Unit 2 Activity 4 September 4, 2019
The article, “New Trial Upheld for Adnan Syed of ‘Serial'” is about how he received inadequate counsel for his trial. His original lawyer failed to call a witness whose testimony “would’ve made it impossible for Adnan to have murdered Hae.” Adnan’s new lawyer, Mr. brown, said he was unable to locate the witness, Asia McClain, until Serial had begun investigating Adnan’s story. Asia sent Adnan 2 letters after he was arrested in 1999, stating that she had seen him at Woodlawn Public Library at the time that Hae was killed. After Adnan was convicted, it was determined that Ms. Gutierrez had not contacted Asia. A friend of Adnan’s, Rabia Chaudry, independently reached out to Asia, who signed an affidavit saying that she had seen Adnan at Woodlawn Public Library at the time Hae was killed. Ms. Gutierrez’s failure to interview or contact Asia formed a key part of Adnan’s argument that she had been negligent in her defence of him. He has served 16 years of a life sentence after being convicted in 2000, but has maintained his innocence for almost 2 decades (Liam Stack, March 29, 2018, Para. 16)
The article, “Redditors are trying to solve a murder that’s at the centre of the wildly popular ‘Serial’ podcast” includes people’s theories surrounding the case.
Theory 1 states: Jay knew details about Hae’s manner of death and burial that suggested he was involved in some way. He claims he just got dragged into the aftermath of the murder by Adnan, but some think he was also involved in her murder-not just buying her body (Redditors are trying to solve a murder that’s at the centre of the wildly popular ‘serial’ podcast, n.d., para 10). Jay cuts a plea deal to get himself off the hook, meanwhile Adnan is able to plausibly deny much of the issues at hand. This could help explain the timeline issues, the character issues, the “alibi”, Jay’s inconsistent stories, etc (Redditors are trying to solve a murder that’s at the centre of the wildly popular ‘serial’ podcast, n.d., para 15).
Theory 2 states: Jay and Jenn might have been having an affair behind Jay’s girlfriend, Stephanie’s back, and Hae knew about it. Therefore, they killed Hae so she wouldn’t say anything.
Theory 3 states: someone who claims to have known Adnan growing up, says that several of Adnan’s former friends seen psychopathic tendencies in him.
Theory 4 states: Adnan and Jay were in on it together. Adnan was trying to frame Jay and Jay figured it out, which is why he sold Adnan out to the police.
Theory 5 states: Jay killed Hae alone and Adnan wasn’t involved at all.
Theory 6 states: Hae’s killer was a repeat offender who isn’t anyone mentioned in the podcast.
The additional sources add to the theory that Adnan is innocent, he didn’t receive proper counsel and it’s possible one of the theories on reddit about other people killing Hae are true.
The type of media changed my impressions of the information because I never thought of the theory that Jenn and jay killed Hae or the serial killer murdering Hae. I always thought Adnan was innocent and some of the other theories make sense.
The source that added to my opinion and understanding of the case is the reddit theory article. It provided a lot of theories that make sense and should be looked into.