Chaudry has a preconceived notion of Syed’s innocence, because she is personally connected with Syed and believes he is awesome. Chaudry even refers to Syed as: “the community’s golden child,” during the first conversation with Koenig. Upon request, Chaudry excitedly elaborates and praises Syed extensively: “He was an honor roll student, volunteer EMT.... Everybody knew Adnan to be somebody who was going to do something really big.” Following the interview, Koenig fact checks all the statements and discovers Chaudry’s exaggerations; she then clarifies them all, which include, Chaudry’s exaggeration of Syed as a volunteer EMT, because Koenig discovers that Syed was a paid EMT. Chaudry believes that everyone who knows Syed, knows he will one
