Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host Ashley Flowers and I'm Brett. And today we're back to tell you the second part of our story about Mark,

Lundy and his murdered family, his wife, Christine, and their seven-year-old daughter Amber. Now, if you're just tuning in now,

you haven't heard part one. You have to go back, listen to part one first so you can be caught up. I don't want you to be lost.

So, brief recap, where we left off last episode, Mark had just been convicted of both murders and sentenced to life with a minimum of 17 years before he's eligible for parole.

Both police and the Crown prosecution in New Zealand were sure that he was the person responsible for the killings.

And they were confident that Mark sketchy behavior, his over-the-top grief at the funeral, the time of death, Christine's DNA on his clothes,

all proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mark was guilty. But we're learning that there are two sides to every story.

And as experts, journalists, and Mark's defense team continue their fight to show his innocence, a much different story emerges.

And many people all over New Zealand and beyond start to wonder, is the wrong man behind bars.

Mark and his defense team starts the appeals process almost as soon as he's found guilty.

They're appealing on the grounds that the verdict was unreasonable and can't be supported by the evidence that was presented at trial.

At the same time that they're trying to appeal the actual conviction, the Crown is actually appealing his sentencing.

They want him to be in prison longer before he's eligible for parole. So he's got to serve 17 years and then he's eligible. They want it to be 20.

Based on what? Has he been breaking rules in prison or something?

No, according to court documents, it's just due to the severity of the crimes, particularly because there was a child involved. So I guess they think three more years, makes him pay more.

I really don't understand the thinking behind these extra three years, but whatever.

The case goes up before the New Zealand Court of Appeals in July of 2002 and four months later in November, the court not only finds that the guilty verdict was reasonable,

but he also agreed to add the extra three years on to Mark's sentence, making him serve 20 years in prison, which was the longest non-pural period on life sentence in the nation's history.

As time goes on, Mark Lundy starts to fade from the public consciousness. He is in jail and that's that.

Now, he's still pursuing all of his legal options to keep appealing, but the public honestly wants to just forget about him.

There's this aura of disgust around the whole thing. Like, how could somebody be so depraved? How could they do this to their own family? And more than anything, like, how did we not see it coming?

Yeah. I couldn't find a lot of information about what exactly his defense team is doing between November of 2002 and the beginning of 2009.

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