SERIAL EPISODE 6: THE CASE AGAINST ADNAN SYED
Episode six of the Serial podcast, Episode 6: The Case Against Adnan Syed, features exactly what it sounds like: evidence used by the prosecution against Adnan Syed involving the murder of Hae Min Lee. Adnan was convicted of murder, and was handed down a life sentence, plus an additional 30 years in prison. However, as shown by Sarah Koenig, the evidence used to convict Adnan was quite inadequate. Koenig had already disproved the idea of the state’s timeline during the day of the alleged murder, and her investigation into the credibility of the evidence does not end there. When researching this episode, instead of simply bringing up the state’s argument little by little, Koenig tackles major inconsistencies in the evidence used by the prosecution. We will bring this evidence to bear for the class today.
Koenig’s first piece of evidence that she chooses to bring up is an atlas of the area in question that was found in the back of Hae’s car. This atlas had a palm print of Adnan’s on it, and the page that showed the park where Hae’s body was found had been ripped out. Now, on the surface, this may seem bad for Adnan. However, the print was found on the back cover, and none were found on the page itself. The page also showed just about everywhere else they went, which would mean that either it did not play a role in what Adnan had done, or that he did not have access to the page with Leakin park as it was removed from the book before he accessed it. The resulting new information allows it to be seen that the evidence was not actually incriminating Adnan.
One of the main eyewitnesses needed to incriminate Adnan was highly untrustworthy due to where he sourced his info. The witness was explored further during this episode, exposing how shaky and untrustworthy he was. The witness named Dave, who’s account came from a thrice removed perspective, supplied possible information a few months after Adnan's imprisonment allowing more suspision to be placed on Adnan.. Dave has a child who was possibly friends with Jay. It is assumed that Dave received information from his child who received information from Jay. However, Dave’s child says that he did not have any information, which possibly means that he doesn’t trust the cops, or more likely, Jay was trying to plant information that he could use on other people. Dave’s child refused to say the information as they would have been required to sign a document confirming that they were saying the truth, incriminating them in the process.
Discussion Questions:
1. Now that all the evidence has been shown, do you think that the state had enough to convict him and if not why do you think they did anyways?
2. What are your own opinions about the case now that the evidence has been put in a new light?
3. What do you make of the situation with Laura and the Neighbor Boy?
1. I do not believe that the state had enough to convict Adnan. The state simply needed someone to blame for murder. It is a murder, someone has to be punished for it. The state was given an inch of evidence and made it a mile. They cherry picked imformation, ignored other information, and changed their view on him all at the same time.
ReplyDelete2. I think that the case is still flimsy. It is very obvious that the state just needed someone to blame and Adnan just kind of fell into their hands. I do not like how the case has been handled.
3. The situation is definitely strange. It is odd that Adnan would advertise the dead body to people. That is begging to get caught. Also, the neighbor boy seems untrustworthy. Maybe the neighbor boy caught wind of the situation and just wanted some attention. It is just one more thing that does not fit in the time line.
1.) The state did not have enough to convict Adnan. They had enough to speculate for sure, but there was not enough to prove his guilt without doubt.
ReplyDelete2.) I think that there was too much circumstantial evidence for a conviction to occur. Everything could be debated to help either side, and there isn't enough truly damning evidence.
3.) I think the situation with Laura and the neighbor boy is irrelevent. He sounds like a compulsive liar, and probably just tried to insert himself into the story to impress Laura.
1. I still don't think the prosecution had enough information to convict Adnan but they convicted him anyways because he seemed to be the only suspect.
ReplyDelete2. The evidence from this episode didn't really change my opinion about the case though I do think the different portrayal of the evidence is interesting. I still don't think the prosecution had enough information to convict Adnan even with the new evidence.
3. I didn't really think much of Laura and the neighbor boy when I heard about them in the podcast. Adnan had already been in prison for several months and the neighbor didn't even know Adnan. Also, since the neighbor boy is rumored to be so untrustworthy, why would Adnan show HIM (of all people) the body? It doesn't make sense to me.
1. I do not think that the state had enough information to convict Adnan because the evidence that they have is only information that makes him look suspicious. Nothing, besides Jay's unreliable testimony, shows that Adnan actually killed Hae. However, I think Adnan was convicted because his defense was terrible.
ReplyDelete2. I think that this was an unfair case and I think that if it were tried today and if Adnan had a better defense attorney then he would have a much better chance of winning. I do not think that the state could prove beyond a doubt that he is guilty because no one besides Jay saw Adnan with Hae's dead body and there is no proof that Adnan was in Leakin Park. Even the cell tower information could just prove that he was in a neighborhood near the park.
3. I think that Neighbor Boy heard about the case and told the story to Laura to impress her. I think he acted like he was telling it from Jay's point of view to make the story more interesting, and Laura believed him and told her dad. Neighbor Boy is embarrassed about this, which is why he lies about it later.
1. No. It is my opinion that the prosecution had no concrete evidence and was relying to an extreme degree on circumstancial evidence.
ReplyDelete2. My opinions have not changed. I do not believe that there is currently enough evidence to convict anybody of this crime, and most certainly not Adnan. This did illustrate the absurdity of both the prosecution and the defense’s cases.
3. I have no opinion as to what happened. I would say howveere, that given hormonal teenage boys doing hormonal teenage things makes me feel that it was probably to impress somebody.
1. The prosecution's case was very weak only based on hearsay and speculation. They did not have enough physical evidence to convict him They probably only convicted him so they could have someone to blame.
ReplyDelete2. As new evidence come to light, the prosecution's case becomes weaker. The Asia affidavit makes their entire case irrelevant, because there was a witness who claimed they saw Adnan at the time of the murder.
3. I do not think that Laura and the Neighbor Boy are important. I think that the Neighbor Boy heard about the case and wanted to be involved. Like Hailey said in class, the Neighbor Boy probably just wanted to impress Laura.
1. No, I don't think that they had enough evidence to convict (almost all of their evidence was based on speculation. I think they convicted him due to a flawed perspective on the case (argue to prove the innocent guilty, not to prove the guilty innocent) in addition to Adnan's faulty lawyer and other unfortunate circumstances.
ReplyDelete2. In complete honesty, I don't know... I am leaning towards Adnan's innocence a bit since there certainly isn't enough evidence to convict. However, there are holes in Adnan's potential alibi and there isn't exactly enough evidence to prove his innocence either. I guess we'll see how things develop further.
3. I think that Neighbor Boy was trying to impress people by making up silly stories. From personal experience, there are a lot of young people who will tell a lie if they think it will make them popular or seem more interesting to others.
1) I think that in a way the State had enough evidence. While I would have definitely liked it more clear cut, such as DNA or fingerprints on Hae's clothing, they still did have evidence. The state was able to prove that Adnan's cell was at leakin park at the time of the burying of Hae's body, and the Nisha call is very damning. The Nisha call puts him with Jay and with his phone at a time he claims to be away from each of them. This shows Adnan to be lying about that day and further disproves his already flimsy alibi.
ReplyDelete2) I now understand how the Prosecution was able to get the Jury to convict Adnan. With new evidence such as the Nisha call and more instances of the unreliability of Adnan's stories, coupled with the lack luster defense of Adnan the fact that he was deemed guilty is nolonger all that surprising.
3) I think that either one or both of them were lying. The neighbor boy probably heard about the case from the trial and was trying to impress Laura by saying that he say a body. Laura might have confused some things and made up a story that her dad then talked about to the police. Evidence of this is the fact that the neighbor guy is not the guy you would tell important information to.
1. I do not think the state had enough evidence to convict Adnan. The only reason the state won was because of the weak defense for Adnan. The defense did not call any witnesses and Adnan could not recall the day whereas the prosecution had a witness and the cell towers.
ReplyDelete2. Although I do not think Adnan is guilty, the case presented was extremely bad. If Adnan had hired a better lawyer, he would have won.
3. I think that Laura is connected with the case. She took the blame away from herself and pointed all the attention towards the neighbor boy. Laura definitely has a connection with Jay and the murder of Hae and in my opinion, she is extremely suspicious.
1. I firmly believe that there was not enough evidence to convict Adnan. I think they convicted him because he was an easy choice and suspect, and they didn't put the effort in to find someone better fitting it.
ReplyDelete2. The prosecution is still badly put together, but Adnan's case also took some hits. Overall I don't think this trial should have started, the investigation should have continued for much longer.
3. Laura and the Neighbor Boy does not make much sense. NB says none of it happened, but Laura was adamant, so I do not know what to believe. I think that NB might have done it for attention, I don't think it really affects the trial
1. Now that all the evidence has been shown, do you think that the state had enough to convict him and if not why do you think they did anyways?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that the state had even close to enough evidence to convict Adnan of the crime of murdering Hae. First, a single eye-witness(Jay) is not a reliable enough source of information. Second, The phone phone records could be inaccurate, or just wrong.
2. What are your own opinions about the case now that the evidence has been put in a new light?
My opinion about the case is the same as it has always been. I still believe that Adnan is innocent and that Jay is guilty of killing Hae. The evidence given is not enough to change my mind.
3. What do you make of the situation with Laura and the Neighbor Boy?
I think that the Neighbor is lying to Laura. As to the reason why? I believe that the neighbor boy was trying to impress Laura.
1. Now that all the evidence has been shown, do you think that the state had enough to convict him and if not why do you think they did anyways?
ReplyDeleteEven with all the evidence presented before the jury I do not think they had enough to convict him. When dealing with a man's fate in cases like this they need beyond a shadow of doubt to convict him, and the word of his drug dealer and a few cellphone record times are not enough even if the defense was lacking in any legitamate defense. I think the jury convicted him because somebody was responsible for the murder and he was the closest they had to a murderer and its hard to believe somebodies innocense when they are the only suspect.
2. What are your own opinions about the case now that the evidence has been put in a new light?
As I said in question my opinion on the case is that there was not enough to convict him, however that by no means makes me think he was completely innocent. There are a lot of mysteries on both sides and as it is only Jay and Adnan know their truths.
3. What do you make of the situation with Laura and the Neighbor Boy?
I think its all balogna. Some people are that eager for attention and rumors. The whole situation is just nonsensical. I think the neighbor boy made it up, and Laura believed him
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