Serial, Episode 1: The Alibi
In Episode 1 of the Serial podcast, "The Alibi," Sarah Koenig begins with an important question, "How do you account for your time?" Could you remember every person you spoke with, what you did, and where you went (at what time) from a week ago? Six weeks ago?
In fact, let's try it.
Spend five minutes writing down your entire day this day last week (Monday, January 22, 2018). Who did you speak with? What did you do? Detail as much as you can remember and see how much or how far you got. If there are people you hung out with in this very room, once you are done, compare notes and see if you have the same timeline as them.
In the comments section below, describe what you learned about your memory, how accurate it is, and where things become a little less clear.
Now a summary of events....
On January 13, 1999, Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, disappeared. On February 9th of that same year, her body was found in a shallow grave. In fact, here's a little video footage you can see of Hae Min her senior year, available on YouTube:
Adnan Syed, Hae's ex-boyfriend, was "the community's golden child. He was an honor roll student, volunteer EMT [. . . ] on the football team, star runner, on the track team, he was Homecoming King. He lead prayers at the mosque.
Different versions of the story are recounted in this episode. The first includes the story used by the prosecution (see below), the second includes one by a friend of Adnan's, Jay, and the third is Adnan's himself.
Version 1:
Adnan took Hae to the junior prom, but he wasn't supposed to be dating. Because Adnan's parents are conservative muslims, they believed in no drinking, no smoking, and no girls. Significantly, Adnan is described as a regular teenage boy who was still going to do "what teenagers do, so long as [he] didn't get caught."
As a result, Adnan kept his relationship with Hae a secret. Koenig states, "The State used this against him in two ways. First, they argued, he [Adnan] put everything on the line: his family, his relationships with the mosque, to run around with this girl, so that when she broke up with him eight months later, he was left with nothing, and he was outraged. He couldn't take it, and he killed her."
Koenig continues, "The second way they used it, they said, 'look at what a liar he [Adnan] is, how duplicitous. He plays the good muslim son at home and at the mosque, but look what he was up to."
"Up to," according to prosecutors, was Adnan's secret habits of drinking, smoking, and hanging out with girls. If he lied about what he was doing, surely he would lie about what happened to Hae.
However, Koenig makes a point to highlight Adnan's age, culture, and background, arguing that if Adnan was guilty of anything, he was guilty of being a normal teenager with immigrant parents. This line of thinking makes a ton of sense as Koenig interviews other Muslim-American, first-generation children who did go to dances like Home Coming and Prom, but their families didn't know about (the dances were mixed-gender, which went against their families' conservative values).
As for physical evidence, there was none, just some fingerprints in Hae's car, which Adnan had been in a number of times. So, no DNA, no weapons, just fingerprints in a car.
As for witnesses, Koenig introduces a man named "Jay." Jay was one of Adnan's mutual friends and had known him since middle school.
For version 2 (Jay's story) and version 3 (Adnan's), see your handout.
Discussion Questions:
1) Why do you think the prosecution had such a strong case?
2) What role does race play in the Adnan Syed's case?
3) How do you think the case would be different if it were to take place today?
1. First, I don't think that the prosecution had a strong case at all. They based almost all of their case on the eyewitness account of person who might not have been reliable. However, the one of the strengths of the prosecution case is that they do have an eyewitness. It might sound like I'm contradicting myself, but what I mean is that even though they do not have many eyewitnesses, they do have one who claims that they can vouch for Adnan's murderous intent. Additionally, the prosecution's idea of how the murder happened was quite sensational. They painted it as an angry ex-boyfriend killed his girlfriend after she betrayed him. This story may have helped appeal to the jury as well.
ReplyDelete2. I think that race a significant role in his case. The basis of the prosecution's argument was that Adnan had to betray his entire culture to go out with Hae. Muslim culture bans sex before marriage, dances, smoking weed, and dating people. The prosecution argued that his guilt over dating Hae and betraying his family combined with Hae's rejection led to his drive to murder. If Adnan had not been Muslim, then the prosecution would have had to come up with a different argument for why he killed her.
3. I'd like to hope that if the case was played out in the modern day the defense would be more thorough and make sure to follow up on leads like Asia McLean. The real changes for the case would be in the technology used. The cell phones would probably have more thorough record of the calls that Adnan made. Additionally, with the rise of social media, it would be easier for the teenagers to account for their time. There would also be more security cameras around, so maybe the killer would be caught on tape. Overall, I feel like if the case had happened in modern day, the facts might be a little clearer due to the advancement of technology.
The memory exercise was fairly easy. Like I said in class, the day was memorable, because I spent most of the morning with Margaret and English. I spent the afternoon working on my poster for J-term exhibitions and participating in a murder mystery in Mrs. Perez's apartment. Additionally, that evening was the first night of UMPI band rehearsal which was quite memorable. Overall, because the day was a Penguin Day, it was quite memorable. I think that knowing who I interacted with that day helped as well. Margaret helped remind me of memories that I had forgotten which improved my memory significantly.
DeleteI learned that it is easy to confuse days and had I not done something out of the ordinary that day, I would not have remembered anything specific. My memory is very specific because of the training but when I had the days confused, everything was very general.
ReplyDelete1. The prosecution had such a strong case because of the notion that he could not just be a normal teenager. He was a murderer in their eyes and that affected how they saw everything. The evidence could be twisted around incredibly easily. They were able to make him having a girlfriend into him being a sneaky liar. They trusted one person's word and ran with it. It was not the strongest case on either side, but because the information could be twisted, the prosecutors case was stronger.
2. So far, race has played a large role. He is not white and he is muslim and that is enough justification to put him in prison for a lot of people. A large part of the first episode was explaining how Adnan was not supposed to do a lot of things that he had been doing. If the prosecution thought he was guilty for doing what he had been doing then suddenly there is a motivation rooted in being a muslim with immigrant parents.
3. If the case happened today, then proving that he murdered her would be difficult due to the lack of physical evidence. On the other hand, the better technology would provide better evidence which would have helped him greatly or made his situation much worse. The development of better security camera/logs would help to prove if he was in the library. A better grasp on cell phones would have made it easier to see who he was talking to, or if he was texting anyone.
Memory Exercise:
ReplyDeleteThe memory game/exercise was really interesting. For me it really hit the podcasts point about how hard it is to recall the events of weeks ago. That Monday was a penguin day and ski meet so I was able to remember those things after a while and from those I remembered a lot more than I would ever have normally. Having other people who I spent that day with around trying to do the same also helped.
2) What role does race play in the Adnan Syed's case?
3) How do you think the case would be different if it were to take place today?
#1
I think the prosecution had such a strong case mainly because the defense had such a week case. From the one episode we have listened to, it seems that it was the word of Jay against Adnan's and Asia's and the defense attorney must have really flubbed the case if the jury was able to find Adnan without a shadow of a doubt guilty of murder. There seems to have been possible means, but the motive is completely stretched.
#2
I think race might have played a role in the trial. The prosecution painted a picture of teenage rule breaker and liar who if capable of defying his Islamic communities rules and expectations was also capable of murder. Additionally it is possible there was prejudice in the community but I doubt that that was a big factor by the stories of him being prom king, EMT, and an over all valued member of the entire community.
#3
I think the case would very much be different today. I wont be as arrogant to say my generation is an entirely new breed of teenagers and something like this wouldn't happen today. However, as fare as the criminal proceedings I think it would be easier to either prove innocence or guilt. The phone records presented as evidence would today include the substance of those conversations as well as text messages. Additionly, gps phone tracking and the constant digital footprint humans in the real world leave with so many cameras around would provide a lot more evidence in the case as far as motive and means goes.
1. Personally, I did not think that the prosecution had a strong case, and was surprised that the verdict was not only guilty but that the verdict was found after only hours of deliberation. However, I can see why some would think that Adnan is guilty. First of all, the state had a witness, Jay, that said exactly what happened on January 13th. He described all of the details and the times that everything happened and seemed to have evidence, such as phone records, to back him up. Furthermore, there was no evidence to prove Jay's story false. Adnan could not remember the events of that day, and he had no alibi in court. Lastly, Adnan had a past of lying, and although his actions could be seen as the actions of a typical teenager, some could believe that he was a lying and manipulative young man. Therefore, Adnan had no alibi or other story about what he had been doing the day Hae was killed, the prosecution had a witness to testify that Adnan had killed Hae, and Adnan not only could have a possibly motive to kill his ex-girlfriend but he had lied in the past, making him untrustworthy.
ReplyDelete2. Race has played an important role in this case because part of the prosecution's case was based on Adnan not being a trustworthy or credible person. The state was able to prove that Adnan could not be trusted by explaining that he lied about his behavior to his parents. Since he is Muslim, he was not supposed to drink, smoke, or have sex. However, he disobeyed his religion, lied to his parents, and did these things, possibly showing that he is untrustworthy. Race is a key component to this element of the prosecution's case because if Adnan were not Muslim, then they would not be able to say that his behavior is different then that of any other teenage boy.
3. I think that this case would be different if it had happened today because there would be more evidence available. For example, most schools today have more cameras around, so there would probably be footage of Adnan leaving the school. There would also probably be video camera footage from the Best Buy parking lot where Jay claimed to have seen Hae's dead body for the first time. The library would not have gotten rid of their camera footage as easily, and there would probably have been some online record of Adnan going on the computer. If not all of these things, at least one would probably be available. There is also the possibility that the autoposy could have shown more detail because the medical field technology has expanded a lot in the past 20 years. Lastly, I think that the trial might have gone differently because the prosecution would have had a harder time using the racial part of their case in court.
Memory exercise: I thought this exercise was really cool. I agreed with Koenig that remembering details from weeks ago was difficult, but this idea was truly brought to life when I had a difficult time remembering everything from only a week ago, especially when that day was a Penguin Day, which is something significant. It proved to me how hard it must be for people to try to remember exactly what they were doing and exactly what time they were doing it at, especially if the things that were happening were of little importance. For example, Asia remembering Adnan seems odd to me now because I have a hard time remembering the people at the Key Club meeting, and that was only a week ago. I remembered the general things about my day, such as my ski meet, my relaxing morning in bed, and the Student Senate Burger Night, but I had a large gap of time in my memory between after my ski meet and the burger night. It wasn't until talking to Amanda that I realized that I worked on my internship presentation for about an hour and then went to a Key Club meeting.
Delete1) First of all, I don't believe that their case was all that strong... It relied almost entirely on the account of a single witness, with the only other "significant" evidence being weak fingerprint samples from Hae Min Lee's car. However, Jay's account of the murder was extremely detailed and exhibited Adnan to possess a powerful murderous intent. I believe that murderous intent (along with Jay's brutally detailed descriptions) is what truly lead to the Adnan's eventual conviction.
ReplyDelete2) Within the case, Adnan was portrayed as untrustworthy since he drank, smoked, and was sexual active (which were all activities that were forbidden by his parents). Many teenagers engage in similar activities, so why was this such a large appeal within the prosecutor's case? Some people, including Adnan's mother, believe that this appeal's success can be partially attributed to race. Adnan, being a Muslim with immigrant parents, could have easily faced racism within the courtroom when he was convicted. Although the case occurred prior to 9/11, Muslim community members still faced bias regarding their race and religious practices.
3) I think that the jury would have required more evidence before convicting a teenage boy of murder. There would also be significantly more evidence available through cameras, computers, location tracking, and text/phone records. Race may still be an issue, but hopefully the court system has been more selective in terms of jury duty candidates.
Memory Exercise: Due to the penguin day, it was much easier to recall the events of last Monday. First, I hung out with Grace and Taylor in the dorms, then we went to brunch together. After brunch, I spent my afternoon hanging out with Silva (playing games and such) and joining in on a Murder Mystery event in Mrs. Perez's apartment. We also went down to Mikes and made burgers [right before Senate held their burger night; I remember because they accidentally used our burger buns :( ]. It was a fun day.
Delete1). I did not think the prosecution had a strong case. I personally feel like the only reason the prosecution won was because the defense's argument was extremely weak. With Jay's detailed recount of the day in comparison to the defense who had no witnesses and Adnan's attempt at remembering, there is no way to not side with the side that had a witness. The lack of evidence was on both sides, but the fact that the prosecution had a witness who remembered so much, they had a stronger case.
ReplyDelete2). I personally did not hear much biases towards race in the podcast. I did not hear any mention of color or the region his family originated from. However, there was a lot of mentions on the fact that he was Muslim. The role of Adnan's religion was very significant in the trial as the prosecution was trying to portray him in a negative manner. They used Adnan's parents' beliefs in efforts to show how he was a rebellious and reckless teenager who had killed his ex-girlfriend out of rage. That helped the prosecution a lot in trial since he was a teenager who often disobeyed his parents.
3). I feel like this case would be less flawed if it were in the present. Just by the activity we had in class today, it was shown that by looking at photos or schedules can help a person recount the activities of a day. There would probably also be more footage around and pictures taken at different times to prove what he was doing at a certain time. I would also hope that court nowadays will require more evidence besides one witness before convicting a potentially innocent person.
Memory Exercise: I learned that I have an incredibly strong memory for the days where major events happened and the rest of the details of the day will unravel. I learned that I can remember anything that I thought was weird that day and anytime that I had to spend time with people. I do think though, that it is more accurate than other days since I had NAMI training with so many others for 8 hours with specific people. I remember the people that I normally don't encounter but I do not remember what close friends I talked to. My memory gets less clear when I try to remember what meals I ate and what I did in between event and after in-wing. Those events are so normal to me that I cannot remember at all.
DeleteDISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
ReplyDelete1. I think the prosecution had such a strong case not because of their own evidence, but because of the defense's lack of evidence. Jay's story was about the only strong piece of evidence they had against Adnan, Adnan didn't have proof that it wasn't true. Since Adnan couldn't clearly remember his day and few others could come close to providing him an alibi for the time of the murder, it was Adnan's word against Jay's which the prosecution used to their advantage.
2. Just from listening to the first two episodes, I think race played very little, if any, role in Adnan's case. Adnan and Hae both have immigrant parents and are minorities which did play a role in the case because it was major evidence of the dynamic of their relationship (they had to hide the relationship from their families). I don't believe that their race mattered much in the case outside of the discussion of the dynamic between their families.
3. Contrary to my answer in question two, I think that if the case were to take place today, race would play a HUGE role in Adnan's case. Today, America's court system is under constant criticism and scrutiny when race is involved - if a white cop shoots a black man, the cop is assumed racist and bigoted and must fight to prove his side of the story. For this reason, I imagine that were the case to take place today, that Adnan's lawyer would have brought his race into the picture saying something along the lines of "You are only accusing Adnan of this crime because he is muslim."
MEMORY EXERCISE: What I took away from the memory exercise we did in class today was that we remember much more than we think we do. Once we get into it and start remembering one thing, the rest comes easier and faster to us. In the first episode of the podcast, the author points out that we are more appt to remember things if something important happened that day (a birthday, a big test, etc.). On the day we were trying to remember, I spent the whole day doing NAMI Maine training so I remembered it more just because it wasn't my average day.
The memory exercise was very weird. When I was thinking, I could even think of the exact channel/video that I watched. My memory has always worked like this however; I always remember random things. It also got easier as I went on.
ReplyDelete1. I do not think they had a strong case at all. They had one eyewitness who was constantly changing his story, and some things that they assumed about his race. The so-called murderous rage did not seen to appear, and I thought that there was no way that they had proven him guilty.
2. I think race played a huge role in his case. Most of their case was based on the fact that, as a man with immigrant parents, he was risking everything for Hae, so when she broke up with him he freaked out. If he had been a normal teenager, they would have probably not had as strong an argument.
3. I think it would have played a factor, but not as large a factor. It would still be a point, but it is now clear that people with mental health issues would often show it, and risking everything and all of that has not really been as affective these days. It is not as big of a deal, and I think he would have been acquitted today.
1. As many other people said, the persecution really did not have a strong case in any sense. However, as we know, they ultimately won the case. I believe this to be because of the weakness of the defense. The persecution had essentially NO physical evidence and based off of what was presented the case seemed pretty cut and dry for the defense. However, it seemed as if they had a bad lawyer and a run of bad luck. Between Asia's statements and Adnan not being able to remember where he was, there seemed to be no solid evidence for the defense to stand on. Essentially, the persecution did not have a strong case, but it seemed relatively strong based off the defense's failure to present what seemed to be a reasonable defense.
ReplyDelete2. Race clearly played a huge factor in this case. As we know, people can carry heavy prejudices against Muslims, even more so in 1999. This prejudice certainly could have played into the judge or jury's opinion and swayed the case towards the persecutors. That being said, if we completely ignore the aspect of overt racism, Adnan's race still played a role in the case. The fact that he had conservative Muslim values formed a base of the persecutions case that he lost everything by losing his relationship. Ignoring the fallacies in this argument, it is clear his race formed a great deal of the persecutions presentation.
3. If the case were to have arisen today, things possibly could have played out differently. I would certainly hope that such a lack of evidence would make the case admissible, but it is unlikely our judicial system has improved a great deal since then. Instead, the main difference would be media and how it is today. Today, if mainstream news picks up a story it can easily make a verdict before any evidence is presented. If Adnan had been accused it is very likely that the news would have condemned him nationwide, although it is also possible that the news would have declared him innocent. Either way, media would play a bigger role today.
What I got from the memory exercise was that remembering events can be difficult and seemingly random. That is to say that some days we can remember clearly depending on what happened, and others might just slip away. I certainly had trouble remembering many specifics and it was only a week ago. Being asked what happened on a random day months ago would certainly be a difficult task for me at least. I think it shed more light on Adnan's situation than I thought it would.
Delete1) The prosecution had such a strong case due to a couple factors. One of which, and possibly the most important one, is Adnan's complete lack of an alibi in comparison to Jay's story which while not the best evidence was the only evidence. In addition to that the prosecutors had the ability to take things that seemed normal but when taken with the assumption that Adnan was the murderer, filled a lot of missing holes in the story of Hae's murder. This coupled with the abysmal representation that Adnan received from his council but Adnan in a situation where he was almost guaranteed to loose his case.
ReplyDelete2) I think that race did not play too large of a factor. From the podcast it would seem that it was how he rebelled against his cultural ideals as a Muslim that was used against him. While I won't dismiss the very real possibility that race did factor into the verdict I personally don't think that it made too much of a difference, after all not every time a man of color is convicted it is because of prejudice. To me the prosecution seemed more focused on showing how he was disobeying his parents and betraying their beliefs than saying that those beliefs were what made him likely to kill Hae.
3) If the case took place today Adnan's cellphone would have been used to track his whereabouts and better records possibly would have been taken of him, such as the library having a better security camera with more storage, or photos of him or texts from him at track practice. But even then that might not have helped as shown with the exercise today even with all our technology it can be hard to prove you were anywhere at specific times.
MEMORY EXERCISE
This exercise shows how hard it can be to remember specifics from the past. I know that I personally have problems remembering things that happened yesterday let alone weeks ago. I barely remembered what I did a week ago on a day off of all things. If I was asked about my whereabouts weeks ago at a specific time I wouldn't be able to give anything other than my class schedule.
memory exercise: I didn't do that great on the memory exercise. Not only did I have wrong information down, but I forgot about the NAMI maine mental health course that i took for 7 hours that day. My passive memory isn't that great, So that may have lead to the complete failure to recall that day.
ReplyDelete1) Why do you think the prosecution had such a strong case?
The prosecution didn't have a strong case. The only thing that the prosecution had against him was the story of his ex-friend, Jay. Jay could have been lying, however there was nothing standing against his witnessing of the "crime".
2) What role does race play in the Adnan Syed's case?
From what I have seen thus far, and looking at when this took place, I don't believe that race had a role in this case. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, muslims weren't the target of many hate-crimes. Since this case took place before those attacks, and the lack of mention of race in the podcast so far, I don't see how race played a role in this case.
3) How do you think the case would be different if it were to take place today?
I think the might have been a lot different. First of all, the defence attorney for Adnan would have worked much harder to protect his client, and the court wouldn't' allow the jury to come to a decision based off of the recollection of a single man.
1.) I don't believe that the prosecution had a strong case at all. I believe that if this case was to go to court today, with the same amount of evidence available to the prosecution, that it would have resulted in a life sentence. The absolute lack of physical evidence suggests to me that there most likely was an ulterior motive to his sentencing, and the shakiness and reliability that most of the people testifying displayed did not seem to add up to a conviction to me.
ReplyDelete2.) While I would like to believe that race played little or no role in this case, that seems unlikely. The way that the state used his culture against him was quite rude to both him and his family. The state portrayed Adnan as a liar and an irresponsible teen who didn't care about the feeling or wishes of his family. However, after listening to the podcast , it is clear that that is not true at all. Adnan did what all other teens are apt to do and lived a normal life. I don't believe that race played any other role than that of being used as a way to paint him as a liar.
3.) This case would be astronomically different if it were to happen today. It would be over in a matter of days, and there would be a definitive answer. Due to the increased amount of cameras, DNA testing, and the many other improvements to forensic science, shortly after Hae's body was found the case would have been solved. Not only that, the defense lawyer's would be required to be much more competent, as the case would be much more publicized and thus have a higher chance of affecting their job.
Memory Exercise:
This exercise drove home the point that Koenig makes about remembering things that took place a long time ago, but also the point she makes about remembering dates if significant events took place on that day. For example, at the beginning of the activity I was only able to remember meals and playing video games, but after a couple minutes of thinking and conversing I was able to draw up a specific timeline of events, up to incredibly specific events such as amanda breaking my 20 dollar bill using the extra change from burger night.
1. I don’t believe the prosecution had a strong case. The prosecution based a major conviction on the fact that he had lied as a kid. That because he smoked, spelt with women, and lied to his parents, he was untrustworthy. While this could be used for a less extreme case, this doesn’t support the fact that he is untrustworthy, it shows that he was an oppressed teenager. All of their evidence was circumstantial at best. With no physical evidence, the prosecutions case was not, here is how we know he was at the site of the crime, but since no one saw him he MUST have been at the site of the crime. In today’s court, to sentence someone to life in prison, the prosecution would need much more than circumstantial evidence. Especially when threatening taking the life of a teenager.
ReplyDelete2. I believe that race plays a definite role in Adnan’s case, but not to a major extent. The murder of Hae Min Lee and the trial in which Adnan was convicted took place in 1999, 2 years before the attack on the twin towers, the time of increased hate crimes and discrimination towards Muslims. While this is true, it doesn’t mean there was NO discrimination against him for his race, but I believe that the most realistic issue would be financially. The biggest issue I could infer would be that of Adnan and his mother being in a lower payed community and not being able to afford a better lawyer that could have defended Adnan better.
3. If the case were to take place today I would hope that the court would have pushed the court or awaited physical evidence that indefinitely placed Adnan at the scene of the crime or that proves the opposite. I would hope that race would not be an issue, either financially or discriminatorily. I think that (just based on the knowledge I know from the first episode) Adnan would not be convicted.
Memory Exercise:
As for the memory exercise, I believe it holds true that if something of substantial importance to you occurs, the day is easier to remember. I remembered the day with a strong overall idea as to the course of events. I spent the day with Jialan, English, and Christian and while I got the over all events, talking with Jialan cleared the day up so I remembered specific details.
Discussion Questions:
ReplyDelete1. I do not think that the prosecution had a strong case at all. No physical evidence, only testimonies from one of the sketchiest people you could ask (Jay) and sparse circumstantial evidence of conversations that may or may not have taken place. At this point in time I cannot think of a reason why they convicted Adnan, but there was likely an ulterior motive. In today's courts the evidence against Adnan would certainly have been considered insufficient.
2. I am hesitant to claim this is a race issue, as this was pre-9/11, and the scared animosity towards Muslims had not taken hold of the country yet. However, that is the only reason I can think of that would explain the results of the investigation.
3. If the case took place today a lot of different things could happen. The fear (and sometimes hatred) of Muslims would certainly affect the trial, but at the same time more time would have been given to the defense, less evidence would be allowed in court, and Adnan probably would have had a much better lawyer. I believe that he would have been proven innocent if the trial took place today.
Memory Exercise:
Thinking back to that monday, I was able to remember almost everything, but that was because it was a penguin day so something important and different happened. The day before that? The only thing I remember was asking whether or not there would be interwing because we didn't have school the next day. If I talked with someone about what I did that day it would probably come back, but on my own I couldn't remember anything.
1. I believe the prosecution had such a strong case because of some stereotypical views on how Islamic children act. Many view them as strictly upheld and because of this it was easy to twist the fact that Adnan had a girlfriend and that he was smoking weed and all this into him secretly being a highly rebellious teen. However, as I also grew up in a highly Islamic household going to Sunday School every week, I have also diverged from Islam and the fact that Adnan had done normal teenage activities does not mean he is an abnormally rebellious teen.
ReplyDelete2. I believe that race played a big role in the case against Adnan. The idea was that Adnan betrayed his entire culture to go out with Hea which showed how he was very rebellious and possible that he would have strayed to killing her. However, Adnan grew up in the USA and was not exposed to Arab culture. He may have been an Arab, but just like me, he was not born with Arab culture in his blood. So while race played a big part against Adnan, it very much should not have due to most of the points being stereotypes about how all Arabs fall under one culture.
3. If the case happened today it could have gone either much worse or much better for Adnan. All of the evidence from witnesses would remain the same, but the ability to log electronic usage and conversations would have either given the defense help or would have hindered them due to support or contradiction to what Adnan said. If the event happened today the result of the trial would be much more definitive than what it is now.
From the memory exercise I learned that it can be surprisingly easy to remember a day if something important happens. Even if it is just one thing, the whole day can be brought into focus.
ReplyDelete1.) The prosecution had such a strong case since a lot of the evidence in Adnan's case was circumstantial. His actions and whereabouts all had plausible explanations in addition to the story that they had come up with. They were then able to use his status as a teenager in a low-class part of town to argue the evidence in their favor. Subsequently, despite having a perfectly valid argument, the defense had difficulty as they were using the same evidence in a lot of cases.
2.) I think that race played a significant role in this case. The largest role it played was on the side of the prosecution. They were able to use the fact that he was Arab to separate him from other teenagers in order to portray him as rebellious and secretive. Normally, his actions of having a girlfriend and going out with friends would be expected of people his age, but the prosecution used his race to argue that this was damning of his involvement in Hae's murder.
3.) Determining how this case would have gone for Adnan today is impossible. This is simply because we do not know for sure if he is or isn't guilty. That said, if this case were to happen today it most certainly would not have been as involved. First and foremost, there would have been cameras everywhere that would have either corroborated his alibi, or proven his guilt assuming that the locations of everything remained (we have to assume that realistically today he would have been more careful with these systems in place). Next, GPS logging of cellular phones is to a point that is is very easy to locate a phone while it is in use. In addition, using the towers it pings to, it's location can be triangulated quite easily. Essentially, this case would have been much simpler and faster as the amount of evidence would be substantial, whether for or against Adnan.