Adnan Syed's Innocence: Case Study

The criminal justice system is meant to protect the innocent, and punish those who are guilty of a crime. However, no system is perfect, and as a result, sometimes the innocent become victims of the system that was meant to protect them. How exactly do these innocent people become victims of the system? Sometimes the person gets framed, and the crime scene is staged to point a finger at them. Sometimes, there is no strong physical evidence against them, yet circumstantial evidence is used by the crown to put them away. This happened to a 17 year old boy named Adnan Syed in Baltimore, Maryland, who was imprisoned for life, for the alleged murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Lee. Throughout the Serial podcast, Sarah Koenig is able to critically analyze information which proves Adnan’s innocence. Firstly, Asia’s letters gave Adnan an alibi for the time of the murder. Secondly, Adnan’s innocence can be demonstrated through the lack of any strong evidence and the prosecution’s use of circumstantial evidence which can be disproved. Thirdly, Jay’s constantly changing testimony is not credible evidence of Adnan’s guilt, making him innocent.

Some of the details that Jay knew were impossible for anyone not involved in the crime to know. Jay claims that he went with Adnan to hide Hae’s car. The police later asked him where it was. “He took them to where the car was. That’s a huge thing right there.” (Koenig 8) This piece of information is huge, and completes the entire story for the police. The consistency here is the straw that broke the camel’s back, the camel being Adnan. The police said that they always suspected Adnan, of course, because he was the ex-boyfriend. Jay’s story clicked right in. When he knew where the car was left, it was the biggest thing that proved that Jay wasn’t lying and that Adnan did murder Hae. Jay had to have been with Adnan when Adnan left the car, or else Jay wouldn’t had known where the car

We believe that Jay is guilty. In the next five minutes we will prove to you that Adnan is in fact innocent and why Jay should be in jail. Adnan was close friends with Jay’s girlfriend Stephanie which is what we believe Jay’s motive was to murder Hae. The court convicted Adnan of the murder with the motive of being jealous of Hae’s new relationship. We argue that the motive of jealousy was what made Jay kill Hae Min Lee.

With the State’s defense crumbling without Jay’s testimony, what is the evidence against Adnan? There is physical evidence linking him to the murder, that is undisputable. So what does the state have? A palm print of Adnan’s on the back of an Atlas but not on the most incriminating page is about it for the State. If we stripped this case of Jay and all the “maybe” evidence you’re left with motive. It’s simple because Adnan didn’t have one. He was friends with Hae, Adnan was civil towards her and her new boyfriend, and he himself had already moved on as well. If we put this case back together and include all the so-called evidence then we need an alibi for

Most people don’t think adnan is guilty since there isn’t enough evidence . When you start to look at all the evidence and all the stories that were told it all truly comes back onto adnan. Adnan is guilty for the crime he did because he can’t recall where he was on current day, every speech he has given it falls back on him, and most of all adnan is in every evidence that anyone gives.

The State of Maryland has charged Adnan with Hae’s murder solely using Jay’s alibi as their premise; they overlooked the alibis of former Woodlawn High School students who knew of Adnan, Hae, or Jay. Asia McClain, a

In the first episode of serial (episode #) in one the police tape had jay interview and the police had some simple questions that had to relate to the day of Hae Min Lee disappearance. And of course, jay mention Adnan was at the scene/event. Some minor point of the during the interview. For example, what did Jay and Adnan do after

Although I believe adnan is guilty because he killed hae, some may argue he is innocent because he was a good kid. This reason makes sense because he volunteers to help the community. This part of the story is when adnan and his friends are going to say all of the good things he did. Most people in the community are saying that he was a great kid but he still did bad stuff in the low. This proves that he is innocent because most people knows adnan and most people are saying he was a good guy.

or something. And I sat down next to him. We starting chatting,” by Asia Mclean. This piece of evidence gives Adnan an abili to where he was after school and it causes us to believe that he couldn’t have killed Hae. The final piece of evidence Adnan and how he was during the

A lot of people wonder if Adnan Syed is guilty or innocent, today as a legal assistant I'm going to tell you one important reason why he is innocent. Adnan is not guilty because there is another potential suspect like Jay. Jay's story that "proves" Adnan's guilt, has changed every interview and testimony. Jay had intimate knowledge of the crime he knew things, like if he knew every single thing that Adnan was thinking about which makes everything looked suspicious. Also Jay's stories don't quite match Adnan's cell records.

Jay Wilds should be credited with the murder of Hae Min Lee. This is attributed to

Jay’s account of the story incriminates Adnan as the murderer of Hae. Jay starts off his statement with a conversation that was between him and Adnan. Jay claims that while shopping with Adnan he told him, “he was going to kill that bitch.” Adnan then leaves his car and cell phone with Jay so he can come pick him up after he had killed Hae. Later that afternoon Jay receives a call from Adnan, who tells him, “That bitch is dead. Come and get me. I’m at Best Buy.” Jay claims that when he arrives to pick up Adnan, he is shown Hae’s dead body which is in the back of the car. Jays says that he then drives Adnan back to school so he will have an alibi for Hae’s murder. After track practice Jay says he picked Adnan back up and drove him to Lincoln

There has been a lot of speculation and internal conflict as to who committed Hae’s murder. At some points, I thought that surely Adnan had done it. However at other points, there was no way that he had killed her. Based on the lack of physical evidence against him, I do not believe that Adnan committed the murder.

Not only did eye witnesses say Adnan was linked to the murder he himself told the cops that he received a ride from Hae that day.

The defense demonstrates how ineffective and unreliable the criminal justice system is through the tactics used. The only job Adnan’s lawyer, Christina Gutierrez, had was this: to prove Adnan is innocent. However, undoubtedly, she did not do her investigation properly. For instance, Asia’s letter to Adnan when he is in prison was the key evidence to prove that the State’s timeline was wrong. Asia mentioned speaking to Adnan in the Woodlawn Public library, for 15 to 20 minutes during the time the State’s said Hae was killed. The judge wrote Christina Gutierrez’s, Adnan’s lawyer, not using Asia McClain as an alibi witness was strategic, since there was no specified time in the original letters. There was also the call Asia made to the Prosecutor, Kevin Urick, saying that she only wrote the affidavit because Adnan’s family pressured her. If these were the only facts to consider when trying to comprehend the tactics of the defense, I would say it was a good call. Despite it being a well thought out method it made me wonder, if she has gone to the library and asked to see the footage of the day Asia claims to have held a conversation with Adnan, rather than a disadvantage, the letter would have been beneficial for them, since Adnan now has an alibi. Proving the timeline the State presented to