After listening to Serials well thought-out podcast “EP1 : The Alibi” I am in shock of what happened to Adnan Syed, a senior at Woodlawn High school. Based off of one story from a friend of Syed, he was imprisoned for life despite no physical evidence backing the accusation of murder. The law states that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, so why is it that Jay, a 19 year old who was involved with drugs, was able to create an alibi solid enough; that it was the sole reason why Adnan was imprisoned.
Of course it does not help when Adnan’s alibi was lacking right at the time of his ex-girlfriends (Hae) murder. However, who’s to blame him, it was an average school day that happened six weeks ago. Six weeks! Phycologists have developed an explanation called The Interference Theory which clarifies as to why Adnan could not recall what the average Wednesday was like. Simply put, your brain does not have trouble creating memories, it only struggles with retrieving them. So when Adnan created memories on January 13 (the day of the murder), 6 weeks worth of memories are interfering with that particular thought. That is why we need something of importance to jog our memory, in order for us to remember things that occurred weeks ago. Which is why the likelihood of Adnan being in the library is probable since he eventually starts to remember talking to a girl named Asia after she sends him a letter shortly after receiving his sentence, explaining that she saw him in the library. The podcast did an outstanding job conveying to the audience that this is big news through the use of music and Sarah’s tone. I have to mention that I normally do not care for podcasts as they come off as boring but Serial is on a whole new level.
This podcast in particular was able to pull off investigative journalism to a very effective degree. All the information was well researched as Sarah Koenig mentions that she has been studying this case for over a year now ever since it was “brought to my lap” (Koenig). From all of this digging and investigating has brought forth a retiral for Adnan which is great news for him and his family, but much to the displeasure of Hae Min Lee’s family. They had believed that the case was put to rest but now with Serials popularity, they have to be constantly reminded of their daughters horrific death. Its no wonder that they avoided making an appearance on the show only to now go through another heartbreaking trial concerning their daughter. From watching court cases I understand how hard it is for the victims family and I pray that they will retain their strength and push forward.
From this podcast, I’ve been on a roller coaster of emotions learning about Adnan’s fate as well as the determination from Sarah Koenig to raise awareness for this unfair case. It has become obvious that either Adnan or Jay are lying, Adnan can’t be two places at once, he was either at the library or committing murder. Taking into account the eye witness report saying they saw Adnan in the library, I’m leaning towards the side of his innocence. Now 20 years later, we can have some sort of relief as DNA testing never lies and is very prominent in todays searches. Which leads me to believe if this case happened today it would be cut and dry as the forensics team could just dust the shovels that were allegedly used by Adnan and Jay for fingerprints and see if Adnan was really involved. There is no time like the present.
References
Innocent Until Guilty
https://www.verywellmind.com/forgetting-about-psychology-2795034
https://people.com/crime/hae-min-lee-family-of-serial-murder-victim-speaks-out/
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