Boom_Bap wrote: » It's alright, nowhere as gripping as Serial, but ironing out facts and getting things straight. It's more facts that have been missing from the case, or items that were not clear but now debunked.
Mr E wrote: » It's like a Hollywood remake - familiar, but not as good as the original.
theboss80 wrote: » Here's something that occurred to me, maybe someone has seen an answerto this already? Did the police ever look at Hae's cell phone records and see if/where any mobile towers were pinged on her last day?
Tazzer wrote: » as far as I remember she only had a pager. I've never had one myself, so not sure if there can be records available the same as phones?
aphex™ wrote: » It'd be good to see if Adnan sent her any pages after she went missing after she died. So from that perspective I can see what you mean.
Mr E wrote: » Undisclosed is still worth listening to.
Recent requests by "Serial" podcast subject Adnan Syed to have post-conviction proceedings in his 15-year-old murder case reopened in Baltimore Circuit Court — in part so that a new alibi witness can testify on his behalf — are "meritless" and should be denied, according to attorneys for the state. In a 34-page motion filed with the court Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Thiruvendran Vignarajah argued that reopening the proceedings so the court can hear from Asia McClain, the alleged witness, would be "inconsequential theater and not in the interest of justice." Syed was convicted in 2000 of murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and is serving a life sentence. His case gained worldwide attention because of "Serial," a 12-episode podcast and offshoot of the "This American Life" public radio program that revisited the evidence and Syed's defense in the case. Vignarajah said in the filing that McClain's testimony would have no bearing on Syed's claim — still pending before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals — that he should be granted a new trial because of poor representation by his prior attorney. Vignarajah also wrote that allegations that one of the original prosecutors improperly dissuaded McClain from testifying are "preposterous." In addition, Vignarajah challenged as "misleading" a contention by Syed's new attorney, C. Justin Brown, that his previous attorney, M Cristina Gutierrez, failed to properly challenge phone records from cellular carrier AT&T that prosecutors relied upon to place Syed at Leakin Park when authorities believe Lee's body was buried in 1999. Lee and McClain were Syed's Woodlawn High School classmates. Brown said in a filing last month that prosecutors used incoming calls to Syed's cellphone even though AT&T warned about the accuracy of cell tower data on a fax cover sheet to Baltimore police. Vignarajah wrote that the fax sheet actually referred to an entirely different set of documents. Brown said he hadn't seen the state's motion as of Wednesday night but would be "reviewing it and considering our next step." The Court of Special Appeals agreed in February to hear Syed's appeal of a lower court ruling that denied his request for a new trial.
FouxDaFaFa wrote: » Topic for Season 2 of Serial thought to be the case of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance from an army base in Afghanistan. He claims to have been abducted by the Taliban. The army claims he deserted and want a court marshall to charge him with such. He was released back to the Americans in a prisoner exchange last year. More information here.
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.
