Who is Adnan Syed and what did he do?
Maryland’s highest court on Friday reinstated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose case gained fame after the "Serial" podcast examined his cause. Syed was convicted of killing Hae Min Lee, a former girlfriend and Woodlawn High School classmate, in 1999 and then burying her body in Leakin Park in Baltimore.
What's new in Adnan Syed's case?
(CNN) The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office and Adnan Syed, whose case became nationally known in the "Serial" podcast that ran in 2014, have agreed to request "additional forensic testing," including enhanced DNA tests, in the case, the office announced.
What is Serial podcast about?
Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole season. Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland – who disappeared January 13, 1999. A month later, her body turned up in a city park.
Was Adnan Syed’s fingerprint evidence against him?
This is a Global-Tel link prepaid call from Adnan Syed an inmate at a Maryland Correctional facility… From This American Life and WBEZ Chicago it’s Serial. One story told week by week. I’m Sarah Koenig. The most incriminating piece of physical evidence against Adnan Syed was a fingerprint, or rather, a palm print. On a map.
Who is Adnan in Serial podcast?
In the 2019 HBO docuseries "The Case Against Adnan Syed," an attorney for Syed said his client's DNA was not found on any of the 12 samples retrieved from the victim's body and car. That testing was not part of the official investigation by authorities. HBO, like CNN, is a unit of WarnerMedia.
Where is Adnan Syed today?
He stood trial twice for her murder and was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years. Syed is incarcerated at the state's Patuxent Institution in Jessup.
Who is the killer in Serial podcast?
Adnan Syed, the incarcerated subject of the popular podcast "Serial," will get another shot at overturning his murder conviction and life sentence after a court granted his request to reopen his appeal.
What happened to the Serial podcast?
The "Serial" podcast popularized Syed's case in 2014, and two years later, he won a new trial in appeals. However, the state appealed that decision. In 2018, an appellate court upheld the ruling for a new trial, but a year later, Maryland's highest court sided with the state.
Can I write to Adnan Syed?
Did you know ANYONE can write a letter of support to Adnan? While he may not have the time a resources to write back to everyone, he does read the letters he receives. Please keep in mind cards and/or postcards are not allowed and will be returned by the facility.
What nationality is Adnan Syed?
AmericanAdnan Syed / Nationality
How did Adnan and Hae break up?
Both of them, but especially Adnan Syed, were under special pressure at home, and the stress of that spilled over into their relationship. Eventually Hae broke up with Adnan.
What was Jay Wilds punishment?
Wilds, who was an acquaintance of Syed, confessed to helping Syed bury Lee's body, though he originally denied having anything to do with the murder. He did not go to prison, though. For his testimony, Wilds was given probation instead of a jail sentence for his said involvement in the crime.
Why is the Nisha call important?
The Nisha Call is one of the strongest pieces of evidence suggesting that Adnan isn't innocent. But that isn't saying much. It's a 3:32 pm call on January 13, 1999, on Adnan's cell phone records to Nisha, a friend of his who did not know Jay. Nisha testified in trial that she spoke to both Jay and Adnan.
How long did Adnan Syed get?
On February 25, 2000, the jury found Syed guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and robbery. Syed was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years and Syed's family immediately fired Gutierrez following the verdict.
What happened to Joshua from Serial?
Josh was arrested about 10 days later after he ran from police officers responding to a report of a man with a gun, records say. Josh did not have a gun on him, the records say. Josh's problems continued while he was being housed in Cuyahoga County's juvenile detention center.
How old is Adnan Syed?
41 years (May 21, 1981)Adnan Syed / Age
The Alibi
A potential alibi surfaces … and then disappears again, at the worst possible time for Adnan’s case.
The Breakup
Friends say Adnan was sad when Hae dumped him, but not crazy sad - normal sad. The prosecutors say he was rage-filled and vengeful. Which is it?
Leakin Park
Three weeks after Hae goes missing, a man discovers her body in the middle of a city forest. But his story is strange and his past is even stranger. Did he really just stumble on her by accident?
Inconsistencies
The detectives get a lead that opens the case up for them. They bring Jay in for questioning and he tells them the story of January 13th. But then, a few weeks later, his story changes.
Route Talk
Adnan once issued a challenge to Sarah: Recreate the state’s timeline of the murder by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes. It can’t be done, he said. So, we tried.
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence prosecutors had against Adnan, including curious behavior, a dramatic note, and an unexplained mid-afternoon phone call.
The Opposite of the Prosecution
Sarah learned about another case with striking similarities to Adnan’s: a key witness, cell records, young people, drugs. So she called up the defense attorney on that case looking for insight, and got much more than she bargained for.
What is serial podcast?
Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life.
Who is Adnan's friend?
Detectives’ notes from an interview with Adnan’s friend Ja’uan Gordon.
What is Asia's second letter to Adnan?
Asia's second letter to Adnan. In this one, she gives him a sense of the mood inside Woodlawn High School and the reaction to his arrest. Asia's Affidavit, March 25, 2000. Asia wrote this affidavit soon after Adnan was convicted, at the request of Rabia Chaudry, a friend of Adnan's family.
When was the call log from Adnan's cell phone?
This is the call log from Adnan's cell phone for January 12 and January 13, 1999. Cell Tower Map. This is a map of the key locations in the story and the cell towers that were triggered by Adnan's cell phone on January 13, 1999. Ja’uan Gordon Interview, April 9, 1999.
Who testified at Adnan's trial?
And it comes from, of all people, the cell phone expert who testified at Adnan’s trial. Abraham Waranowitz.
Who hosts this American life?
A podcast from the creators of This American Life. One story. Told week by week. Hosted by Sarah Koenig.
Did Asia McClain testify at Adnan's hearing?
Asia's Notes From a Call With the Prosecutor, 2010. Asia McClain didn’t testify about her alibi affidavit in Adnan’s first post-conviction hearing in 2010.
What was Syed's post-conviction case?
Syed's post-conviction case centered on Gutierrez's failure to call a potential alibi witness and to challenge cellphone tower records that showed him in the area where Lee's body was found. Both issues were examined by the podcast.
Who was Syed's lawyer?
The Maryland Court of Appeals found that Syed received a “deficient performance” from his defense lawyer, the late Cristina Gutierrez, but the weight of the evidence still pointed toward guilt.
Is the case against Adnan Syed on HBO?
An HBO docuseries, "The Case Against Adnan Syed" debuts on Sunday. Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed at Junior Prom. HBO. Prosecutors asked for the conviction of Syed, now 38, to be reinstated, and Maryland’s high court found in favor of the state.
Was there an alibi witness in the Adnan case?
"There was a credible alibi witness who was with Adnan at the precise time of the murder and now the Court of Appeals has said that witness would not have affected the outcome of the proceeding," according to Brown's statement. "We think just the opposite is true. From the perspective of the defendant, there is no stronger evidence than an alibi witness."
What did Hae and Adnan write to Adnan?
After Hae and Adnan broke up, in early November, Hae had written Adnan a frustrated letter…. “I’m really getting annoyed that this situation is going the way it is” she wrote, “you know, people break up all the time. Your life is not going to end. You’ll move on and I’ll move on.
What was the most incriminating piece of evidence against Adnan Syed?
The most incriminating piece of physical evidence against Adnan Syed was a fingerprint, or rather, a palm print. On a map. It was one of those big map books you buy at a gas station, police found it in the backseat of Hae’s car. On the back cover was a partial print of Adnan’s left palm.
What did the ripped out page show?
The ripped out page showed a whole lot more than just Leakin Park. In fact, it showed their whole neighborhood, the school, the malls, probably ninety percent of where they most often drove. And that page didn’t have Adnan’s prints on it.
Why was Hae's school cancelled?
The seriousness of Hae’s disappearance didn’t start sinking in with her friends for a while. School was cancelled on January 14th and 15th because of the ice storm, then the weekend came. Then Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so the kids didn’t all reconvene at school until the following Tuesday. All of Hae’s friends I spoke to said they initially thought Hae had either run off someplace with her new boyfriend Don or, this was another rumor that a lot of people talked about at the time, that she’d run off to California. Friends said she talked about that sometimes, that her dad, or maybe it was her step dad, was in California, and she wanted to go there. They told the cops the same thing.
What is Adnan's biggest fear?
Adnan says his biggest fear is not being believed. When he’s sure about something, he has a tendency to over explain, to inundate you with facts and information, and then corroboration for the facts and information. He doesn’t like this tendency in himself, but he says he can’t help it. Adnan Syed.
What did the friend say to the man who popped the trunk?
He was, he was, with a friend and the friend said something like, ‘look what I have’ and he popped the trunk and that’s what he saw.
Did Adnan ask Hae for a ride?
Office Adcock testified that the day she disappeared, Adnan told him he’d asked her for a ride. Adnan then later told a different cop he didn’t ask for a ride. Then, you know how Adnan says he can’t remember much at all about the day Hae went missing? How it was just a normal day to him, nothing much stands out? I’ve wondered about that. The normalness of the day, because, wouldn’t the call from Officer Adcock asking, whether he’s seen Hae just in and of itself, wouldn’t that call make it a not normal day?
How old was Adnan when he was arrested?
A reminder: Adnan was 17 years old when he was arrested for this crime. If we’re going to lock up a teenager for the rest of his life based on a seriously flawed case, then the least we can do is allow him another crack at the courtroom after not one, but two Maryland courts have declared that his conviction should be vacated. This isn’t how I want my criminal justice system to function. (For more on that, see Serial Season Three .)
Was the Alibi witness heard at Adnan's trial?
A major alibi witness (Asia) was never heard from at Adnan’s trial. Another important witness (from AT&T) now says he can’t stand by his testimony. Almost all the judges who’ve looked at this case agree that Adnan’s trial attorney (Cristina) was deficient.
Did Cristina Gutierrez screw up Adnan?
That judge found that Adnan’s attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, had screwed up — objectively screwed up — in two ways. One error was her failure to contact Asia McClain, a potential alibi witness. But, the judge said, that error didn’t prejudice Adnan’s case (in other words, the lawyer’s mistake wouldn’t necessarily have changed the guilty verdict). Instead, the error the circuit judge was concerned with, was Gutierrez’s failure to properly cross-examine a cell-tower expert from AT&T. He said that mistake might well have affected the outcome of Adnan’s case. So based on that deficiency, the judge granted Adnan a new trial.
Is Adnan Syed getting a new trial?
Adnan Syed’s Conviction Reinstated. Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, has denied a new trial for Adnan Syed. The decision was close (4-3); it’s momentous, and possibly, final. To Adnan and his legal team, it came as a terrible shock. But Adnan’s attorney, Justin Brown, says they’re not giving up.
Why did Christina Gutierrez not use Asia McClain as an alibi witness?
The judge wrote in his opinion that Christina Gutierrez's decision not to use Asia McClain as an alibi witness was strategic. After all, Asia's original letters didn't specify an exact time. And Gutierrez could've reasonably concluded that Asia was offering to lie in order to help Adnan.
How long did Asia talk to Adnan?
Asia wrote out an affidavit on the spot. In it, she says she and Adnan spoke for about 15 to 20 minutes while she was waiting for her boyfriend to give her a ride. Quote, "We left around 2:40," unquote. Remember, Hae is supposed to be dead by 2:36. And then, the kicker-- "No attorney has ever contacted me about January 13, 1999 and the above information."
What happened on January 13th?
Jay had graduated from school the year before and was working, but not on that day. January 13 happens to be the birthday of Jay's girlfriend, Stephanie. And Jay, who didn't have his own car, needed to go buy something for her.
What was the cause of death of Hae?
The cause of death was manual strangulation, meaning someone did it with their hands. A couple weeks after that, so six weeks after she first went missing, Hae's ex-boyfriend, a guy named Adnan Syed, was arrested for her murder. He's been in prison ever since.
What is genius music?
Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love.
Why do you use bold and italics in a song?
Use Bold and Italics only to distinguish between different singers in the same verse.
Where was Hae Lee's body found?
About a month later, on February 9, Hae's body was found in a big park in Baltimore, really a rambling forest. A maintenance guy who said he'd stopped to take a leak on his way to work discovered her there.
What is serialis podcast?
Serialis a podcast designed to be listened to in order.
When did Adnan get his phone?
The other is the call logfrom Adnan’s cell phone on January 13th, 1999. Adnan got his cell phone two days before Hae went missing, on January 11th. As Sarah said in Episode 4, the detectives used this call log - listing the times of calls and cell tower locations - to map the crime and corroborate Jay’s story.
What did Adnan tell Sarah?
Adnan once issued a challenge to Sarah. He told her to test the state’s timeline of the murder by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes. It can’t be done, he said. So Sarah and Dana take up the challenge, and raise him one: They try to recreate the entire route that Jay said he and Adnan took on January 13th, 1999.
What year did Jay and Adnan have different memories?
Obviously Adnan and Jay have different memories of Jan. 13, 1999. This graphic lays out the details of those differences. ... Read More
When did Ja'uan interview Adnan?
The detectives interviewed him on April 20, about seven weeks after Adnan had been arrested. Ja’uan told them that sometime after Hae went missing, he and Adnan had gone to the Best Buy parking lot to smoke weed. The detectives asked him why Adnan would choose that spot.
When did Adnan's cell phone explode?
This is a map of the key locations in the story and the cell towers that were triggered by Adnan's cell phone on January 13, 1999.
