The first time I listened to the podcast Serial back in 2017, I was immediately gripped by the both compelling and heartbreaking story of the murder of Hae Min Lee. For those not familiar with the true crime podcast, or those who have not yet listened to it in eleventh-grade English class, I highly encourage listening to Season One, which tells the story of a truly unforgettable case. It’s important to remember when engaging with any type of true crime media that the victims in the stories are real people, the tragedies are real events, and the unimaginable pain the affected families endured is not fictitious. Be sensitive and aware of these facts when learning about and discussing this case, as Hae Min Lee is not just a statistic. She will continue to be mourned.
One cold winter day in Baltimore, 1999, 18-year-old Hae Min Lee went missing after school, her body found weeks later buried in a park a few miles away. Friends and family were left shocked, devastated, and without answers. Due to the nature of the crime, Baltimore police were able to conclude that the perpetrator was somebody Lee knew, and turned to her ex-boyfriend, 17-year-old Adnan Syed, as the suspect. Then, the couples’ rocky relationship, a “reliable” witness who claimed to have seen Syed burying the body, and the suspect’s own murky memory of the afternoon Lee disappeared quickly led to his arrest. Syed pled not guilty, but was tried and convicted in 2000 for Hae Min Lee’s murder, and subsequently granted a life sentence in prison. However, the complexities within the investigation and trial make this case far from over, and have contributed to my belief that Syed was innocent from the beginning. Although I could talk about this case for hours, I will not reveal each and every detail, because I strongly feel that everyone should listen to the podcast in full. Still, there are critical pieces of information regarding the case that must be understood in order to realize how discreditable Syed’s conviction was, and how untrustworthy our justice system continues to be.
Firstly, the “reliable” lead witness from which the police had been getting almost all of their information had been shifting his narrative of the day of the murder from the start. He was mutual friends with Syed and claimed the suspect had confessed to killing Hae Min Lee and then asked for assistance in burying the body. Even though the witness’ story frequently changed, the police continued to use this lead as the basis for their arrest of Adnan Syed, likely manipulating and feeding him information as well. On top of this, Asia McClain, a classmate who did not know Syed very well and had no reason to lie for him, came forward in 1999 stating that she had been in the library with him after school that day, at the time Hae Min Lee would have been killed. He had an alibi—which leads us to the issue of Syed’s inadequate representation. Cristina Gutierrez was his first defense attorney, and out of the many mistakes she made, the most detrimental was that she never investigated this alibi, and Asia McClain did not testify at the first trial. Gutierrez was fired and eventually disbarred due to legal issues with other clients as well.
The most blindingly obvious red flag in the case against Adnan Syed is that there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime: there was no DNA, fingerprints, nor evidence to prove he had been with Lee that day. Cellphone tower records that had been used to place him near the scene of the crime also proved to be unreliable. These inconsistencies only scratch the surface of Syed’s case, but the fact of the matter is this: the prosecution’s argument against Syed should not have been enough to convict anyone in a court of law.
Adnan Syed spent a total of twenty three years of his life in prison, having his conviction overturned just this October by a Baltimore judge. Prosecutors requested the judge drop the charges against Syed due to a couple of shocking discoveries. Firstly, there had been a Brady violation in the original trial, meaning that prosecutors had not disclosed information to the defense that would favor the defendant. The defense had not been informed that there was an ongoing investigation by the police into two alternative suspects with potential involvement, which would have helped Adnan’s case. Additionally, DNA evidence with links to the crime was tested, completely ruling Syed out.
This October, as I read the headlines all over the news regarding Adnan Syed’s exoneration, all I thought about was the fact that America’s justice system had failed again. Syed’s case and story is only one of thousands of wrongful convictions, and I’ve found that the pillars of our system—principles that are supposed to maintain justice in our country—have been corrupted in almost all of these cases resulting in wrongful convictions. Police investigations for these cases are inequitable and careless. The personal identity and status of the person (such as their race, class, or religion) affect the outcome of the case despite America claiming that the law is unbiased. Innocent black people are about seven-and-a-half times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people, and black people who are convicted of murder are about 80 percent more likely to be innocent than other convicted murderers, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Lastly, unjust laws to begin with, as well as unequal access to adequate representation in court, commonly cause wrongful convictions, and many of those convicted are never exonerated.
I cannot offer a solution to the biases, injustices, and systemic flaws of our society, only a commentary on how a podcast and story has affected so many people who were able to recognize these flaws, yet had to watch an innocent man be put in jail for twenty three years. How can we sit back and allow prosecutors to suddenly drop charges of first-degree murder, especially as Adnan Syed has already lost twenty three years of his life? I urge everyone to listen to the podcast Serial and read about Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed. Most of all, be conscious of the way our justice system functions―through corruption, lies, and profiting from racism and classism. There are thousands of victims and their families who deserve true justice, including Hae Min Lee, whose murder is now unsolved.