Adnan Syed is released!

[Squisita]

Adnan Syed was yesterday released from jail, after a judge ruled that the state violated its obligation to share evidence with the defence that would have helped his case.

Having listened to the Serial podcast about the case, I think this was the right decision and it's come 22 years too late. Based on the evidence, Adnan should have been acquitted.

I hope this now opens the path to finding Hae Min Lee's real killer.

Didn’t he beat an ex girlfriend up? Maybe he liked Hae and she rejected him?

If he killed her and was worried he could be implicated, what better way to try and get out of it than to try and set up someone else, particularly an ex boyfriend that would be a more likely suspect. By saying he was there but didn’t do it and blaming someone else, he’s far more likely to get away with a murder charge and get a lower sentence, maybe even get off scott free (which he did). Its just self preservation and damage limitation.

I’m a very cynical (and crime obsessed! 😂) person and this Jay is just not convincing me with his ‘story’. I’m not buying it.

I’m not convinced 100% either way at the moment. But there’s certainly enough inconsistencies I’m seeing to warrant a re-trial.

But then you could say the same about Brendan Dassey in the Teresa Halbach case or Jessie Misskelley in the West Memphis case. Granted they both had severe learning difficulties, but lots of people who have been proven innocent by DNA have falsely confessed, I think it’s something like 25%

I listened to the new podcast today and she says that she thinks it’s very unlikely they’ll retry Adnan.

I thought he was guilty when I listened to the podcast. Jay knew where her car was, so it seemed he had some connection to the crime but there didn’t seem to be any motive or case for him to be the murderer, therefore more likely that he was telling the truth. Hearing the news now, I wondered if maybe the police actually leaked the car location to him, to build the case against Adnan

They won’t re-try him. They literally have no evidence.

Adnan has an alibi witness
the cell tower evidence is unreliable/inadmissible
jay has given about 5 different versions of events which evolved to fit the police’s (incorrect) understanding of the timeline/cell tower evidence
Jay was clearly coached/coerced by police
The lividity and forensic evidence entirely disprove’s the state’s timeline (and strengthens Adnan’s alibi) (Hae could not have been buried until 8-12 hours after she died)
The DNA analysis of 12 samples found no match to Adnan (17 year olds in the 1990’s weren’t forensically aware)
Hae’s boyfriend’s (Don’s) alibi for that evening is dodgy as fuck (his mum and a faked timesheet)
Don never called Hae after she died even though they had a date that night that she never showed up for (apparently), but despite her no-showing him he never called her once.
Don was out overnight and unable to return the call from the police asking if he’d seen Hae until almost 2am (no alibi for this time period and never investigated)
Hae’s body was discovered by a known sex offender despite being off the beaten track and well away from any passers by. How did he find her?
Another suspect in the case was heard threatening to kill Hae and had a motive and opportunity to do so.

Adnan has spent his entire adult life in prison based on coercive/lazy/islamaphobic policing.

he was a 17 year old child, in the gifted and talented programme, with his entire future ahead of him.

Hae was a beautiful talented and well-loved girl with immense potential.

both had their futures destroyed by prejudice, bigotry and hatred.

Totally agree with @FurAndFeathers

For what's it's worth I think he is innocent, however even if he isn't I am glad he is out of prison. I'd rather a guilty man go free than an innocent man spend his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The justice system does in theory too, hence 'beyond reasonable doubt'. The evidence against him was ridiculous, he should never have been convicted. The new information coming out with regards to the Brady violation is outrageous.

My heart goes out the the family of Hae but it does them no favours for the wrong man to be doing the time.

This is it. There’s so much stuff that just doesn’t correlate. And so many things the police didn’t investigate.

Seems like they focussed solely on Adnan and ignored any other investigations into anything that could disprove their theory.

There’s just too many holes and lack of conclusive evidence (if any!) in the entire case for it to not be re-examined.

It was Don.

I'm pleased, although the death of Hae should be front and centre, what is often most shocking about these types of podcasts is the seriously dodgy justice system in the US where witnesses are often incentivised or threatened, evidence made to fit whatever (usually not white) suspect and then the whole plea system where prosecution don't really need to make a case because they get a guilty plea just from offering a more threatening sentence. The police in Baltimore were dodgy as anything at that time.

If Adnan is found guilty then fair enough but it needs to be done properly for everyone's sake, because if he didn't do it, there's been another killer on the loose for 20 years.

It is a fascinating case. But I just hope a proper satisfactory ending for Hae's family can come from this. Such an appalling thing to happen.

I think it might have been. They certainly didn't look at him closely enough, in my opinion.

you need hard evidence of guilt to keep somebody in prison
Exactly, and they don't have it. Which is why he should be acquitted even if he's guilty. If that sounds shocking, think for a second: what if, through a bizarre set of circumstances, it really really looked to an outsider as though you had committed a murder, when you didn't? If looking at the case objectively, you could say 'Yes, I absolutely see why everyone would think I'm guilty, but I'm innocent'. If we don't have the beyond a reasonable doubt requirement, that's you in prison for life.

They won’t re-try him - his conviction has been quashed on application by the PROSECUTION - this isn’t some tricksy move by the defence. The State is looking at other people for this crime.

wasnt the west Memphis thing based on satanic panic which is entirely known to be bollocks now and one had an alibi where loads of people had seen him at an event miles away?

I agree that it very well could be! They barely did any investigation on the guy!

His gf doesn’t show up to meet him and goes missing and he doesn’t even try to call her? His mother is his alibi and his work timesheet is sketchy at best.

How they never even bothered to investigate this guy is beyond me. Awful, awful police work.

Yes, that was Jessie Misskelley, it was a wrestling match I think. He also changed his story countless times.

If I remember correctly there is a police interview with Jay where you can hear some highly suspicious tapping, like maybe a policeman tapping on a map, when Jay is ‘recounting the events’.

In the beginning, I did think, ‘well Adnan’s certainly guilty, or he’s got some very bloody bad luck’ because all the facts that Jay was saying matched up with what Adnan was doing. Because I didn’t know back then how corrupt police can be re. feeding information to people and guiding the confessions. Now I’ve listened to many more podcasts I’ve had my eyes opened somewhat.

I’m happy for Adnan, but Hae’s family deserves much sympathy, I can’t imagine how horrific this whole thing has been, and continues to be, for them all.

Now someone needs to get Brendan Dassey out of prison, his incarceration and subsequent denials for retrials, etc. makes a mockery of the American justice system. Anyone can see that boy (well, man now) hasn’t done anything and the judges who continue to deny him any help should have a look at themselves.

I read the court transcripts for this case. Ghoulish of me but it fascinated me. I don't think it was just satanic panic. Damien Echols had a long history of violence and torture of animals, plus made some very dodgy comments. Jessie confessed to his own lawyer, even allowing for his learning difficulties and police leaning on him. Not just to police.

But the police botched it up again and there was certainly reasonable doubt. Ì don't think the victims will ever get justice.

The other case that fascinates me is JonBenet Ramsey.

Need to go back to Serial because I can't remember much of it. But it was my first ever podcast!

Have a listen to the Shreds podcast (bbc) for examples of how the UK used to do exactly the the same. Thank goodness for PACE
though I’d also strongly recommend the detectives dilemma (Spotify) to understand how PACE raises some challenges too

The truth and justice podcast did a deep dive on this.
it was certainly a poor investigation with coerced confessions.
even now they refuse to test the DNA

Damien Echols was an arrogant teen boy (aren’t they all?) but he was arrogant because he was young and naive and believed in the justice system

Another almost impossible one to deep-dive is Darlie Routier. Terrible case. At the end of the day my opinion is the same as for Adnan; I think she's guilty but should be released as there is reasonable doubt.

There is a FANTASTIC 9 part series of the Crime Show (Spotify) covering the satanic panic generally that includes a couple of case examples. Its a terrifying/heartbreaking example of social contagion/hysteria

Isn't there talk of a retrial?

Yes I honestly can’t decide with that one. But probably agree. Such a difficult one.

Yes but I can’t see it actually happening. There’s zero evidence.

For those interested in this case Laura Richards has done an episode on her podcast Crime Analyst going through the report that lead to AS release. It was fairly indepth and very interesting. It is episode 94. My Two Cents: State of Maryland v Adnan Syed, Adnan is FREE!

Well worth a listen.