The Murder of Hae Min Lee

Paully D

I wasn't sure where the best place to post this was, so Mods please move it somewhere more suitable if necessary.

Anyway, I've recently being listening to the fascinating 12-part Serial podcast which details the murder of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed's (who was convincted and sentenced to life in prison for her murder) attempt to clear his name and would be interested in hearing your opinions on the case as a whole and/or the podcast if you have listened to it.

I've included a brief description from the website and a link to the podcast below:

http://serialpodcast.org/

On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae's body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t.

Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, first learned about this case more than a year ago. In the months since, she's been sorting through box after box (after box) of legal documents and investigators' notes, listening to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talking to everyone she can find who remembers what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee fifteen years ago. What she realized is that the trial covered up a far more complicated story, which neither the jury nor the public got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence - all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

What do you think yourself?

I'm sure as hell not watching a podcast to find out about this, so give us the executive summary.

PinkLemonade

He did it

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

PinkLemonade wrote: »

He did it

Of course he did.

The Backwards Man

I bet you any money it's not as fascinating as Murder, She Wrote

Sheep Lover

The butler did it

I've listened to three of them, and was under no other impression than that he is guilty.

Menas

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I bet you any money it's not as fascinating as Murder, She Wrote

It always amazes me why people did not shyte themselves when Angela came to visit.
Someone always died when she visited.

I would not let her near the house.

Guy:Incognito

Sheep Lover wrote: »

The butler did it

In the pantry.

Lucas Hood

I think he did it but I don't think there was enough evidence for a conviction and he was screwed over by his lawyer.

Was a brilliant podcast. Looking forward to their next one.

Paully D

Mila Large Stepson wrote: »

What do you think yourself?

I'm sure as hell not watching a podcast to find out about this, so give us the executive summary.

Give it a listen instead then

My own opinion is that I don't know whether he did it or not but that there's more than enough reasonable doubt to acquit him and the evidence presented against him was so messy that I was shocked the prosecution managed to secure a conviction in all honesty.

Verdict - acquittal for me.

Deleted User wrote: »

I've listened to three of them, and was under no other impression than that he is guilty.

Keep going with it. There's numerous developments throughout the series.

The Backwards Man

Menas wrote: »

It always amazes me why people did not shyte themselves when Angela came to visit.
Someone always died when she visited.

I would not let her near the house.

Ah, but if you watch closely, she only ever visits people that don't watch telly. Cute hoor is our Jessica.:P

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

In the pantry.

with the rope.

Paully D

There's some interesting stuff regarding this on the dedicated Reddit forum too for those interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/serialpodcast/

ohnonotgmail

Menas wrote: »

It always amazes me why people did not shyte themselves when Angela came to visit.
Someone always died when she visited.

I would not let her near the house.

Imagine the carnage if she ever went on holiday to Midsomer?

Sir Osis of Liver.

She's one scary bitch alright.

FouxDaFaFa

There's a pretty big thread about it on the podcast forum.

For those who haven't listened to it, it's an absolutely fascinating podcast. I flew through it. I heard about it initially and thought it sounded a bit exploitative or something and wasn't sure if I would be comfortable listening to it but it goes deeper than a typical true crime show.

It makes you question the nature of truth and justice. I personally think Adnan did it but reluctantly believe he should not have been convicted based on the evidence provided, which is an uncomfortable conclusion to come to.

As well as being interesting in that Sarah Koenig regularly talks to Adnan in prison, I think it was interesting to see how real-life events were affected by how popular the podcast became.

Koenig and her team could not have predicted the insane popularity if it. At one point, I believe it was the most downloaded podcast in the world. SNL parodied it. That subreddit mentioned already was full of truly obsessed people who uncovered people from the podcast who had been anonymous. Sarah Koenig's home phone number and address were posted. It got out of hand. It became a story in and of itself.

I am very interested to see what Koenig and the team will do for season 2.

Turtyturd

When you're finished with this OP check out Breaking Bad, it's a little known TV show but I think it's about the catch on.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

I am very interested to see what Koenig and the team will do for season 2.

Bart and Homer go to China and are arrested on drugs charges.

Archeron

Menas wrote: »

It always amazes me why people did not shyte themselves when Angela came to visit.
Someone always died when she visited.

I would not let her near the house.

2% of the population of the town she lived in were murder victims, I remember hearing that somewhere.

Paully D

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

There's a pretty big thread about it on the podcast forum.

For those who haven't listened to it, it's an absolutely fascinating podcast. I flew through it. I heard about it initially and thought it sounded a bit exploitative or something and wasn't sure if I would be comfortable listening to it but it goes deeper than a typical true crime show.

It makes you question the nature of truth and justice. I personally think Adnan did it but reluctantly believe he should not have been convicted based on the evidence provided, which is an uncomfortable conclusion to come to.

As well as being interesting in that Sarah Koenig regularly talks to Adnan in prison, I think it was interesting to see how real-life events were affected by how popular the podcast became.

Koenig and her team could not have predicted the insane popularity if it. At one point, I believe it was the most downloaded podcast in the world. SNL parodied it. That subreddit mentioned already was full of truly obsessed people who uncovered people from the podcast who had been anonymous. Sarah Koenig's home phone number and address were posted. It got out of hand. It became a story in and of itself.

I am very interested to see what Koenig and the team will do for season 2.

Man, I never realised just how popular it was! Here was me thinking I had stumbled upon some cracking podcast that not many people would have heard of, yet now I see it's one of the most popular in the world and has been covered virtually everywhere. :pac: I must have been living under a rock last year when it was released :eek:

Thanks for the link to the podcast forum, I'll be sure to check it out.

Turtyturd

Paully D wrote: »

Man, I never realised just how popular it was! Here was me thinking I had stumbled upon some cracking podcast that not many people would have heard of, yet now I see it's one of the most popular in the world and has been covered virtually everywhere. :pac: I must have been living under a rock last year when it was released :eek:

Thanks for the link to the podcast forum, I'll be sure to check it out.

There's also the 'Undisclosed' podcast if you wanna go into it a bit more, which goes into Adnan's side in a lot more detail, and talks about his appeal...obviously biased though.

Paully D

Turtyturd wrote: »

There's also the 'Undisclosed' podcast if you wanna go into it a bit more, which goes into Adnan's side in a lot more detail, and talks about his appeal...obviously biased though.

I was going to avoid Undisclosed due to the obvious bias but a few people have recommended that I give it a go anyway. I'll download it now. Cheers.

The Guardian review puts me off a bit however:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/may/14/undisclosed-serial-sarah-koenig-adnan-syed

Paully D

If anyone's interested, Adnan's appeal to argue the testimony and evidence left out of the original trial has been granted!

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...e-reopens-case

Adnan Syed will have the chance to argue his case in court, a Maryland judge has ruled, in a victory for the man in prison for murder whose story was told by the record-breaking podcast.

Judge Martin P Welch ordered Syed’s case reopened on Friday, after considering his petition to include the testimony and evidence left out of his original trials. Syed was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, while the pair were in high school in Baltimore. The investigation into her murder in 1999 and Syed’s subsequent trial gained national attention in the popular podcast Serial last year.

Going beyond Syed’s simple request to consider his case, Welch ordered an appeals court to consider testimony from Asia McClain, who claimed to have seen him around the time of Lee’s disappearance, but whose account was never brought before the court by Syed’s lawyer at the time. Welch also granted Syed’s petition to include a rediscovered document that casts doubt on cellphone-tower evidence that was critical to the prosecution’s case in 2000.

Syed’s attorney, C Justin Brown, said the court has not yet scheduled a hearing to reopen his client’s post-conviction proceedings. Welch wrote in his order that consideration of McClain’s testimony and the cell-tower document “would be in the interests of justice for all parties” and grounds for reopening proceedings.

“Allowing the parties to supplement the record with relevant testimony and evidence will also provide the court of special appeals with a full and complete record,” Welch wrote, referring to the court that will hear Syed’s case

Brown argued in petitions to the court that McClain’s testimony could have supplied an alibi for Syed, if not for the “ineffective assistance” of his lawyer at the time. He also argued that the prosecution’s case against Syed, which relied on cellphone tower data to place him near the place where Lee’s body was found, was fundamentally undermined by an AT&T cover sheet that warned: “Outgoing calls only are reliable for location status. Any incoming calls will NOT be considered reliable information.”

The proceedings are not a new trial and will be limited to the testimony and cellphone data.

Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and friend of Syed who has campaigned in his support, tweeted that she has been crying in celebration at the news.

“Adnan doesn’t know yet but he’ll find out when he either calls one of us tonight or he’ll see it on the news,” she wrote.

The podcast Serial made a microscopic inquiry of Syed’s case and featured interviews with him and other key figures involved. Many listeners began attempting to parse the inconsistencies in the prosecution and his defense themselves, in an attempt to assess whether Syed stands guilty or not.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Nah. Not interested. Thanks anyway.

Turtyturd

Then how about not posting in his thread?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Turtyturd wrote: »

When you're finished with this OP check out Breaking Bad, it's a little known TV show but I think it's about the catch on.

Turtyturd wrote: »

Then how about not posting in his thread?

As relevant as the above.

Fox_In_Socks

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

She's one scary bitch alright.

Those strange poses and faces is due to the fact that the Illuminatti control Murder, She wrote and taunt us with their secret signs and symbols.

Archeron wrote: »

2% of the population of the town she lived in were murder victims, I remember hearing that somewhere.

2% of a living breathing population were dead murder victims? Zombies?

kneemos

Menas wrote: »

It always amazes me why people did not shyte themselves when Angela came to visit.
Someone always died when she visited.

I would not let her near the house.

Apparently some people would get off airplanes when they saw George Kennedy get on back in the day.

El Guapo!

Mila Large Stepson wrote: »

Nah. Not interested. Thanks anyway.

So 4 months ago you posted a smart arsed reply in this thread, and then you decide to do the same thing when an update is posted?
If you're not interested then how about you keep it to yourself and stop being a pain in the hole?

Chain Smoker

Turtyturd wrote: »

There's also the 'Undisclosed' podcast if you wanna go into it a bit more, which goes into Adnan's side in a lot more detail, and talks about his appeal...obviously biased though.

I've no clue how that podcast got any kind of traction at all considering that fact. Rabia has done nothing whatsoever on Serial or in any interviews to make it seem like she'd even be capable of being objective about the whole situtation. The whole thing had a trashy vibe to it all (the name included) that it's probably just undoing a lot of the popular support Adnan had acquired.
If you're desperate for more info on that case, trawl the subreddit for it.


If you want something more along the lines of Serial, check out Dr Gilmer & Mr Hyde, it's pretty much a Serial pilot AND it has a resolution!
Also, the Jinx and the Staircase are two documentary TV series that do the whole murder case thing in a similarly engrossing manner.

AllGunsBlazing

I started listening to this about a year ago, but gave up on it about halfway through. Never got the impression that he was anything but guilty. But then again, I didn't listen to the entire series.

6 episode in.

I'm certain he either did it or he didn't...

Either way, I enjoy the style it's presented in, no hectoring, no preaching, a good analysis by someone who is not afraid to let her own doubts be part of the show.