A New Trial for Adnan Syed

[Chris Hagen*]

A judge in Baltimore has ordered a new trial for Adnan Syed, the murder convict who was the subject of Serial, the popular podcast from Chicago Public Radio.

http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/adnan-syed-new-trial/489671/

Click to read more...

 

[S A W F T*]

Imagine if Star Wars and Game of Thrones combined

 

[Shrimper]

I have no idea who this is.

Did the guy in Making a Murderer get sent down?

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Who?

 

[Chris Hagen*]

Who?

A judge in Baltimore has ordered a new trial for Adnan Syed, the murder convict who was the subject of Serial, the popular podcast from Chicago Public Radio.

 

[HanSolo]

0 for effort Ixcuincle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Hae_Min_Lee

 

[Brodeur]

Conviction of Adnan Syed in 'Serial' podcast case is overturned and judge orders him released

Syed long claimed his innocence in the 1999 murder of former girlfriend Hae Min Lee, and the popular 2014 podcast breathed new life into his defense.

www.nbcnews.com

Adnan released this week. Serial uploaded a brief podcast today. The notable update was that the original prosecution apparently withheld info about a couple of potential suspects to the defense.

I was a few years late to when the podcast originally came out. HBO had also done a multipart documentary. The HBO one hit a little different than the podcast since you could put faces to the voices. The story resonated a bit extra with me since I'm the same age as Hae Min and Adnan. So when listening to the podcast, I was more or less picturing myself. [/coolstorybro]

Anyways, Cliff's Notes in case anybody was interested but didn't want to listen to the podcast:

- Happens in early 1999
- Victim goes missing after school, body is found in a shallow grave a few weeks later
- Police focus on ex-boyfriend, anonymous tip also points suspicion his way
- Suspect's friend (ends up being star witness) eventually tells police that he helped dispose of body, but his story keeps changing
- Cell phone ping locations may not be as accurate as thought
- Suspect was apparently seen at nearby library while the murder is alleged to have occurred, but defense attorney didn't use this
- No physical evidence linking suspect to the crime scene
- Suspect convicted in 2001, had be imprisoned until this week

Relistened to the first few podcasts again. The part that I'm still hung up on is that the suspect's friend allegedly knew where to find the victim's car. I think some have suggested that he was coached up by the investigators to help build their case.

Handful of other fringe suspects as well. The guy who found her body, a recently released serial killer who has since died, and her new boyfriend.

 

[895]

Conviction of Adnan Syed in 'Serial' podcast case is overturned and judge orders him released

Syed long claimed his innocence in the 1999 murder of former girlfriend Hae Min Lee, and the popular 2014 podcast breathed new life into his defense.

www.nbcnews.com

Adnan released this week. Serial uploaded a brief podcast today. The notable update was that the original prosecution apparently withheld info about a couple of potential suspects to the defense.

I was a few years late to when the podcast originally came out. HBO had also done a multipart documentary. The HBO one hit a little different than the podcast since you could put faces to the voices. The story resonated a bit extra with me since I'm the same age as Hae Min and Adnan. So when listening to the podcast, I was more or less picturing myself. [/coolstorybro]

Anyways, Cliff's Notes in case anybody was interested but didn't want to listen to the podcast:

- Happens in early 1999
- Victim goes missing after school, body is found in a shallow grave a few weeks later
- Police focus on ex-boyfriend, anonymous tip also points suspicion his way
- Suspect's friend (ends up being star witness) eventually tells police that he helped dispose of body, but his story keeps changing
- Cell phone ping locations may not be as accurate as thought
- Suspect was apparently seen at nearby library while the murder is alleged to have occurred, but defense attorney didn't use this
- No physical evidence linking suspect to the crime scene
- Suspect convicted in 2001, had be imprisoned until this week

Relistened to the first few podcasts again. The part that I'm still hung up on is that the suspect's friend allegedly knew where to find the victim's car. I think some have suggested that he was coached up by the investigators to help build their case.

Handful of other fringe suspects as well. The guy who found her body, a recently released serial killer who has since died, and her new boyfriend.

One thing I haven't seen any pro-Adnan person come up with a compelling explanation for is:

The first few minutes of the first episode explores a question: would you remember a random day two weeks ago? What did you have for dinner, who did you talk to, etc? That's the reasoning for Adnan's lack of alibi. He can't remember what he was doing at the time because it was an unremarkable day.

BUT

We later find out this is completely wrong and a lie from Adnan. It was not an unremarkable day for him at all. After Hae didn't pick up her brother at 3:15pm, her parents immediately called the police to report her missing. Police get on the case right away and by 6:30pm they question Adnan about her whereabouts.

So unless Adnan's ex-girlfriends regularly go missing and he is regularly questioned by the police about them, it was absolutely not an unremarkable day for him. He should absolutely remember what he did that day because the police detective questioned him about that just a few hours later.

Ergo, Adnan is lying about not remembering. He is lying because he is guilty.

 

[Brodeur]

Finished Serial again, kinda felt the same as when I listened to it years ago. If I were a hypothetical juror, I would have acquitted based on reasonable doubt but I'd still think Adnan is the prime suspect.

Maybe I missed it, but I forget if the podcast or other things looked at his cell phone record after when Hae disappeared. From the sounds of it, they still paged/called each other with some regularity despite having broke up. At least from other true crime stories, the killer will accidentally refer to the victim (presumed still missing) in the past tense or doesn't bother contacting them since they already know.

And then there is the "Nisha call" that potentially puts Adnan with Jay that afternoon when Adnan said they weren't together. But some inconsistencies since Nisha remembered that Jay was working at a job that he didn't start until a couple weeks after Hae's disappearance.

I also forgot how abrasive the original defense lawyer was. One of the jurors was interviewed and said that her line of questioning ended up causing some of them to feel sympathy for Jay (the star witness whose story kept changing).

One thing that hit close to home was in one of the last episodes where somebody pointed out the timing with them breaking up right before the holiday break and that he may have reacted poorly once they had to return to school. I went through my first breakup in spring '99 (I was a college freshman, ex was a high school senior and coincidentally Korean) and I still remember acting like I was fine until I had to go home for summer. Obviously never to the point that I wanted to do physical harm, but I just remember being angry for three months.

I started another podcast by Adnan's friend and some other lawyers. They claim that Adnan did have that day documented, mainly that he was seen at the mosque that night but that wasn't entered into evidence until the civil trial. But I fell asleep while listening, so I'll have to check that out later.

 

[John Price]

 

[Brodeur]

Still interested if they have a new suspect in mind. Today's news was that they did DNA testing on Hae's shoes and Adnan's DNA wasn't found. The shoes weren't tested 20+ years ago.

Serial got the ball rolling for sure and got interest in the case. Subsequent findings helped strengthen the argument for Adnan's release. The HBO doc uncovered the class schedule for one of the witnesses. She testified before seeing Adnan with Jay the night that Hae disappeared but she would have been in class, so she likely was off by a day. And there was a typo in the cell phone towers and that evidence was used to show where Adnan (or his phone) was at a particular time.

Out of curiosity I listened to a different podcast which played the raw audio from one of Jay's (the star witness) interrogation and it definitely seemed coached.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Still interested if they have a new suspect in mind. Today's news was that they did DNA testing on Hae's shoes and Adnan's DNA wasn't found. The shoes weren't tested 20+ years ago.

Serial got the ball rolling for sure and got interest in the case. Subsequent findings helped strengthen the argument for Adnan's release. The HBO doc uncovered the class schedule for one of the witnesses. She testified before seeing Adnan with Jay the night that Hae disappeared but she would have been in class, so she likely was off by a day. And there was a typo in the cell phone towers and that evidence was used to show where Adnan (or his phone) was at a particular time.

Out of curiosity I listened to a different podcast which played the raw audio from one of Jay's (the star witness) interrogation and it definitely seemed coached.

It's been quite some time since I listened to Serial or other information regarding Adnan's case, but I always found Jay's account sketchy every time I heard him or accounts of his behavior.

 

[TD Charlie]

Binged that podcast on my drive down to Florida 2 months ago. I don't remember details other than how frustrating it was that nobody knew shit and everybody was either a jackass or played dumb, and also something about how everyone was borrowing cars and cell phones like it wasn't a big deal back then?

 

[Brodeur]

Binged that podcast on my drive down to Florida 2 months ago. I don't remember details other than how frustrating it was that nobody knew shit and everybody was either a jackass or played dumb, and also something about how everyone was borrowing cars and cell phones like it wasn't a big deal back then?

Since I was the same age as most of the people involved, a lot of the story was like a weird trip down memory lane. Lending a car doesn't seem that odd in theory, but it does seem odd that Adnan would lend it out to somebody who he didn't consider a close friend.

Although the supposed reason made a little sense in that Jay was dating one of Adnan's best friends and it was her birthday the next day. So Jay would have needed to borrow a car to get a gift at the mall. I didn't get my license until sophomore year of college, so I can remember the limitations of not having a car as a teenager. Now I'm having flashbacks to 1999 when I had to coordinate a couple car rides and a train ride to get back home to take my girlfriend to prom.

Even up to 2001-02, I would loan out my cell phone to friends to make calls. Although I don't think I would have loaned it for hours at a time. I think there was one thought that Adnan had left the cell phone in the car rather than him actively giving the phone to Jay.

The inherent problem, especially back before everybody had cell phones and/or documented their day-to-day lives, was that many of the witnesses were interviewed weeks after Hae initially went missing.

In recent years, a couple witness stories got debunked. One classmate was adamant that she saw Hae at a certain time after school and was upset when she no-showed the wrestling match that night (Hae was supposed to show her how to keep score). But it was noted that Hae was supposed to be working at Lenscrafters that night, so that witness was likely off by a week.

Another witness placed Adnan with Jay the night of the disappearance but HBO dug up her class schedule and she was supposed to be in class that night. By her own admission, attendance was mandatory or else she wouldn't have passed. So her memory was probably off by a day or two.

The original defense attorney didn't use a potential alibi witness who said she talked with Adnan at the library adjacent to the school when the state contends the murder would have occurred.

Jay remains the enigma. Apparently he was on parole when the police brought him in, so that would have been his motivation to 'cooperate' by implicating Adnan in exchange for a lighter sentence for his drug possession. But he did seem to know some details (Hae's clothing, location of her car, damage to the windshield handle) that weren't public knowledge. Although some think he could have been coached up. Mix in that his story kept changing over time.