The Case Of Adnan Syed

Christina McBarron
Ms. McManus
English II Honors
5 April 2023
The Unprofessional Case of Adnan Syed
Adnan Syed was only seventeen years old when the police visited his home in the middle of the night and violently shook him awake and removed him from his own bed. With officers haranguing him saying, “We know what you did”, the defenseless teenager was bewildered. Adnan never saw this coming, as he had no idea what he was being arrested for. He was later tried and found guilty of the first-degree murder of Hae Min Lee. On the surface, it would appear that Adnan Syed committed this crime. He was named the main suspect because of his connection with Hae Min Lee as her ex-boyfriend. Also, there was testimony given by Jay Wilds, who directly states

On top of that, he was convicted and given a life sentence in prison. Adnan had spent over fifteen years there with no chance of getting out until the hit podcast, Serial hosted by Sarah Koeing, brought new facts to light about this shut-and-closed case. This podcast as well as, Undisclosed created by Rabia Chaudry, Susan Simpson, and Colin Miller, both explain and analyze the facts of the case: known and unknown. With this all in mind, the court unfairly convicted Adnan Syed. To start, the court wrongfully accepted the discombobulated testimony of Jay Wilds. Jay Wilds was the year above Adnan and Hae but still hung around the school because of his girlfriend, Stephanie. Jay worked in a pornographic store and had previously been arrested for selling pot (Episode 4). Jay had already had a rap sheet, yet his testimony was still fully accepted without question. There was little debate over the fact that Jay could have been lying. This makes no sense, as he already had a track record of being a criminal. 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

The court should not have accepted Jay’s testimony. He had a known rap sheet that was promptly ignored by the police. The multiple tellings of his story varied from time to time, and his stories were coached by the police. He is unreliable, and should not have been ignored as a suspect altogether. Adnan also had an ineffective council. Cristina Guiterez angered the jury and blatantly disregarded evidence about a potential alibi. The jury was also biased towards Jay, and biased against Adnan when he did not speak on his own behalf. All of these factors contributed to his guilty conviction. Had they been reassessed, he would have been named innocent. Adnan was only a teenager when he was originally convicted of the crime of Hae Min Lee, however, the only people who were acting childish were the police, the jury, and Cristina Gutierrez. Adnan handled his trial in a respectable and mature manner, however, the same can not be said about those around him. If only all aspects of the court had been respected, and Jay’s testimony not accepted, Adnan may have been walking free today. Instead, he remains locked away as a result of the faulty trial he