Serial is a podcast adaption of an NPR radio program by This American Life which offers an in-depth analysis of the American Legal System. The case of Adnan Syed sparks a deeper look into the analysis of evidence and the honesty of witnesses. Although this form of storytelling is not new, the way that Radio Journalist Sarah Koenig narrates the case and its discrepancies warrants a certain outlook that questions the reliability of truths that we believe to be true.
Koenig began looking into a murder of a young girl that occurred in 1999. Hae Min Lee was a 18 year-old girl living a normal life in Baltimore, Maryland until one day she was found in the woods strangled to death. The police immediately look to her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed. On February …show more content…
Jay testified that Syed came to him before Lee disappeared and said that he was going to kill her. He then says that he helped Syed bury her body in the woods. I found it interesting that because most of the state’s defense against Syed laid solely on Jay’s testimony, he was given six months probation for being an accessory after the fact. I found this interesting because even though he supposedly knew before the murder took place that Syed was going to do this, he did not get charged with anything because he claimed he was scared that Syed would hurt him. Koenig discovers many inaccuracies in Jay’s account of what happens the day Lee goes missing. He initially tells police that he didn’t know until after the murder that Syed did it, but later changes his story to reflect that he knew only mere hours beforehand. Finally, in court he tells the jury that he knew days prior to the event that the murder was going to occur. He claims that the premeditation of Syed’s crime was a result of Lee having a new boyfriend, and that Syed repeatedly confesses to loathing them both. But according to multiple witnesses, about two weeks before her disappearance, Lee was in a car accident and the first person she called was Syed because they were still friends. She also called her current boyfriend, Don, and both of the boys helped her with her car in a civil …show more content…
Serial still is, to this day, one of the most popular podcasts of its kind. Serial won a Peabody Award in April of 2015. Thanks to Koenig’s investigative work, Syed will appeal his case in front of a three-judge panel to address whether new found evidence regarding Syed’s alibi will be admitted into his sentencing. I learned that the seemingly harmless ineffective lawyer that Syed had, Christina Gutierrez, possibly changed the whole outcome of his case. Because Gutierrez failed to seek a plea bargain deal for Syed back in 1999, his case will now be reevaluated. This case taught me a large truth of today’s governmental systems, that the closer we stand to the criminal justice system, the more obvious its flaws come into
Koenig began looking into a murder of a young girl that occurred in 1999. Hae Min Lee was a 18 year-old girl living a normal life in Baltimore, Maryland until one day she was found in the woods strangled to death. The police immediately look to her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed. On February …show more content…
Jay testified that Syed came to him before Lee disappeared and said that he was going to kill her. He then says that he helped Syed bury her body in the woods. I found it interesting that because most of the state’s defense against Syed laid solely on Jay’s testimony, he was given six months probation for being an accessory after the fact. I found this interesting because even though he supposedly knew before the murder took place that Syed was going to do this, he did not get charged with anything because he claimed he was scared that Syed would hurt him. Koenig discovers many inaccuracies in Jay’s account of what happens the day Lee goes missing. He initially tells police that he didn’t know until after the murder that Syed did it, but later changes his story to reflect that he knew only mere hours beforehand. Finally, in court he tells the jury that he knew days prior to the event that the murder was going to occur. He claims that the premeditation of Syed’s crime was a result of Lee having a new boyfriend, and that Syed repeatedly confesses to loathing them both. But according to multiple witnesses, about two weeks before her disappearance, Lee was in a car accident and the first person she called was Syed because they were still friends. She also called her current boyfriend, Don, and both of the boys helped her with her car in a civil …show more content…
Serial still is, to this day, one of the most popular podcasts of its kind. Serial won a Peabody Award in April of 2015. Thanks to Koenig’s investigative work, Syed will appeal his case in front of a three-judge panel to address whether new found evidence regarding Syed’s alibi will be admitted into his sentencing. I learned that the seemingly harmless ineffective lawyer that Syed had, Christina Gutierrez, possibly changed the whole outcome of his case. Because Gutierrez failed to seek a plea bargain deal for Syed back in 1999, his case will now be reevaluated. This case taught me a large truth of today’s governmental systems, that the closer we stand to the criminal justice system, the more obvious its flaws come into