A Legal Companion to the Serial Podcast

Over the past couple of months, I've posted 32 entries about the about Sarah Koenig's Serial Podcast, which deals with the 1999 prosecution of 17 year-old Adnan Syed for murdering his ex-girlfriend, 18 year-old Hae Min Lee, on January 13, 1999. The purpose of these posts was to create a legal companion to the podcast so that listeners interested in the legal issues raised by the podcast would have some answers. This post collects and categorizes each of those posts.

Before getting to my compendium of posts, I would like to restate the limitations of this project. Each of my posts is reliant on publicly available sources: the Serial Podcast itself, the Brief of Appellee (the government's appellate brief), the Brief of Appellant (Adnan's appellate brief), the timeline of Adnan's case and appeals from a Maryland Judiciary Case search, and interviews, transcripts, and notes posted on Split The Moon (the blog maintained by Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and the sister of Adnan's best friend).

This creates a few issues. First, there could be errors in some of these documents. For instance, many have claimed that there are errors in the appellate briefs. Second, I only have access to certain interviews, transcripts, and notes presented on the Serial Podcast and Split The Moon. Moreover, I sometimes only have snippets of these interviews, transcripts, and notes. If and when the full trial transcripts become available, certain statements might be put in different contexts/lights, and other evidence might emerge that changes my opinions regarding guilt and innocence. Third, because of some gaps in evidence, I sometimes have to make certain assumptions, such as the assumptions about what happened when Jay questioned his plea deal and went before Judge McCurdy. These opinions are, of course, simply opinions and not statements of fact.

So, having laid out those caveats, here is my legal companion to the Serial Podcast.

Legal Companion to the Serial Podcast

 

Episode 1: "The Albi" 

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 1: Did Adnan Receive the Ineffective Assistance of Counsel? 

 

Episode 2: "The Breakup"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 2: Did the Prosecution Properly Admit Evidence of Adnan's Religion & EMT Training?

•The Serial Podcast & the Admission of Hae Min Lee's 62 Page Diary at Adnan Syed's Murder Trial (written before listening to the podcasts, but deals with the diary mentioned in episode 2)

•The Serial Podcast, Take 2: The Erroneous Admission of Hae Min Lee's Letter About Adnan Syed's State of Mind (written before listening to the podcasts, but deals with the letter mentioned in episode 2)

 

Episode 3: "Leakin Park"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 3: Evidentiary Issues Related to Mr. S's Indecent Exposure(s) & Failed Polygraph

 

Episode 4: "Inconsistencies"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 4: How the Defense Could Have Used Jay's Police Statements at Trial

 

Episode 5: "Route Talk"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 5: The Admissibility & Discoverability of the Cell Tower Evidence

 

Episode 6: "The Case Against Adnan Syed"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 6: What Defense Counsel Could Have & Should Have Done With The Nisha Call

•The Serial Podcast, Take 3: The Notes on the Back of Hae Min Lee's Letter (written before listening to the podcasts, but deals with the notes mentioned in episode 6)

 

Episode 7: "The Opposite of Prosecution"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 7: Analyzing Maryland's DNA Law & Its Application to Adnan's Case

 

Episode 8: "The Deal With Jay"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 8: Bad Interrogations & Bad Evidence

 

Episode 9: "To Be Suspected"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 9: How the Defense Could Have & Should Have Destroyed the Prosecution During Closing

 

Episode 10: "The Best Defense is a Good Defense"

•The Serial Podcast, Take 4: Did the Prosecution Violate the Brady Doctrine in Connection With Jay's Plea Deal? (written before listening to the podcasts)

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 10: The Supreme Court's Framework for Prosecution Witness Plea Bargains 

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 10: Was There Prosecutorial Misconduct With Jay's Plea Deal?

 

Episode 11: "Rumors"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 11: Premeditation & Manual Strangulation in Maryland

 

Episode 12: "What We Know"

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 12 Preview: I Know Exactly What the Jury Found Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

•The Serial Podcast, Episode 12: My Most Logical Scenarios for the Death of Hae Min Lee

 

Aftermath

•The Serial Podcast: A Timeline of Adnan's Trials and Appeals & My Best Guess at the Current Status of His Case

•The Serial Podcast: My Interview With Vox.Com & More on Adnan's Chances of Success on Appeal

•The Serial Podcast, Followup: Todd Berger on Adnan's Chance of Success on Appeal

•The Serial Podcast, Followup: The Nisha Call -- The Most Important Evidence of Adnan's...Innocence?

•The Serial Podcast, Coda: The Death of the Prosecution's Case

•The Serial Podcast: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel in the Aggregate vs. Single Issue IAC 

•The Serial Podcast, Transcripts: The 2:36 Best Buy Call Was in the Opening Statement at the 1st Trial!

•The Serial Podcast: The Possible Legal Implications of Jay's Interview for Jay & Adnan

 •The Serial Podcast: What If Neither of Them Did It? Maryland's New DNA Standard

•The Serial Podcast, Transcripts: The Judge's Denial of a Motion for Jurors to Visit the Best Buy

•The Serial Podcast: The Possible Legal Implications of Kevin Urick's Interview for Adnan

•The Serial Podcast: What I Think Adnan's Attorney Told Him About Asia & How it Could Lead to a New Trial

•The Serial Podcast, Final Post: Why I'm Now Convinced That Adnan Will Get a New Trial

•The Serial Podcast, One Last Thing: Reassessing Adnan's Shot at a New Trial Based on Asia McClain 

-CM