Adnan's Trial: Serial By Sarah Koenig

Even with Jay’s testimony, I don't believe that Adnan Syed should have been convicted of murder on such little evidence. The state’s motive for Adnan is based on Muslim stereotypes and no real evidence. They say that when Hae broke up with Adnan she besmirched his honor, forcing him to have to kill her to regain it. Adnan has shown many times that he doesn’t follow strict Muslim rules by dating multiple girls, partying, and even smoking marijuana.

In episode 7, Sarah admits to Deirdre Enright, who works at the University Of Virginia School Of Law and runs their Innocence Project clinic, that there isn’t any “gross negligence or malfeasance or something on the part of the detectives or the State Attorney’s office, everyone seems to be doing their job, responsibly.” The people working on the case were doing their jobs correctly, and Adnan was convicted, not because the case was built for his conviction, but because the evidence and other information collected pointed to Adnan’s guilt. And Jim Trainum, the detective hired by the Serial staff, tells Sarah that “the detectives in this case were cautious and methodical. They weren’t rushing to grab suspects or to dismiss them either. The evidence collection was well documented,” and that the case is “better than average” (Ep. 8, Jim).

Obsidian Mekediak Tyler Bonnette RD 117 19 Dec 2022 Rhetorical Analysis of Sarah Koenig’s ‘Serial’ Adnan Syed was convicted for the murder of Hae Min Lee February 25, 2000. Syed has claimed his innocence since he was arrested. Syed’s conviction was based on Jay Wilds’ testimony. Wilds claimed Syed had strangled Hae Min Lee, and convinced Wilds to help bury her body. Sarah Koenig’s initial purpose of creating the podcast ‘Serial’ and investigating the conviction of Adnan Syed for the murder of Hae Min Lee was to conclude if the state's case against Syed was flawed and in doing that, Koenig was successful.

Serial, a podcast produced by Sarah Koenig, has brought the fifteen year old case of Adnan Syed back into deliberation. Public interest in the murder of Hae Min Lee has risen exponentially and there have been conflicting views on the innocence of Syed. On February 13, 1999, Hae Lee disappeared and her body was found in Leakin Park, just outside the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Adnan Syed, her ex-boyfriend, was the prime suspect and indeed, a Baltimore jury sentenced him for life on February 25, 2000. Despite that, Syed has always maintained his innocence and denies any involvement in her strangulation.

Adnan made his big lie clear as day for everyone to see. This lie puts him at fault when being determined whether he should be guilty or not. In my opinion, it is extremely hard to breeze past that lie like it is

Adnan Syed was convicted of the murder of Hae Min Lee. It started on Jan 13th when Hae goes missing after school, then on Feb 9th the body is found in Leakin Park by Mr. S. on Feb 28 the police arrest Adnan and Jay interveiws with the detectives about the murder, Jay Interviews with the detectives 3 more times with each story changing little by little. Adnans trial begins on Dec 8th, then the judge declares a mistrial 7 days later. Adnan is convicted with the murder of Hae Min Lee, the conviction is overturned, and finally his conviction is being tried again. The connnnviction of Adnan Syed should be overturned because the State’s case doesn’t provide enough strong evidence to convict Adnan of murder.

On January 13th, 1999, a popular senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, disappears. The girl, Hae Min Lee, was later found in Leakin Park with marks proving she was strangled to death. Six weeks later, Adnan Syed, Lee’s classmate and ex-boyfriend, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. A friend of Adnan, Jay, who graduated the spring prior from Woodlawn, is the only person with a timeline for the 13th of January and, unfortunately, it makes Adnan look guilty. But, with multiple inconsistencies and stories that do not match the other gathered evidence, Jay’s story is not perfect.

The Serial podcast captivated millions of listeners as it dug deep into the case of Adnan Syed, a man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. While Syed's sentence to life in prison may initially seem justified, a closer examination of the evidence presented in the podcast raises significant doubts about his guilt. This essay aims to challenge Adnan Syed's sentence by presenting material from three episodes of Serial, revealing inconsistencies in the prosecution's case, unreliable witness testimonies, and the lack of conclusive evidence tying Syed to the crime. Throughout the podcast, several inconsistencies and discrepancies emerge, undermining the reliability of the prosecution's case against Adnan Syed.

Looking at the judicial justice system today, it is easy to see that they screwed up in the case of Hae Min Lee and with the sentencing of Adnan Syed to first-degree murder for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Adnan Syed was accused of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee on January 13 1999 after school. With the help of some unstable statements from Jay, and a few other people. He was charged with first-degree murder in February 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee. Although the prosecution/ defense believes that Adnan did kill Hae Min Lee on that fateful day.

On January 13, 1999, 18 year old Hae Min Lee, was reported missing after she left Woodland high school in Baltimore, Maryland. Hae was suppose to pick up her little cousin after school that day but had never showed, and that’s went her parents got suspicious. She was then found about a month later, buried in Leakin Park, a few miles away from the last place she was seen. Approximately six weeks after Hae went missing, a boy named Adnan Syed, an ex boyfriend of Hae’s, was arrested for her murder. To this day Hae Min Lee’s case has sparked many unanswered questions, and has rounded up many accusations.

But I, seriously doubt Adnan would kill her. And, if Adnan didn’t kill her then they shoulds give him a chance to make himself clear, If he didn’t kill Hae then we need to put this case to rest for once and for all. “ If he didn’t kill Hae, then we owe it to him to try to make this clear, and if he didn’t kill Hae, then we have to put this case to rest.” Well I put this quote in here just to make sure you guys understand they didn’t give him a chance to make himself clear at court. “ Maybe Adnan really is innocent.”

In 2015, 149 people were cleared for crimes they didn’t commit after serving years of time (Ferner). In this case, Adnan Syed isn’t that lucky. In January 1999, Hae Min Lee went missing and was later found dead in Leakin Park. Authorities charged Adnan Syed, Hae’s ex-boyfriend, for her murder.

Today the audience will be presented with the 1999 case of the cold blooded murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18 year old senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, and the conviction of her ex boyfriend, Adnan Syed in a podcast brought to them by Sarah Koenig, an American journalist and radio host, on The American Life where Serial is presented. During this case you will see various different sides of the story that claim whether or not Adnan committed the crime or if the killer is still on the loose. This case is particularly tricky given that most of the evidence is mainly based off of partially unreliable witnesses, little to none physical evidence, and the memories of now 36 year old Adnan and the very few people he had talked to

Anya Schultz, the author of a review titled Serial: A Captivating New Podcast, works to show how multiple narratives and stories can be manipulated and sometimes vastly misinterpreted. Serial, an intriguing, enthralling podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, tells the story of Hae Min Lee, a young, beautiful, high school senior who was murdered in 1999. Lee 's case, as Koenig and Schultz point out, has a few missing pieces of information that were never accounted for. For example, how did the jury come to the conclusion that Lee 's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was truly guilty? Why did Syed 's lawyer forget to mention the letter from his acquaintance Asia McClain that could have polished his alibi?

This story alone ultimately convicted Adnan. No physical evidence was ever found. Reporter Sarah Koenig realized the patchy story of this case