By now everyone has heard the story of Adnan, either from various news posts or the now famous podcast, Serial. Personally I heard of this case from this exact podcast and was in shock as the minutes slowly went by. How can a senior in high school be placed in jail for a lifetime all because of one account with no physical evidence supporting said alibi. One mans life was ruined because of the feeble words of another teenager named Jay, a close friend of Adnan at the time. The driving force for this case against Adnan was Jay’s alibi and the fact that Adnan couldn’t remember what he did on January 13, 1999 which is the day of Hae’s passing. Keeping in mind that the police asked Adnan this question three weeks after Hae’s death, who can blame him for not remembering what he did on an average school day.
As I researched further about Adnan Syed and after listening to the podcast Serial a couple more times I have come to the conclusion that he is innocent. One aspect of Adnan that I believe proves his innocence is his cultural background. Since he is Muslim- American and very devoted to his religion, there is no way Adnan murdered Hae in cold blood. As it openly states that the Muslim religion is against murder “Islam views murder as both a crime by law in this world and as major sin punishable in the afterlife as well” (Allam). Since Adnan “led prayers at the mosque” (Koenig, 8:15) I do not think he would turn his back on his religion over one high school breakup. Besides being an influential member of his community, he was great at school and focused on the future. Rabbia, a guest speaker in Serial, explains that he was an honour roll student, exceptional in track and played football among other things. These aspects do not paint someone as a murderer but instead, a kind hearted human being who Sarah Koenig (voice of serial) explained 49 minutes into the podcast.
Another important topic to mention in this case is how a girl named Asia remembers seeing Adnan in the library at the time of Hae’s murder. She had submitted a letter to Adnan’s attorney explaining this event, which could’ve stopped this allegation against Adnan however, the attorney did not use it since it could backfire horrendously. Speaking of his defense attorney, she has a history of throwing cases in order to get more money from the appeal, a strategy that Sarah Koenig exposed in a previous coverage which ended up with this attorney getting disbarred. It seems that the odds were stacked against Adnan Syed from the very start of the case.
It’s unfortunate to think that cases 20 years ago were able to convict suspects when no physical proof was available to support the allegation. However, now a days with our newfound technology that is only improving, physical proof is easier to come by as DNA testing and video surveillance becomes common place. If this case was to happen in 2019, video cameras surely could’ve caught a glimpse of either the murder or the process of hiding the body. Video cameras have become so important in crime stopping in recent years as the total crimes in 2017 was 8 977 306 while back in 1999 it was 11 634 378, that’s a 23% decrease! It’s safe to say that the process of proving someone guilty is only getting better.
References
https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a26755765/who-is-cristina-gutierrez-adnan-syed-lawyer/
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disbar
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/islam-views-murder-as-a-crime-and-a-major-sin-1.2150221
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