I searched for a thread or post about this podcast, but didn't see anything.
Anyone else been following and listening to the episodes? I'm completely hooked. It's so compelling and just absolutely intriguing.
Here's a brief summary from the podcast's site:
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.
Originally Posted by Buck:
I wonder if the state even wants to retry this. Do they have to? Can't they just decide to drop the charges?
They would need to round up all kinds of people who probably want nothing to do with this anymore.
They aren't required to, but they rarely don't. However, given the attention to the case, if I was the DA's office I'd mothball any retrial pending if the PD is going to further investigate, which is likely slim to none. Way too much exculpatory evidence. [Reply]
The state has some serious re-investigating to do. I don't believe Jay any farther than I could throw him. I don't know who killed Hae, but I have serious doubts as to Adnan being involved. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
The state has some serious re-investigating to do. I don't believe Jay any farther than I could throw him. I don't know who killed Hae, but I have serious doubts as to Adnan being involved.
This is my biggest question. There's such a gap in alternative suspects, but of course when the PD zeroed in they let a lot of possible leads go cold and it's not likely a 16 year old case is going to prove fruitful by reopening the investigation.
As you said, Jay has no credibility. In fact, the revelations that have come to light, makes me think that he probably knows something that would shed some light on the situation but isn't going to talk and even if he were to it has little value because he'd be torn apart if needed to testify even if it was someone else charged. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth:
This is my biggest question. There's such a gap in alternative suspects, but of course when the PD zeroed in they let a lot of possible leads go cold and it's not likely a 16 year old case is going to prove fruitful by reopening the investigation.
As you said, Jay has no credibility. In fact, the revelations that have come to light, makes me think that he probably knows something that would shed some light on the situation but isn't going to talk and even if he were to it has little value because he'd be torn apart if needed to testify even if it was someone else charged.
This is where the detectives really fucked everything all up. [Reply]
A further look into Judge Welch's decision / opinion (https://t.co/IusQZUM3oK) pretty much boils down to:
Adnan had ineffective assistance in regards to contacting Asia, but she doesn't completely debunk the timeline of events later in the evening. He only gets 1/2 merit and it doesn't count towards ineffective assistance.
Adnan did not have ineffective assistance in regards of Brady. Judge claims that it was all there but the defense never bothered to look into it.
Adnan did have ineffective assistance in regards to the fax cover sheet for the subscriber activity report.
Just as the state is appealing the ruling, Justin, Adnan's lawyer, will most likely appeal the 1/2 he was missing to the alibi witness as ineffective counsel. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
Still need to look HARD at Don.
This. I agree with Bob Ruff from Truth and Justice - it's Don who did it.
My personal opinion is that she went to go see Don, something happened in regards to Hae being deeply in love with Don (her diary entries that were open to the public showed she was a teen in love - attached if you will) and he didn't know how to handle it. Something happened, he struck her & strangled her to death. I think he kept her somewhere until sundown and buried her in Leakin Park.
I think Mr. S ties into it because he was in the area of Leakin Park, drunk, maybe streaking and he saw what happened. Scared of what was going down, he didn't say anything or do anything. Instead, he went back to it weeks later "claiming he had to take piss". That's why he failed that first polygraph.
I'm driving cross country soon. I might listen to Season 1 again to refresh myself. This is a blessing for Sara Koenig. Season 3 is locked in I bet. [Reply]
