Charlotte Lester English 12 Ms. Knezevich May, 8, 2023 Undue Credibility and Injustice The modern court of law is incomplete without the inconsistencies of eyewitness accounts, the complexity of plea bargains, and the internal bias that every member of the police, jury, and even the judge holds. In the case of Adnan Syed, the potential killer of ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, it was confirmation bias that put him behind bars for twenty-three years of his life. Due to the impending pressure to give justice to Lee and her family, the state investigation led the case with evidence formulated to fit their favourite story. Where naturally, convictions should be based on evidence, Syed’s case was the complete opposite. “Bad evidence” was abundant and …show more content…
One of the biggest reigning issues in the Adnan Syed case is how most of the state storyline was confirmed by the accounts of Jay Wilds, who took a plea bargain in order to receive reduced charges for his alleged participation in the crime. When overlooking Wilds’ accounts two things can be noticed, Wilds’ recollections of what happened on January 13th, 1999 always differ depending on whom he told, and when he told them. As well, Wilds’ accounts also seem to follow exactly what the state investigation wanted in order for their story to make sense. Adnan was sentenced to life in prison on June 6th, 2000, whereas Hae’s body was found on February 9th, 1999 (Piccotti). Because of the inconsistency in evidence and inability to form a coherent timeline, the investigation was a long one. This excerpt shows very well how the public generally looks at a homicide investigation; taking into account that the victim’s parent’s reactions would be much stronger than the average bystander. “The public’s acknowledgment of the seriousness of murder reinforces the importance of the investigator's role and the need to …show more content…
An example of this is one of the pieces of evidence used in the trial to claim Syed had been in Lee’s car the night of her disappearance. As prior mentioned, the piece of the map that had been ripped out was the piece that showed Leakin park, where Lee’s body was found. This was presented as highly damning evidence in the trial. What was not presented was that the map showed their entire neighborhood, such as their highschool, the mall they frequented and other popular hangout spots. Leakin park just happened to be within range on the map (Koenig, Ep.6). The disregard for the truth and use of the only part of the evidence that worked with their story is a classic case of “bad evidence.” Though it is easy to understand why closing a case for the sake of closure is done, it is also alarming how many real murderers may escape conviction because investigators choose to willingly block out the big picture. All together the only viable pieces of evidence that genuinely work against Syed without question are events, not objects. The cell towers proved to be unreliable, Jay’s testimony is riddled with lies and alterations, and all of the physical evidence proves inconclusive. There were other pieces of physical evidence at the scene of the crime, such as rope and a bottle, both of which were never tested. One of the biggest instances of
This Reveals Syed Wrong actions as it connects with the timeline of the calls given by the AT&T records and thus proving Adnan Syed being responsible because the whole story is adding up and connecting to wilds story. Likewise, the testimonies of witnesses proves Syed to be guilty as charged, as it adds up to create a story that proves him as a criminal. In the crime scene 4 witnesses are interviewed or info is obtained from them. According to wilds, Pusateri and vinson, “Wilds contacted Pusateri and asked her to pick him up at the Westview Mall… then he told her that Syed killed Lee that afternoon and placed her in the trunk of her car… he returned to Vinson’s house for the rest of the evening... Vinson testified that Syed and Wilds stopped by her apartment around 6 pm” and According to McClain, McClain had written Syed a letter… reminding him that she … had seen him at the Woodlawn Public Library… before 3 p.m. on January 13.
His testimony should have been further investigated at the least because of this. However, it was not, and since Jay was the only witness to the burial of the body, his word was
Deirdre Enright, one professional who is helping investigate Syed’s case, says right off the bat that the state’s case against Adnan is ‘very thin.’ Deirdre Enright is the director of the University of Virginia School of Law's Project for Informed Reform and Center for Criminal Justice. Enright has worked with many cases to find if the convicted are truly guilty. Enright has come to the conclusion, if someone who is convicted is not guilty, they are the worst person to help prove their innocence. She explains this to Koenig; Koenig worries though that Syed might just be this charming sociopath, to which Enright replies, “The odds of you getting the charming sociopath, you’re just not that lucky.”
Eileena Luu Mrs. Eddins English II Honors 03/30/23 Opening Statement Greetings, people of the jury, my name is Eileena Luu. I am here to represent the prosecution of Adnan Syed who murdered Hae Min Lee. When Hae told Adnan that she would be breaking up with him for the final time he was heart-wrenched as if someone had taken a piece of him away. Sadness and anguish continued to consume him more after he found out that Hae would quickly find another partner to share her love with.
Looking at another person’s perspective of the case, Katie Clifford, in her view, “In our files, we have a lot of things, evidence they collected that got sent off and we don’t have reports for everything and we are curious about the results that we don’t have and whether or not those exist and just why they’re not in the files that we have.” Katie Clifford is one of Deirdre Enright’s students, Adnan’s former lawyer. Moreover, since we are considering possible suspects we should talk about how Adnan became the star suspect of this
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.
Adnan Syed couldn’t have killed his former high school girlfriend, Hae Lee, 20 years ago: “I know it’s physically impossible for people to be in two places at one time.” Syed, the subject of Sarah Koenig’s hit podcast “Serial” and Amy Berg’s HBO docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” was convicted of killing Lee, his ex-girlfriend, in 1999. But McClain, who was never called to testify during the first trial, said she had a 20-minute conversation with Syed in their high school’s library at the same time prosecutors say Lee was murdered”. Another witness who testified to seeing Adnan was Rabia, She claims to have gone into the library and saw Adnan printing papers, they even managed to chat for a bit, As Koenig comments, “And she told me, that
The couple carefully framed Mr. Syed, but important clues that can lead to their incrimination were carelessly left
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.
Furthermore, Chou points out that many pieces of evidence, including testimony from Syed's classmate Asia McClain, who claimed to have seen him at the library at the time of the murder, may have offered an alibi for Syed. The Innocence Project, an organization that tries to justify wrongfully convicted people, has also expressed interest in Adnan Syed's case. They claim that "the evidence against Syed was extremely weak, consisting of testimony from one person who has since recanted, and cell phone records that have since been discredited" (see "Adnan Syed Case"). Furthermore, according to the Innocence Project, there was no physical evidence linking Syed to the crime scene, and several pieces of evidence, such as Asia McClain's testimony, were not introduced at
Jair Lopez Mr. Scrymgeour English 13 April 2023 Adnan Syed’s False Conviction According to a study by Georgia Innocence Project, it is said that in the United States, between 4-6% of people serving time in prison are actually innocent and have been wrongfully convicted. This means that 5% of inmates are not guilty. 1 out of 20 criminal cases results in a wrongful conviction. It is possible that Adnan Syed could have been wrongfully convicted for the murder of Hae Min Lee because of his race, culture, or religion.
According to an article in Rolling Stone magazine, Syed’s guilt is clear due to incriminating evidence. Cell phone records indicate that on the night January 13, 1999, he was in the area where Lee’s body was located (McDonnell-Parry). Additionally, Jay Wilds, a primary witness and friend at the time, testified that on the day of Lee’s disappearance Adnan Syed was angry about his ex-girlfriend having started a new relationship with someone else and that he wanted to kill her (McDonnell-Parry). This reaction to her moving on further incriminated him because it gave him a motive to kill her (McDonnell-Parry). Through this evidence, the prosecuting attorneys presented a convincing argument against Adnan
The O.J. Simpson case, one of the most influential cases in legal history, introduced the world to reality television, heightened the demand for celebrity gossip, and paved the way for the current twenty four hour news system. However, the trial is just as controversial as it is influential leading the jury’s verdict to be questioned at every opportunity. The erroneous handling of evidence, the biases of not only the police but the jury, and favorable circumstances on O.J. Simpson’s part led to a not guilty verdict. The Jury in the O.J. Simpson trial had no choice but to declare Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. Some people believe the jury made the wrong choice and that there was sufficient evidence for a guilty verdict.
Serial, a podcast narrated by Sarah Koenig, explores the complexities of justice and truth to bring awareness about the trial of Adnan Syed. This trial is based on the murder of Hae Min Lee, with Adnan being the main accusation, mainly because he was Hae’s ex boyfriend. Throughout the podcast, Koenig discusses how the conviction within this trial was made without having any hard physical evidence. She brings this up to then evaluate the evidence the court uses, which tends to either be inconsistent or conflicting. This questions the credibility of the case and brings up the fact that bias could have played a role in the case.
Circumstantial evidence has proven to be powerful where there is little or no direct evidence, and is also more credible in relation to error rates of wrongfully convicted crimes. However, the use of