Adnan Masud Syed, 19, was convicted of murder that sentenced him in prison for life on June 20, 2000. Mr. Syed was accused of strangling his ex girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, 18, and burying her body in Leakin Park on January 13th, 1999. The body was eventually uncovered and Adnan became the primary suspect after an anonymous call was made to the police a few weeks after the crime to investigate Adnan. The prosecutors had stated that Adnan’s motive of murdering Hae was because he was hurt and outraged when they broke up. To counter, the defense attorney had claimed that Adnan was an average American teen, incapable of murder, and he was an honors student at Woodlawn High School. I believe that Adnan Syed should be granted another trial because his …show more content…
Asia had written letters to Adnan about believing in his innocence and she remembered seeing him in the library on 13th, during the time of Hae’s murder. She also wrote an affidavit statement for the detectives, in which Adnan had said he gave it to Ms. Guiterrez, along with the other letters. Furthermore, having Asia as an alibi witness for Adnan would have been very crucial information to the judges as she would’ve supported Ms. Guiterrez’s arguments of Adnan’s innocence. Also, the letters would have provided clear and specific evidence of where Adnan was located and when on the day of Hae’s murder, which proves that Adnan couldn’t have murdered Hae if the crime happened during the time period according …show more content…
Asia’s letters had also said that her boyfriend and his best friend had seen Adnan in the library after school between 2:15-2:40 pm. Ms. Guiterrez had certainly made a huge mistake of not contacting Asia because Asia would have been able to provide her part of the story to prove Adnan’s innocence and also have two other witnesses to support her story to be valid. The defense attorney had made a terrible error with the case because the result of the trial could have ended differently if she would have contacted Asia McClain. Another example of Ms. Guiterrez’s deficient work was because she was sick and greedy for money. Ms. Guiterrez had many records of her demanding money from clients to supposedly use for judge experts in the case, but she kept the money to herself for her personal use or to pay for her medical bill. Ms. Guiterrez had already failed to do precise research for evidence, and on top of that, she was diagnosed with diabetes and had to stay in the hospital. However, the defense attorney still accepted many cases from others, which shows her desire to get money. Ms. Guiterrez shouldn’t have accepted more cases because she couldn’t handle all of it at the time,
Either way they both support the fact that Adnan was not given an effective lawyer. Adnan also has no real motive for the murder. This is important because motive is a key factor in identifying a murder as it explains their intentions and gives a reasonable explanation on why they had committed the crime. The prosecution, not being able to give a convincing motive, raises doubt as to whether Adnan had a reason and if he really was responsible for the crime. The prosecution claims that Adnan killed Hae out of rage due to their breakup, however there is no real evidence to support this.
Lastly, a testimony from Asia McClain claims that she spoke to Adnan at the library 2:15 on January 13th. There might be a few reasons to hint to his guilt, but the evidence of his innocence outshines that greatly. First
Nothing out of the ordinary happened that day. Lastly, there wasn’t enough witnesses that heard Adnan was leaving with Hae that day. There is not enough evidence to convict him of that murder. Primarily, because the only witness they have on Adnan is Jay. Many people have their droughts on Jay people believe he killed Hae Lee.
No one really knows what happened to Hae Min Lee that afternoon, except the one who killed her. But, with no evidence, the jury and the judge decided to sentence Adnan for a crime that were not sure he committed. The inconsistencies alone in Jay’s story show that there is not enough solid evidence to show that Adnan truly killed Hae. Plus, the phone records clearly show that Jay is lying about what happened or where they were at what time. The statements from the classmates or people that knew Adnan also show that Adnan was not with Jay or Hae at the time of her “death” and that Hae was not dead by 2:36 that afternoon.
In this testimony, Jay incriminates Adnan by saying he was shown Hae’s body and made to help Adnan bury her. Cell phone records and other testimonies corroborated Jay’s version. However, during the multiple retellings of his testimony, Jay’s story had several inconsistencies. During the trial and his interviews, Jay’s testimonies have wildly different versions of where he was shown the body, whether Adnan planned the murder ahead of time, where the murder took place, as well as many others details. Jay was also told by the detectives that, if he failed to incriminate Adnan, he would be the primary suspect in the case.
Adnan Syed: Guilty or Innocent? On January 13, 1999, a high schooler named Hae Min Lee was murdered. Police instantly questioned anyone who may be associated with the case. Everyone stated what they knew about the murder, but all the pieces contradicted one another.
Jay’s story is that he helped Adnan bury Haes body, thus Adnan killed Hae. He lays out their whole day to the cops, but his story consistently changes. He told the cops one story during the taped interviews and then drops parts of it during trial, every time he tells the story details shift. One person’s story should not be enough evidence that someone committed a murder, there needs to be hard physical proof behind it. The state uses Jays story as proof that Adnan must have killed Hae, but people lie under oath all the time and Jay could easily be framing Adnan.
Piers Anthony once said, “When one person makes an accusation, check to be sure he himself is not the guilty one. Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamor.” When someone is accused of a crime , there must be a sufficient amount of solid evidence to prove their guilt. In the podcast narrated by Sarah Koenig, Serial, goes over a murder case from over fifteen years ago. It is easily perceived that Adnan Syed was falsely incriminated for killing his ex girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
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
or did he murder Hae Min Lee. Based on the collaboration and the very little forensic and physical evidence, I feel that he is not guilty. The timeline, the call records, Jay’s story,and the possible alibes of Adnan Syed all show that he wasn’t guilty. Many
In a transcript by PBS it states “This is where Asia McClain, the classmate of Adnan and Hae, said that she saw him here. And she wrote two letters after his arrest saying, ‘I know I saw you here. I can't believe that you did this because I saw you during that day.’” The exclusion of Asia’s claims in the trial was also brought up during Serial S1 E1. This shows that Gutierrez was untrustworthy and if she were not Adnan's lawyer the case might have ended with a different
Adnan Syed was a 17 year old high school student at Woodlawn High School that was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee on January 13th, 1999. Adnan is still in prison today. There is one question that has been in many peoples heads that have listened to the podcast “Serial.” Did Adnan Syed really kill Hae, or was he wrongfully convicted. Through the whole case, Adnan’s friend Jay, has testified over and over again that Adnan did kill Hae, and Adnan has testified that he did not kill her.
An evidence that makes Adnan guilty is when the State “contended that Hae was killed between 2:15 and 2:36 parking lot, about a mile from Woodlawn High School” (Chen 16). Basically, Adnan and Hae were together during that time frame where Adnan strangled her at the Best Buy parking lot. Adnan told Jay to come pick him up afterwards. This aligns perfectly with Jay’s story because he told the detectives that Adnan had killed Hae at the Best Buy parking lot. Thus, making Adnan the prime suspect since he was last seen with Hae.
The Innocence Of Adnan Syed Adnan Syed was wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not do and there is no physical evidence he actually committed the murder. Some background on the case is that Hae Min Lee was Murdered in Baltimore in 1999 and was found several days after she went missing. The person who was convicted was Adnan Syed. The case had no physical evidence that he committed the murder but was arrested because he was the last known boyfriend. Also the case is going up to a retrial sometime later this year into next year.
Putting these circumstances aside, it was said by many that the relationship was pretty typical and Adnan got over the breakup easily. This was said by teachers and friends of both Hae and Adnan. One of Hae’s friends, Becky, explained the relationship as “just a silly, teenage, high school, relationship” (Koenig “The Breakup”) which proves that Adnan was not as upset as the prosecution made him out to be at trial. Another notable aspect is that after Hae and Adnan broke up, Hae got in a small car accident and asked Adnan to come help her, her new boyfriend Don also showed up and confirms that him and Adnan had a cordial meeting and explains that they talked for 10 to 15 minutes even after the car situation had been figured out (Koenig “What We Know”). If Adnan was really that broken up about the breakup, he would not have been so friendly towards the new guy who seemed to take his place in Hae’s life.