Your Honor, members of the jury, my name is Gracie Hernandez, representing the defendant in this case. My client, Adnan Masud Syed, was an honor roll student at Woodlawn high school that everybody described to be someone who was going to do something big and is now being accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee. According to the State, on January 13, 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland, during 2:15 to 2:36 pm, Hae Min Lee was murdered by manual strangulation in the Best Buy parking lot on Security Boulevard in Windsor Mill, Maryland, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend Adnan. Later both Adnan and Jay Wilds buried Ms. Lee’s body at Leakin park during the hours 6 to 8 pm. Today I will be proving Adnan is an innocent minor and does not deserve …show more content…
The evidence will show that the State's main witness, Jay Wilds, who was allegedly involved in the aiding of the victims murder, is an unreliable witness. Jay’s testimony has many inconsistencies and misleading information. During Jay’s interrogation with the police, he changes multiple parts of his story. The following are a few of the modifications the witness made, one Jay states to have refused to help in the digging of the victims grave but later reforms his story and states he did. Two, Jay told police Adnan informed him about his plan to murder Ms. Lee the day the murder occurred but later alters his story and says Adnan had frequently mentioned killing her. Lastly, Jay told police he saw the victim's body at 3:45 at a strip on Edmondson but later contradicted himself and said he saw it in the Best …show more content…
He will tell you he went shopping around 12 pm with Jay Wilds to retrieve a gift for his then girlfriend Stephanie, Jay later dropped Adnan back off but kept both his car and cell phone. Next, I will call Asia McClain, a student who was at the Woodlawn library and recalled seeing and talking to Adnan at the time the State attest the murder of Hae Min Lee occurred. Asia will tell you she recalled seeing Adnan the afternoon of January 13, 1999, during the time of the victims murder. She recalls having a conversation with Adnan about his breakup with Ms.Lee. If we ask her why she is able to recall these details she will tell you that it has to do with the fact that it snowed a couple days after she had seen and talked to Adnan. Asia recalling that it snowed a few days after is very important because it shows she is able to recall the events of that day clearly. Therefore her story not only checks out but it shows Adnan was not involved in the murdering of Ms.Lee. Finally, I will call Jay Wilds, who testified against Adnan and helped in the disposing of Ms.Lee's
Over the past few months there has been another visit into the 2000 murder trial of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and is currently serving a life sentence at a Maryland state prison. The case was covered in a twelve part podcast by the name of “Serial”. The podcast which is hosted and produced by Sarah Koenig goes through the evidence behind the conviction of Syed to attempt to come to a verdict of her own. After listening to the Serial Podcast in its entirety and after carefully examining the evidence for the case against Adnan Syed it is in my professional opinion that Jay Wilds was in fact guilty for the murder of Hae Lee. Jay Wilds was the key witness in the case against Adnan and was involved
At the age of 17, Adnan Syed was charged for the murder of Hae Min Lee, but I don’t believe he did it, and I want to tell you why I think it was Jay who committed the murder. In this case there are days worth of reading for evidence. Just in the transcripts, there’s 288 pages, some of it evidence, some of it conversations, and some of it interviews. There are so many people involved that it's very difficult to say for certain that Adnan did it, but it's also very difficult to point out anyone else that could have done it as well.
Jay Wilds was the state’s main, and only, witness. He says that Adnan killed Hae and then he called Jay from a phone booth outside of a Best Buy to show him the body and to ask him what to do. Afterwards, they both drive around a bit, get high, drive some more, bury Hae together, and then drive back home. There is even cellphone evidence to support Jay’s story. This all seems bad for Adnan until you look deeper into Jay’s story.
He clearly lied to one of the officers, which is why he is guilty. Lying to an officer about something that significant, especially in this case is a big deal. Throughout all of the time that this investigation took place, Adnan lied to the police several more times. Although, some of those lies were not as weighted as that last one was. Most of the time, when people lie they try to at least make more of an effort to cover it up.
The state uses Jay as their key witness in the case against Adnan, but Jay's story changed where Adnan showed him Haes body. Jay says in one of his testimonies that Adnan showed him Haes body in the Best Buy parking lot, then he changes it in his testimony to “I went to pick him up from off of Edmondson Avenue at a strip and he, uh, popped the trunk open and…”(Serial 05.17). Jay was a friend of Adnan’s: they smoked weed and hung out together. The day of the murder according to Jay was that he picked up Adnan after he killed Hae and left her in the trunk of her car. This is where the two different places that he mentioned where Adnan showed Jay Hae’s body is the Best Buy parking lot and a strip off of Edmondson Avenue are important because these places aren’t similar either, one is a tech store and the other is an outdoor drug market.
The prosecution case against Adnan Syed was mainly based on the testimony of Jay wilds, who said he helped bury Hae Min Lee's body. Jay's testimony was supported by the cell phone records that placed Adnan on the site on the Day Hae Min Lee disappeared. According to the prosecution, the evidence sayed that Adnan had a motive to Kill Hae, because he was jealous and possessive of her. However, there are inconsistinces in Jay’s testimony, which has changed multiple times over the years. Some people also claimed that He was pressured into providing false testimony by the police.
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 didn't have the personality of someone who would do this. Time and time again, people have said he doesn’t seem to be obsessed with Hae, or that he is a good kid, etc. When the number of people saying Adnan would never do this is so high, and Jay Wild's statements are the only ones saying he would, it becomes suspicious in my opinion. While I believe Adnan's personality is one of the main proofs of his innocence, there is still a way that he would have committed this crime. First, many of the quotes are from people who used to be close to him.
Adnan was innocent of committing the murder of Lee and wasn’t given a fair trial. There was evidence that would be enough to convict him ,but there were missing info needed that would’ve helped Adnan in his trail. Jay Wilds alibi establish that Hae was murdered at Best Buy with Adnan strangling and then inserting Hae that had her dead body. He said given Adnan phone and car to he called him to pick him up at best buy and when he got there Adnan ask for help trying to hide the body. They went on a joy ride to different places and brought Adnan to practice for
One piece of evidence that proves that Adnan is innocent and that did not kill Hae Lee is Jay's inconsistencies in his stories and interviews when talking to the police. When Jay is being interviewed by the police he tells in chronological order what happened and what he remembers from that night when Hae Lee was murdered. Evertime Jay told his story a small detail or location would change and not match up with the original story. In Episode 4: Inconsistencies Jay is being interviewed by the police, they had asked “why would you lie about the location? ”. Jay responded with, “Because I’m
Adnan has more than one alibi that saw him at the library during the time of the murder. The fact that he already has an alibi and now has more further proves his innocence. Asia McClain, her boyfriend, and his best friend saw Adnan in the library. Adnan has multiple alibi’s proving he is innocent of the murder of Hae Min
Plus Adnan gets his lawyer through the prosecutor, and the lawyer doesn't even try hard enough to protect Adnan’s rights. Jay Wilds was a key suspect in the Hae Min Lee case. He testified against Adnan Syed, Lee's ex-boyfriend, claiming he helped Syed bury the body. His testimony was a key piece of evidence used to convict Syed. The possibility of Jay lying about Adnan is always present, as Jay may have a motive or incentive to portray Adnan in a negative light.
Some people have concluded that Adnan Syed is guilty due to his poor memory and inability to provide evidence for his alibi during his testimony. The prosecution's case against Adnan Syed was primarily based on the testimony of Jay, a friend of Adnan who claimed that he helped him bury Hae Min Lee's body. However, Jay's testimony was inconsistent and changed several times throughout the investigation and trial. One of the most significant pieces of evidence that supports Adnan's innocence is the alibi witness, Asia McClain. In the discussion with Sarah Koenig and Rabia, a lawyer , Rabia explains what Adnan said to the audience, "He's like, the only thing I could offer is I remember there's a girl I go to school with.
The Serial Killer Adnan Syed’s case was skewed against his innocence in the Hae Min Lee murder Case. The police and detectives came up with unreasonable reasons for Syed’s will to kill Lee, and they constantly backed up their theories with invalid testimonies of others. However, many of the theories against Adnan could be supported through phone records and alibis. There is one issue with the conviction of Syed.
And people who would have come into contact with Adnan that afternoon were not experts in detecting slight changes in Adnan. Jays saying Adana called him to pick him up from best buy and when he got there Adnan was at the phone booth talking, but sarah got blueprints of best buy and they was never one built. Why did jay lie?or if it lack of memory.? Inclusion Adnan couldn't have a motive in killing hae. I believe that Adnan is innocent and didn't kill Hae Min Lee.