Accusing an Innocent Person of Committing a Crime: Case Adnan Syed

Life is full of things that are expected and unexpected and unfortunately for Adnan Syed, he got himself in an unexpected situation that changed his life. Adnan Syed, at the time a 17-year-old male who was convicted for the death of the high school senior Hae Min Lee. This case took place in 1999, in Baltimore, she was found strangled in a city park one month later after her disappearance. The major reason in which Adnan has to spend his life in prison is due to the main witness, his friend Jay. Due to the many speculations and unanswered questions about this case, Sarah Koenig a journalist who investigates this case made a podcast called Serial in which she tells her listeners about her findings, to see if she can get to the bottom if Adnan truly is the murderer or was wrongfully convicted. Based on the evidence that was shown and said, it is clear that Adnan Syed is innocent.

During this trial, the main reason Adnan is in Jail is because his case is largely based on the story of one witness his friend Jay, but after looking at all the statements Jay has made many inconsistencies with his story because there have been many times where he said something but then later said something completely different. According to Sarah, she says “ 6 times he’s told what happened each time some details shift some of these discrepancies seem small to me and understandable, but some are more significant and confounding”. For example, some of the smaller changes in his statements Jay has made is in ep 4 when it was said that during his 1st trial after dumping Hae’s body he says both he and Adnan smoke, but then later on he says he was the only one who smoked. Another small change he made is when officer Adcock calls Adnan asking if he knew anything about where Hae was. Jay says they were at a restaurant when he received the call, but then later says he was at a friend's house. This is important because even though these are small changes someone should be consistent because they’re dealing with an important case where they’re trying to figure out who killed Hae. One of the bigger changes Jay makes in his statements is in the 1st tape Jay says Adan calls him at 3:45 to pick him up at Edmondson Ave, then on March 15th he says Adnan told him “That bitch is dead. Come and get me. I'm at Best Buy” This becomes a problematic statement because someone just doesn’t forget a place at a time like this where the supposed suspect says he just finished killing the victim. At this point, the detectives started to question him and his reliability because of not only his change in places but also the story Jay tells about the times things happened which is an hour off of what the cell phone records tell. Overall this proves Jay should not be a reliable witness and can not be trusted for the main reason Adnan is in Jail serving time.

The evidence that was shown and given in this case shouldn’t be used as a reason Adnan murdered Hae because it isn’t sufficient enough to put someone behind bars, but on the contrary, some evidence that was presented should have been looked into more. One of the pieces of evidence that should have been looked into more is the witness that saw Adnan at the library. This is important because at 2:36 Hae was supposedly dead, but Adnan was seen at the library during that time. One of the people that saw Adnan at the library was Asia. Asia had written a letter to Adnan saying “I'm not sure if you remember me talking to you in the library on January 13th, but I remember chatting with you… my boyfriend and his best friend remember seeing you too” According to Asia they stayed talking for about 15-20 min around 2:40, so proves Adnan could not have been with Hae. The reason she remembers this is because she was waiting on her boyfriend who got mad at her because she was talking to Adnan and then remembers school was canceled for 2 days because of a snow storm. This can be trusted because Asia had very specific details as to what happened during that time. In addition, after knowing this information it was not looked into more because they didn't reach out to Asia or the boyfriend and best friend and question her about it. They also didn't check the security cameras to prove if they were actually there because if they would have followed up on this story the case would have turned out differently, but instead “mishandled evidence”. A piece of evidence that is used against Adnan is in episode 6 “ Most incriminating piece of physical evidence against Adnan Syed was a fingerprint or rather a palm print on a map found in the backseat of Hae’s car”. This evidence should not be used against Adnan Syed because you can’t put a timestamp on a fingerprint, so there's no way to tell when the fingerprint ended up on the map. Also, we must consider that Adnan had been in Hae’s car many times before, so the print could have been there from when they were dating. In addition, there were also 13 unidentified prints in her car that could have been investigated more instead at pointing the finger directly at Adnan. Furthermore, some evidence that was found by Hae’s body wasn’t looked into that could have turned out ot be very important. Finally, the evidence, in this case, should have been taken more seriously to help Adnan’s part or the evidence that was found isn’t enough to put Adnan away.

Although some people think Adnan Syed is guilty for the death of the high school senior Hae Min Lee because Adnan supposedly told Jay that he was gonna kill Hae, the fingerprints found in Hae’s car, he didn’t try to contact her after knowing she went missing, and people mentioned he had a “dark” side to him. The argument that Adnan told Jay he was gonna kill Hae for the main reason he is in jail is invalid because after looking at all of Jay’s statements he has made in his tapes and in his trials are very inconsistent, so it makes Jay an unreliable witness plus he was part of the clean up of the crime was done. Also, the evidence of Adnan’s fingerprints found in Hae’s car seems valid because it shouldn’t be ignored, gives another reason for people to believe he was with her and killed her that day; however, like I said before you can’t put a time stamp on fingerprints, so the print could have gotten there by the other times Adnan was with Hae when they were together. In addition, knowing that Adnan didn’t try to contact her after knowing Hae went missing looks bad for Adnan because it seems like he didn't care and was uninterested, but he stated that he got his information by his other friends that knew what was happening so he didn't have the need to ask. Finally, the argument that Adnan had a dark side and was very controlling proves Adnan was fit to do the crime is not valid because according to the mosque they said “I’ve never seen him mad at anybody” and that he was a respectful kid, and the chances of him hurting someone were slim. This can’t be used against him because everybody changes the way they are depending on the person. Clearly, the arguments made against him are invalid and cannot prove he did the crime.

On a final note the case of Hae Min Lee who disappeared and was found dead one month later in a city park in 1999, in Baltimore, Adnan Syed the boy who got all the blame and fingers pointed at during the trial for her death. Unfairly Adnan now spends his life in jail do to all the unfair claims made against him. Based on the evidence Jay is an unreliable witness and can not be trusted on most of the things he says, and the evidence in the case that was not looked furthermore into or was handled unfairly that could have led to a different ending for Adnan proves Adnan shouldn’t be in Jail serving time. This case is very eye-opening because it is an example of many cases that were treated unfairly and it also gives us an idea of how courtroom battles go whether the person thrown in jail is guilty or not or just how easily someone can be seen as guilty.