reporter: good. we were watching you on i-40. >> okay. >> reporter: you were going about 85 miles an hour.

i'm wondering, what you think about that? >> i don't really have a comment. >> reporter: you don't have a comment? >> no. >> reporter: it's hardly an emergency. the officer is just dropping off evidence at the state crime lab. don't you think it's a little hypocritical that police officers go 85 miles an hour and they would clearly pull someone like me over? that would upset people. is that what you're supposed to do? to some extent, serve as an example as how people should drive? >> thank you. >> standby, this guy's moving. >> reporter: astonishingly, the cops kept coming. zooming by us, smashing speed laws to take care of non-emergency business, like this sheriff's deputy who hits 82 miles per hour. that's 20 over the limit. we're able to follow the deputy all the way downtown, where we discover there was no emergency. she was just apparently late for an appointment at the courthouse. she is pulling into the official intake vehicles only. we can't do that. same story with another sheriff's vehicle that we clock

at 82 miles per hour. he's going so fast. >> he was going 82. stay on him. chopper stay on him. everybody stay on him. >> reporter: he's moving too fast for me to keep up with. oh man, i lost him. fortunately, our trusty chopper again comes to the rescue and puts us back on his tail. the officer leads us on a merry slow speed chase through raleigh's downtown streets. i think he's trying to shake us. he finally comes to a stop at the federal courthouse. we're from abc news. we noticed that, on i-40 over there, you were going 82, 85, wondering if you were on an emergency call. we didn't see the flashers. >> i'm here to pick up a federal prisoner. take him back to edgecombe county. >> reporter: i know if i went 81 or 82 you'd probably pull me over. >> i would. >> reporter: do you think your superior would mind that you were going that fast? >> would he mind? probably. >> three, two, one, mark. >> reporter: but not all of the cops we caught speeding were on official business. check out this officer cruising

by at 79 miles per hour. our helicopter crew tracks him as he exits the highway and follows him to, you're not going to believe this, a doughnut shop! and dunkin' donuts wasn't the only eye-opening destination we discovered over the course of our surveillance op. >> mark. >> reporter: check out this highway patrol suv speeding at 75 miles per hour. i see him! by the time he gets to us in the chase car, we estimate he's going even faster. so this guy's going well over 80 right now. tearing across lanes just to get to his exit. wow, he did three lanes at once. he just did three lanes without using his blinkers, ladies and gentlemen. we're able to catch up on a local road, but again he punches the accelerator. you guys, this guy's going 70 in a 45 right now. we finally find out where that trooper was headed in such an all-fire hurry. incredibly, he was speeding just to get to the highway patrol training academy. this place even has its own driver's training course. so we're doing a story about speeding cops.

and we noticed you were going about 80 miles an hour on the highway and then about 75 in a 45. we had a hard time keeping up with you. >> yeah, i was trying to get over here this morning. that, you know, police officers speeding, a lot of folks want to see you set an example and you're going about 15, 20 miles over the speed limit, there might be some concern. >> i understand what you're saying. >> reporter: if you're wondering what subject this officer teaches here, take a look at his shirt. yep, that's right. he's a driving instructor. gentlemen, how are you? time to get some answers. we walk into the training academy with cameras rolling. >> let me -- can you just step inside? >> reporter: sure. but none of the supervisors on-site are willing to talk. you're not even curious about what your guys are doing, the guys who are speeding to get here? >> sir, i'm not even at liberty to discuss this with you. >> reporter: later, after we've left north carolina, a spokesman for the highway patrol tells us

they've launched an investigation into what we found. >> we went ahead and started looking into this matter and we're going to handle it accordingly. >> reporter: do you find it outrageous that one of the people we found driving most recklessly seemed to be a driving instructor? >> that's not a good thing. it kind of paints the wrong type of message. we are dealing with that individual. >> reporter: but in connecticut, what we found during our surveillance operation came as no surprise to the families of teenagers ashlie krakowski and david servin, who lost their lives because of a speeding cop. >> it could be anybody's kid. anybody's child. and it's the worst thing that could ever happen to you. >> our hearts go out to both of those families. have you seen speeding police officers? let us know on twitter. david and i will be right back. next -- kindergarten students, lining up to hit a 6-year-old. >> how many kids did it? >> i think, like, 21. >> you won't believe who they say gave the go-ahead.

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all-new meaning when a texas teacher was accused of ordering kids literally hit a fellow student, a 6-year-old, who will you believe? the teacher or the kids? here's john quinones. >> reporter: were you loud at the kids? >> i'm loud. >> reporter: cynthia ambrose is a kindergarten teacher who earned a reputation for being "the enforcer" at salinas elementary in san antonio. known for the cup of ice chips that she kept on her desk, some say she was just as infamous for a kind of ice water coursing through her veins. were you tough on the kids? >> if they were in trouble, time out. >> reporter: but, now, it's the teacher who's being given the time-out for the first time in her 11-year career for an incident that would not only cost her job, but land her in a court of law. do you miss those kids in the classroom? >> so bad. >> she was very mean to everybody.

all the kids were scared of her. >> she misunderstood what was appropriate in disciplining a child. >> reporter: how would you describe her? >> as having crossed a line that no teacher should cross. >> it was supposed to be a teachable moment. and it just, you know, backfired on me. >> reporter: aiden neely may not look like a bully as he tackles those monkey bars, but that's exactly how school officials painted him when he attended kindergarten at salinas elementary back in may of 2012. hey, buddy, how are you? >> good. >> reporter: i'm john. when i recently met aiden he was, by all appearances, a polite, poised, perfectly behaved little boy. when you grow up, what do you want to be? >> a football player. >> reporter: but back on that spring morning, aiden's teacher barbara ramirez received complaints aiden was bullying other students. so she took him directly to cynthia ambrose for a healthy dose of her trademark "tough love." >> miss ramirez walked into my classroom, upset,

talking about how he had punched some girls and kicked some boys. and i was like, "what do you want me to do?" i said, "do you want me to scare him?" >> reporter: in keeping with her m.o., she takes discipline to a whole new level. she stands aiden in front of the class, and makes an outrageous appeal to her students. . >> i turned around and said, does want to show him what it feels like? i was expecting my class to say, "yes." and i turned to aiden, "you see, would you want your friends to hit you?" >> reporter: sure enough, a student took the dare and suddenly 6-year-old aiden was under assault. >> it happened so fast that next thing i know, i hear this hit. >> reporter: aiden's mom, amy is horrified by what she says happens next. >> miss ambrose took it upon herself to have her kids line up and hit aiden. some in the face. some in the back. some on his head. >> reporter: word spread, and ambrose suddenly found herself in the principal's office.

>> had to call h.r. and that's when i started crying. because i knew i was done. >> reporter: an angry mother hit back. >> my stomach was in knots. >> but the boy's mom's says that is not enough. >> reporter: talking to any news organization who would listen. >> this teacher is going to be back in the school system and teaching other students. >> reporter: ambrose was ultimately suspended and left salinas elementary. but that wasn't enough for district attorney susan reed. >> we have not had a case like this before. and, i felt it was imperative that the state speak up about it. >> reporter: in june, ambrose was put on trial, accused of encouraging multiple students to hit aiden that day. but if you think ambrose was about to fall on her sword, think again. >> reporter: how many kids hit him? >> that i know of -- one. >> reporter: only one? that's a far cry from what aiden neely would tell a sympathetic jury. he was the prosecution's star witness. >> do you remember other kids getting up and slapping you in the back? >> yes. >> okay.

do you remember how many kids did it? >> mm, i think, like, 21. >> reporter: the prosecution also called the only other adult eyewitness -- that teacher who brought aiden to ambrose's class that day, barbara ramirez, and she had her own damning account. >> then that's when she announced, she said, "come on boys and girls, let's line up and let's bully aiden." >> did miss ambrose say anything when she saw the students hitting aiden? >> that's when she said, "come on, let's hit him harder." >> reporter: did you say those things? you were not expecting them to do that? >> no! >> reporter: are you sorry you said that? >> big time. i wish i could take that back. >> reporter: is cynthia now lying? >> yes. she scared him. she humiliated him. >> reporter: no chance that this could've been misconstrued, that maybe it was a misunderstanding by a kindergarten student? >> i think the misunderstanding was on the part of miss ambrose. she misunderstood what was appropriate in disciplining a child. >> reporter: during the trial, ambrose says she'd visit the church adjacent to the

courthouse, the once-unbending disciplinarian, on bended knee. >> everybody kept praying and saying, you know, "have faith in god. the truth will come out." >> reporter: but the truth, in the jury's eyes, took less than an hour to find. after only 36 minutes of deliberation, they found cynthia ambrose guilty of "official oppression" -- a class "a" misdemeanor in texas. they don't believe that you were telling the truth. why should we? >> i just know that i didn't order a hit. >> reporter: the judge, however, didn't buy ambrose's story. >> this is absolutely a parent's worst nightmare. they send their children to you and they trust you. >> reporter: in august, ambrose was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years probation, ensuring that she won't be able to teach again in texas for at least that long. >> i love what i do. i love it. but it's not worth it.

this has broken me. >> reporter: does aiden ever talk about what happened that day anymore? >> sometimes he'll come up to me and say, "mommy, why'd you leave me in that classroom?" >> reporter: and, because of that, amy says she pulled aiden out of salinas elementary school. he's now at a new school with new teachers and new friends. >> reporter: and people are nice in this school. >> yes. the other school -- people being mean to me. >> reporter: you've said that you want cynthia ambrose to never teach again? >> yes. she doesn't need to be around any children. >> reporter: is she a monster? >> i don't think she's a monster. i mean, i -- she just made the wrong call that day. after john's first report on this, cynthia ambrose was granted a new trial the judge saying the jury in her case had been improperly instructed. prosecutors in san antonio are now appealing that ruling.

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