Adnan Syed Case

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 is 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 evidence against them, yet the use of circumstantial evidence is used by the crown. That is happened to a 17 year old boy Adnan Syed in Baltimore, Maryland, who was imprisoned for life for the alleged murder of Hae Min Lee. Throughout the serial podcast, Sarah Koenig is able to analyze information which proves Adnan’s innocence.

Soon after Adnan Syed, the ex- boyfriend, of Hae was arrested by the police and was sentenced life in prison. The case against Adnan was based on the testimony of Adnan’s friend, Jay. Jay testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae’s body, but Jay’s story does not match up with the cell phone records, and seems to change every time it is told. The prosecution argued that Adnan killed Hae Lee because he felt betrayed, and that he sacrificed his religion for her. Christina Gutierrez, Adnan’s lawyer, provided ineffective assistance to Adnan. She missed Asia’s alibi which would have helped prove Adnan’s innocence. Throughout all of this Adnan has maintained that he had nothing to do with the murder of Hae Min

Firstly, Jay was not afraid to lie in order to get out of punishment. In Jay’s second interview, detective McGillivray pointed out the lies Jay had told them so far and asked him why he lied about the location of Hae’s murder. Jay responded by saying that he was worried about camera’s that spotted him. The detective followed up by asking if he did not commit the murder why was he worried. To that Jay responded he was “associated”. Jay was scared that the truth would get him in trouble, so he lied. Secondly, Jay’s testimony had faults and changed every time it was told. For example, the number of days before Adnan told him he was going to kill Hae changed every time. In jay’s first interview he said Adnan told him the same day, in the second interview he was told four to five days in advance. Another example is the location where Adnan killed Hae. In the second interview Jay says in the parking lot of best buy, in Jay’s third interview he says Patapsco Park. There is also a fault in his story. Jay tells the detectives that Adnan called him from a payphone at BestBuy, and told him to come pick him up. According to the serial podcast team, there was no phone booth at that location, and it wasn’t in the blueprints for that BestBuy. These inconsistencies raise reasonable doubts to whether Jay is telling the truth. The fact that Jay lies to the police, and the inconsistencies and faults in