The Case Against Adnan Syed

Necro

Or, probably more appropriately - the murder of Hae Min Lee.

Halway through this not having listened to the original podcast.

I find it intriguing.

The basic premise as per wikipedia is:

Hae Min Lee was a Korean-American high school senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, who disappeared on January 13, 1999. Her body was found four weeks later in Leakin Park, the victim of murder by manual strangulation.

Adnan Syed, her ex-boyfriend, was convicted in February 2000 of first-degree murder and given a life sentence plus 30 years.

Syed was convicted essentially based on the eye witness account of Jay Wilds, who stated he helped bury the body and saw her strangled in the boot.

Lee's murder initially only generated local interest until it became the subject of the first season of the podcast Serial in 2014, which brought international attention to the crime and to Syed's trial; bringing the conviction into question. In July 2016, Judge Martin P. Welch vacated Syed's conviction and ordered a new trial. On March 29, 2018, Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld the decision to grant Syed a new trial. This decision was later overturned by the Maryland Court of Appeals on March 8, 2019.


I find it amazing that there was a conviction in this case at all. Wilds as a witness is incredibly unreliable, I wouldn't believe a word that came out of his mouth.
Other side is that it's an absolutely bizarre lie to make up.

There's no DNA evidence linking Syed to the crime. There is some slight (but highly refuted) cellphone tower location evidence, but imo there's not even nearly enough to say beyond a reasonable doubt that he's guilty.

All they have is this eye witness who isn't at all credible.

In terms of who else might have done it?

Well first we have Don Clinedinst - the 20 something year old current boyfriend who was supposed to have met with Hae Min on the night of her disappearance. His alibi for the night in question was that he was working, according to the rosters provided.

Problem is, the general manager for the store? His mother. Quite why this guy wasn't in the minimum dragged over the coals about this I have no clue.


Then - there is Alonzo Sellers - the man who discovered her body after pulling over to urinate and walking into dense forest to do so.
A man with a shady past nonetheless, never really challenged on the details as far as I can see.

So have others watched the new documentary/listened to the podcast?

What do ye reckon?

Kingp35

Have all episodes of this been released yet? I'm waiting until they are all out before watching.

Necro

Kingp35 wrote:

Have all episodes of this been released yet? I'm waiting until they are all out before watching.

If you have On Demand they're available alright.

Mantis Toboggan

Started watching this, 2 episodes in an it's very good. Had listened to serial back in the day but definitely had forgotten parts of it. Interesting to see where it goes from here.

Mantis Toboggan

Finished this. It's a sad sad situation all round. Almost no evidence against Adnan. Who did it I'm not sure we'll ever know. I do know there was surely insufficient evidence to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. He probably should have taken the deal but it's easy to say that now.

Tipsy McSwagger

Another boring too many episodes documentary that could easily be made into a 90 min doc by a more accomplished director. I believe Adnan is guilty.

ben.schlomo

Another sad indictment of the American judicial system. Disgraceful that he's been incarcerated for over twenty years based on the police 'investigation', the evidence and zero DNA evidence linking the accused.

Kingp35

I'm three episodes in so far and it's good to put faces to names from Serial and Undisclosed and there have also been some additional information I hadn't hard before.

I don't know if Adnan is guilty or not, he could well be guilty. There is sufficient doubt though and in my view he should not have been convicted on the evidence presented.

Boom_Bap

I've been watching this, it's interesting to see how the timeline was shifted, and how some of the peoples memories of events are not a solid as they thought they were.


The interview with Jay is made to look suspicious as well, the speculation that the police guided him through the statement is interesting.

Maxpfizer

Kingp35 wrote: »

I'm three episodes in so far and it's good to put faces to names from Serial and Undisclosed and there have also been some additional information I hadn't hard before.

I don't know if Adnan is guilty or not, he could well be guilty. There is sufficient doubt though and in my view he should not have been convicted on the evidence presented.

I think it would be easier to believe if Jay had been convicted also.

As it stands it just looks like Jay was given a free pass to say anything, up to and including helping to bury the body and conspiring to cover up the murder, just so that the police could convict Adnan.

It's such an incredible motivation to lie. "Pin the murder on this guy or you will be the one facing charges." I don't see how he is considered a credible witness in any way at all.

Dude admits to helping cover up a murder and bury the body, even admits to getting rid of evidence, but he doesn't do any jail time at all? That's messed up.

Suckler

Maxpfizer wrote: »

It's such an incredible motivation to lie. "Pin the murder on this guy or you will be the one facing charges." I don't see how he is considered a credible witness in any way at all.

Dude admits to helping cover up a murder and bury the body, even admits to getting rid of evidence, but he doesn't do any jail time at all? That's messed up.

This and the manner in which the body was "found" are both very suspect to me. Can't believe there was a credible case built around it to be honest. I listened to the original podcast a few years ago and from what I remember Jay was being blatantly led in the statements he was making.

Mantis Toboggan

Murder case overturned!

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2022/09/20/adnan-syed-serial-podcast-murder-case-overturned/

miamee

They've also added a new episode to the Serial podcast series one to update - https://serialpodcast.org/

Mantis Toboggan

Jaysus 23 years served in prison and very possibly innocent, wonder will he have a case for compensation.