Ga. teacher says acquittal in molestation trial not a victory

"My whole heart had been taken, and I got half of it back," Craft told the Today show's Meredith Vieira. "But until I get my children, I won't have my heart back," added Craft, who lost custody of her two children after her arrest in 2008.

Craft said that the "absolute hardest thing that I've ever experienced" was watching her daughter testify for the prosecution against her during the trial.

"My job as a mother is to protect her," Craft told Vieira. "It absolutely broke my heart to see that my daughter had been pretty much indoctrinated to believe things that weren't true, and to sit there was obviously emotional, and I sobbed and was actually berated by the prosecution for not being able to, as they said, act like a grownup."

"The amazing ordeal with the corruption that caught up these little girls and this wonderful woman has begun to end with a verdict from 12 people honest and true," said Craft's attorney, Demosthenes Lorandos, in a phone call with The Associated Press.

He said he and Craft's other attorneys have contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney's office about what he called the "fraudulent" behavior of Judge Brian House and the Catoosa County district attorney's office during the case.

Questions have been raised about the fairness of a trial in front of House, who helped represent Craft's ex-husband in the couple's divorce in the 1990s. Defense attorneys filed a motion seeking the judge's recusal, but he refused to step down.

Prosecutor Chris Arnt also raised eyebrows when he posted on his Facebook page in January that Craft's defense lawyers "are really insane or just trying to jack up her defense bill," according to news reports.

Arnt and other officials from the district attorney's office did not immediately return a call for comment after Tuesday's verdict. House declined comment because he said he had "no idea" what Lorandos was talking about.

House also declined to comment on why he had refused to step down from the trial.

Since her arrest in May 2008, Craft has been fired from her job at Chickamauga Elementary School, lost custody of her daughter, lost her Georgia home and moved with her husband to Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., about 30 miles north of where she was on trial in Ringgold.

The trial divided the rural north Georgia community and drew national media attention, with people from across the country following the proceedings online via Twitter and Facebook. Both Chickamauga, where Craft lived when she was arrested, and neighboring Ringgold have populations of about 3,000.

Craft's supporters called the trial a witch hunt, while the friends and families of the accusers said they believed their children were molested by the teacher. Craft's attorneys argued the children falsely believe they were molested because of constant suggestions by their parents and social workers.

"I want to make people aware that this can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone," Craft told the Today show.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.