Podcast Serial Case Study

Adnan Syed, senior at Woodlawn High School, was accused of the murder of his ex girlfriend Hae Min Lee and has been locked up for about 16 years now. Picture this, it’s the beginning of second semester, Adnan’s senior year, and his girlfriend has gone missing a month after their breakup. Who’s to blame? The only reasonable suspect would be the “jealous” Muslim ex boyfriend that was upset about her new boyfriend, or perhaps just simply wanted revenge on her for breaking up with him, or was just a psychopath all along. Having jealousy, wanting revenge, being a psychopath or just having extremely bad luck, whatever it was, caused him to get put behind bars for a crime that he is not guilty of.

Jarrell Milton was initially charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder, but the prosecutors said “that they did not believe Jarrell Milton was the shooter, and his charges were reduced.” The Judge ordered Jarrell to be held at the youth center in secure placement for as of now. The Judge also said “if he was found guilty he would not go to prison, but he would go to a facility known as Boys Town or a rehab center in Kearney and remain under the court’s jurisdiction until the age of 19.” As for the Jamar and Shuntayvious Primes-Willis they were both charged as adults with first-degree murder. Jamar’s attorney requested that his case be moved to juvenile court, but his request got denied mostly because of his age. Primes-Willis also made

When presenting their cases, hosts in true crime podcasts narrate in an unbiased and serious manner to emphasize the seriousness of the matter and to allow the reader to draw their own opinions. In Serial, Sarah Koenig investigates the murder of Hae Min Lee and as part of her investigation, she interviews Adan Syed, the boyfriend convicted of her murder. Above all, Koenig does not treat Syned as guilty but rather plays both sides by saying things such as “Maybe Adnan really is innocent. But what if he isn't? “(Koenig) and allows the listener to come up with their own conclusions. Similarly, Payne Lindsey, Phoebe Judge, and Marc Smerling do this in their podcasts as well, allowing the listeners to be attentive and become Sherlock Holmes for a

What are these wrongdoings you ask? Kang claims that Serial is not so much about the cold case it is investigating, but more so the producer and narrator, Sarah Koenig’s, fixation on the case. He also believes that while Koenig may be well intentioned, she is interpreting and making assumptions on facts of the lives of people within minority communities involved with the case. Another writer, Yang asserts that This American Life’s method of narrative journalism displays “cultural clumsiness” (Yang qtd. Friedersdorf). Friedersdorf argues that these allegations

As I began to type the opening paragraph for my argument paper over the hit podcast “Serial,” I began to realize I was in serious trouble as the words refused to flow. Even without any formal writing education, I prided myself on my ability to write, and convey my ideas with ease through the means of a keyboard. By the end of these pages, it is my hope that you the reader, will be able to get a sense of the adversities I had faced, and what helped me develop my writing process, and abilities.

Detectives questioned Mr. Sweeney for approximately 36 hours without breaks and without legal counsel. During the interrogation Mr. Sweeney provided information about previous and future planned attacks. Based on the evidence found at the residence and the confessions of Mr. Sweeney, he was subsequently charged with a number of crimes including terrorist attacks. The jury found Mr. Sweeney guilty and convicted him of conspiracy, domestic terrorism, and murder.

Further, if JR goes five years without incident after her release, her criminal record may be cleared in accordance to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). This is a fundamental controversy within JR’s sentencing. The actions that were carried out by JR and Steinke on April 23rd, were not only heinous, but were also premeditated. JR was fully cognizant of her actions that morning; in contrast, Steinke was high off of pot, cocaine, ecstasy, beer, wine and vodka when he committed his actions (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). Friends of Steinke also reported that he made many attempts to talk JR out of her plans for them to murder her family (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). He confided to his friends that JR would most likely end their relationship if he did not kill her family, which would have been devastating for Steinke, (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). At trial, Jr’s defense often attempted to portray her as an innocent little girl who was a victim of a disturbed predator (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). In contrast, and as the prosecutor pointed out, much of the evidence incriminated JR as the actual mastermind of the homicides (Remington & Zickefoose, 2010). Wilson (2013) would align himself with those who advocate for a lengthier sentence, stating

No one can be convicted of a crime if his or her guilt is proven “beyond a reasonable doubt”; A trial, which lacks of factual proof and shows any discriminated against the defendant or bias toward the accused, was not acceptable. Kevin Urick, who was Syed’s prosecutor at the time, is firm with his doubt that Syed is guilty because Syed’s cellphone records, which received or make a call in Leakin Park the evening that Lee disappeared, collaborated with Wilds’ testimony. Urick uses this call to accuse that Syed was kidnapped and killed Lee in leakin Park that evening; however, Urick’s accuse was not accurate enough for the call was incoming call. In Serial, Koenig points out that AT&T, the cellphone company that Syed used, will chard for call that unanswered for an unreasonable time, which is

His condition was soon considered as “stable.” However news implied that Nidal was in a comba. On November 7th, the medical center Nidal was stationed at, shared that he was taken off of the ventilator, regained consciousness, and is now able to talk. On November 21st a hearing was held in Nidal's hospital room (Nidal 7). During the trials Nidal stated, “the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter” (Jonsson 1. During these events, authorities and media made sure to be careful when talking about his Muslim religion because they did not know for sure if it played a part in his actions (“Massacre” 1). People are seeking justice in the case against Nidal. Munley, a survivor of the attack states, how some families of the victims “want to see him sentenced to death” (Jervis 4). She also states, that “there is not one victim who is not fed up” (Jervis 3). Munley also shares how some victims she has talked to are split whether Nidal deserves to die or if life in prison and sitting in a wheelchair is enough. “Those in Killean, had been following the trial with a mix of dismay over the case’s pace and anger.” “At Papa’s Cafe, In nearby Harker Heights, Beverly Tuggle, at the age of 65,” says that the case of Nidal Hasan is as common talked about topic among friends (Jervis 4). Jury eventually decided that Nidal was found guilty and a unanimous vote that he should be executed was

For the Podcast Listening assignment, I decided to choose a Podcast that dealt with a topic that we discussed in my Psychopathology class, and that connected with the field of social work. The Podcast is presented by Jonathan Singer and in the Podcast he interviews a faculty from Florida State University about the DSM-5 and their thoughts on the subject.

The story follows Freytag’s pyramid dramatic structure which consists of 5 main stages but through a contemporary nonfiction story. Understanding plot structure of tragedies like Serial is a vital skill for readers to learn so they can interpret the author's purpose. During a murder case motifs and themes are predominant from cross referencing interviews of multiple witnesses and those who are close to the defence and prosecution. Allegations are made and the vilitaty of them are assessed by the court which allows readers to interpret the significance and relevance of information due to Adnan’s multiple court cases. The podcasts plot provides back story and character development which listeners become invested in, which can help students understand the power of plot development. This is crucial in court cases because the opposition and the defense paint different pictures of the one in question. These are all basic ideas that any English classes want students to learn, but Serial is a superior alternative than

In the documentary Serial is about a 16 year old boy named Adnan that was convicted for murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee. Hae was murdered and buried on January 13th, 1999 in a forest named Leakin Park. She could have been murdered by a couple of people during that time but Adnan was the one who everyone thought murdered Hae. Everyone thought that it was Adnan cause he was her ex-boyfriend or had a motive mostly because of the kind of person that he was appeared to be.

In episode 12 of Serial,  the narrator describes the vast amount of inconsistencies the evidence has against Adnan Syed. For example, his friend Jay has given several variations of stories on his whereabouts the night of her death. Serial digs deeper and searches telephone history, proving Jay was being dishonest. This one example of miscommunication and false evidence is a big enough

5 years, that’s 1,826 days, 43,824 hours, 2,629,440 minutes and 127,766,400 seconds. That is exactly how long it’s been since the SNDPODCAST was founded. 191 total episodes (recording 192 on 10/12), between YouTube, podbean, iTunes, soundcloud and a lot of other places. What a ride it has been, and what a ride we have planned for the future.

Cons - The con for gaming is, in my eyes, just the fact that they can tend to distract from other “real life” things. When you got homework, but you have just one more; you can fill in the blank. Games are great and all but even I’m guilty of this one. I’d much rather play my Ps4 than get that stack of homework done, I can always do it later, but then later I’ll say the