'Serial' podcast's Adnan Syed to get new trial after 16 years in prison https://t.co/URssSuID8N
— Mashable (@mashable) June 30, 2016
I was just reviewing our coverage of the Adnan Syed case and I can’t believe it’s been a year and a half since the Serial podcast aired. That’s usually the case with compelling stories, they stick in my mind like they just happened. To recap, Adnan Syed, then 18, was convicted of the 1999 murder of his girlfriend, Hae-Min Lee, for which he was sentenced to life plus 30 years. The conviction hinged on the testimony of Adnan’s friend, Jay Wild, who claimed that he helped Adnan dispose of Hae’s body. Jay’s story changed several times, he was coached by the prosecution who also paid for his attorney, and he gave an interview after the podcast aired in which he changed his story yet again. The DNA under the victim’s fingers was never tested, although the Innocence Project requested that it was. (More on that here.) A key witness who claims she saw Adnan in the library at the time of the murder, Asia Chapman, was not called to testify. What’s more is that Adnan actually had two trials – his first trial was a mistrial. Plus Adnan’s lawyer at the time, who has since passed away, was later disbarred and accused of deliberately throwing cases. This whole case is a mess with so many questions. The good news is that Adnan has been granted another trial. Apparently it was due to the fact that the cell tower data pings, used to place Adnan at the scene of the crime, have been called unreliable.
Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular podcast Serial who has been serving a life sentence in prison for the 1999 murder of ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, had his conviction vacated Thursday and will get a new trial, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
According to the court order granting a new trial, Judge Martin P. Welch cited the cell phone tower data as the reason for vacating the conviction – specifically Syed’s former attorney’s “failure to cross-examine the state’s cell tower expert about the reliability of cell tower location evidence.”
“It is finally ordered that Petitioner’s request for a new trial is hereby granted,” Welch wrote in his order.
Speaking at a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Justin Brown, Syed’s attorney, worked to temper his excitement: “We made a lot of progress, but we are not there.”
“This is an incredible victory, I am trying to act calm now,” he said. “We have been fighting for this day for, I think, about eight years now, and it’s been a grueling fight and there has been a lot of disappointments along the way and there were times when it looked like we lost.
“And we’ve made it and we got him a new trial.”
The sleuths over on Reddit are speculating that Adnan will take a plea for time served and that it’s not likely this will go to trial, especially since the key witness for the prosecution, Jay, is so unreliable. If it does go to trial you can bet that we’ll be kept up to date by the press, though. Adnan’s lawyer told ABC news that since his client is not a flight risk they will request that he be let out on bail. His lawyer also acknowledges the immense help of the Serial podcast in helping vacate Adnan’s conviction. I have the impression that Adnan is innocent, but of course I just don’t know for sure. What I do know, after hearing this case, is that as a juror I would not have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s only if I had been presented all the evidence that I learned from Serial, much of which was not available to the jury at the time.
Lawyer: Serial's Adnan Syed might fight for bail now that his murder conviction was vacated. https://t.co/cXxjM8SBDc pic.twitter.com/wg4vSQMJ7N
— ABC News (@ABC) July 1, 2016
Photos as credited and via Adnan Syed trust
I’m so happy for him. Having heard a lot of the podcasts beyond Serial especially the Undisclosed podcast I believe he is innocent. I’m only sad that the real killer probably won’t go to trial. And he absolutely should take the plea deal.
+1!!
Regardless if you think he did “it” or not, isn’t the consensus that there was a SEVERE lack of evidence from the state, un reliable “narrator” (Jay), questionable police detective work (some people believe the cops made a deal with Jay, due to the amount of “leading” in the county detectives questioning of him), illing lawyer, and the lack of certainty in “beyond a reasonable doubt”? It’s more about the total lack of fair trial
It wasn’t just lack of evidence but a manipulation of facts and testimony and severe incompetence on the part of Adnan’s lawyer who was secretly ill at the time.
I don’t think he should take a plea. He should take this to trial and get a “not guilty” conviction. And then sue the state. You cannot sue the state for wrongful imprisonment if you accept your guilt. (Even if he did do it…And I think I remember believing that he probably was involved somehow, or knows who the murderers are, but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.)
–TheRealPinky
I don’t know if he is innocent or not, but everyone deserves a just trial. What happened to him, twice!, is shameful.
I do believe, like Steven Avery, like the West Memphis Three, that Adnan did do it, although with the help of an accomplice.
I do not believe, however, that there was sufficient evidence to try and convict any of those cases. I’m glad he’s getting a new trial. He will likely take the same plea as the WM3.
I agree. I think Adnan is guilty (and Jay too) and I also think he didn’t get a fair trial.
You think the WM3 are guilty? For real?
Yep. There’s a great website that houses thousands of documents from the trial. Transcripts, confessions, evidence, photos, etc… I spent hours one summer reading and going through all of them and I absolutely believe they did it. I realize it’s not the cool thing to do since that awful documentary-which left crucial evidence out-came out, but that’s what I believe.
If you have the time and patience, I would suggest everyone check out that website. It’s ran by three men, two who believe they’re innocent and one who thinks they’re guilty.
Chaucer, what website is it? I’m curious. Thanks in advance!
Brunsie and others, the website is Callahan.8K.com
Sounds interesting, what’s the website called?
I’d hate to be on a jury, I’m so easily swayed- these documentaries have such angle sometimes.
I listened to Serial and I’m not convinced Adnan is entirely innocent either, what did it for me was that after they all found out she was missing – where there was a possibility she might have run away- all her friends were calling her mobile and leaving messages but he didn’t try calling her once. I just think there was something odd about his behaviour surrounding the whole thing. You’d hope you would remember your exact movements on the afternoon that you find out someone is missing, surely you’d run it through your mind over and over? Rather than just be like ‘meh’ *shrug* can’t remember?
Adnan might’ve done it. Avery did not and neither did his nephew. None of them should’ve been convicted though. But some of the speculation done on Serial was asinine (like when she was so stunned about the guy going 100 feet into the woods or whatever it was to pee).
–TheRealPinky
If you are basing your belief on his guilt/innocence on Serial you should listen to Undisclosed season 1. It’s much drier than Serial but much more detailed and complete it’s done by 3 lawyers. Admittedly one Rabia is a close friend of Adnan’s but she is a respected attorney and the other two lawyers are professionals. None of them knew each other before the Serial broadcasts. In the first season they go through each piece of evidence piece by piece and speak to experts (many of whom had no knowledge of the case). Serial is a great intro but factually she just didn’t get too deeply into it.
I am going to admit that I hate listened to Serial, I think the reporter Sarah went into it with the opinion that he was innocent and skimmed over details that may have challenged that notion and played up facts that did not fit his guilty conviction.
I think he was involved in the murder of Hae-Min Lee but on what was presented there was not enough evidence for conviction beyond reasonable doubt. I also was uncomfortable with the death of this young girl becoming trending entertainment online, it must have been very tough on her family to have her death played out as a “whodunnit”.
All can do is urge anyone with any interest to listen to Undisclosed. The biggest reasons that I went from thinking he possibly did it but didn’t get a fair trial to being pretty sure of his innocence was
1. The livity report -which basically means none of what Jay said could have possibly happened. Hae’s body was lying flat for 12 hours before it was buried and not in a small trunk. At the time Hae’s body was likely buried Adnan has an alibi.
2, Jay . I think most people who listened to Serial assume Jay knew too much to not be involved but he really knew nothing about the case. He only knew the information the police fed him. I say fed because when new evidence came to light he changed his story to suit the new info at the behest of the police. He was also threatened with the death penalty if he didn’t cooperate with them but later may have been paid 3,000 $ for testifying through CrimeStoppers a good theory hinted at by a lawyer on Undisclosed of the connection between Jay and Adnan is they weren’t friends but business partners, He borrowed Adnans car once a week because they were dealing pot. They had no real loyalty to one another and Adnan wouldn’t confide in Jay about a murder.
3. Hae’s boyfriend didn’t have an airtight alibi. In fact he may have forged an alibi (his work supervisors were his mother and his stepmother). It’s really impossible to know either way if he was involved but it does show that he should have been investigated but wasn’t because of lazy detective work and possibly a bias against Adnan as a Muslim.
Injustice makes my head explode and this case makes me go nuclear. He didn’t get his due process and it’s disgusting that in this country there’s too many stories of botched and straight up corruption in the justice system.
I just don’t see how anyone, given all the information about this case, could comfortably come to the conclusion that he definitively did it.
As for me I don’t know…but I lean more towards innocence.
I’m thrilled he’s getting a new trial and if he takes a plea, then that’s good as well.
Doesn’t have to be definitive, just beyond a reasonable doubt. You don’t even have to be completely convinced. Just primarily convinced. Fairly certain. Strongly believe. Based solely on the evidence presented at trial and nothing else. There is a HUGE burden on the prosecution to present hard facts, and not taint them, or skew them, or manipulate them or witnesses, etc. Because if you do any of that shady stuff as a prosecutor, then once you inevitably resign your position, you likely get elected governor or mayor.
–TheRealPinky
But we’re not on a jury. I’m speaking specifically about the court of public opinion.
As I said, I don’t see how anyone can COMFORTABLY believe that he DEFINITIVELY did it.
I am also of the mind that whether or not he did it is sort of irrelevant. If you’re going to put someone away for LIFE for murder, you better damn well know beyond a reasonable doubt that they did it.
I thought he was probably guilty but he clearly didn’t have fair representation. His lawyer was a mess who screwed up his chance at a fair trial. He deserves a new trial.
Sidenote: this site sometimes has very sketchy and aggressive pop up ads on mobile…. have to close out of internet entirely to get rid of it
YES. I only notice it when I’m on my ipad but holy crap “aggressive” is right.
Re: the mobile ads, I disabled certain ads on phones a while ago after hearing of these. We only work with reputable ad companies and are very concerned about this. (Notice that we have no ads with automatic sound or video .) Audrey are you seeing these ads on your phone or iPad? If it’s on your iPad like Kitten I can take measures to address this and I would like to follow up to see if it’s fixed. If you guys are commenting with the best email to contact you I can email you there. If you are commenting with an alternate email, please respond to this with your regular email in that commenting field (Only I will be able to see it) so I can follow up with you.
The email i use here is fine.
I use a samsung galaxy s3 to browse. It is a site saying my phone is infected and it won’t close or let you use the back button to leave. And then the play store automatically opens and it tries to get me to download and install something.
It doesn’t happen often but you have to shut everything down to get it to stop.
I’m on a Samsung galaxy also and get the same virus add not often but defiantly annoying
I’m on a samsung too…a few weeks ago there were a lot of those floating ads and they were really annoying. But now I don’t get any.
CB, I am on a Samsung Galaxy S5, and have been getting the same virus ad/add lately. I have to completely shut down everything to make it go away, I can’t just hit the back button. Love your site, but this freaks me out a bit.
Bottom line for me is that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to overcome reasonable doubt.
and ineffective council. i believe hes innocent but that doesnt discount the discrepancies in the case brought forth by the state. very curious to see how this plays out in the courts considering the amount of attention its received.
I am of the mind that he did it. In a split second moment of rage. That’s why I think he’s so convincing—he didn’t intend for it to happen, so he’s forgiven himself. The window of time between when Hae left school and when she was killed was so narrow. She was hurrying to pick up her little cousin. No one was getting in her car that she didn’t know. It was Adnan, and Jay helped him after the fact. If it was Jay alone, he is the greatest, most genius evil mastermind the world has ever seen. Keyser Soze. The trial was an abomination, but now Hae’s family gets to suffer anew.
I don’t think he did it. After Serial I had doubts. But Undisclosed goes deep into this and I’m convinced he’s innocent.
Undisclosed is bs propaganda. That pathetic crime stoppers storyline was probably the lowest point.
Except the Crimestoppers thing is all a matter of public record. As was the fact that the phone records weren’t actually proof of anything which is why they were thrown out.
If you look at the resumes of the two lawyers Colin & Susan both are distinguished and neither has a personal interest in the case.
They never substantiated the crime stoppers story which is why they never brought it up again. And it wasn’t a part of the public record, they reported it based on an anonymous tip they received. All bs.
Do you have a link to where you heard that? As far as I can see it was never disputed.
I am firmly in the camp that Adnan did it and Jay played a much bigger role than he admitted to. The full court transcripts are out there and they paint a much clearer picture of what transpired. Serial really muddied the water by omitting evidence that pointed o Adnan’s guilt and completely skirted the IPV angle in favour of presenting him as this completely innocent little boy.
https://m.reddit.com/r/serialpodcast/comments/3ilg8c/a_problem_with_the_crime_stoppers_source/
That link is helpful. There is so much about this case that was never shown to the public.
I think he did it.
I agree with you Mel…..and btw to get a verdict overturned on appeal claiming ineffective counsel is next to impossible, I mean you can look at cases where this claim was denied even when the defendant’s attorney fell asleep during trial, and here the judge overturns the verdict because he didn’t think Adnan”s attorney cross-examined agressively enough?????
And can we also think about the victim’s family and what they must be going through?
Hae and her family always get lost in this awful story. It’s quite depressing to know that the media has the power to help a probable murderer walk free.
^THIS.^
I cannot stop thinking about her mother throughout all of this.
I’m not going to claim to know exactly how her family feels but I have lost a family member to an unsolved crime and I do feel sympathy for them . Even if Adnan is guilty I blame the police and prosecutors involved for taking shortcuts with this case that made it so glaringly in need of a retrial. And if (as I believe) he is innocent the police and prosecutors involved let the actual murderer go free because of their bias and incompetence at best or at worst their corruption.
I’m so happy for him. The prosecution’s case was flawed from the start. I would love to see him freed.
The thing that infuriates me the most is this…. When Hae went missing, instead of a missing person investigation, it immediately went to a “pin it on Adnan” investigation. Things like Hae’s LAPTOP vanishing, sketchy investigation of her BF, and nobody asking around about her besides trying to pin it on adnan. I really think we will never know who actually killed Hae.
I’ve listened to Serial and Undisclosed (I quit undisclosed eventually because it was so biased and rambling and nit picky). I’m glad he’s getting a retrial because the cell phone tower evidence was bogus, his lawyer was awful and the investigation was severely biased. Do I think he’s innocent? Not sure. I don’t know if he did it, but I feel like his trial(s) were a travesty. If Adnan and Jay had anything to do with it, I think her murder had to do with drugs. Maybe she found something out and had to be silenced. If it wasn’t them, we’ll never know who killed her because that window of investigation has been lost. I feel the worst for her family, and her memory.