Popdust

Adnan Syed— Legal Victory As He Wins Chance To Call Alibi Witness

Adnan Syed, whose case, as Popdust previously reported, has been the subject of the hugely popular Podcasts Serial and the fascinating follow up Undisclosed, got good news on Monday in the form of an important legal victory regarding his case.

Syed was 19 when he was convicted of murdering his ex girlfriend and fellow student Hae Min Lee back in 1999, and he has always maintained his innocence. The case sparked national attention last year when NPR reporter and This American Life producer Sarah Koenig made it the focus of her new Podcast, Serial, which attracted over 5 million listeners.

The interest in Syed, and whether he was wrongfully convicted, has been the subject of huge online discussion and more evidence has come to light since Serial's broadcast ended. This has led to family friend and attorney, Rabia Chaudry and fellow attorneys Susan Simpson and Colin Miller producing a follow up Podcast, Undisclosed, which is currently broadcasting every two weeks.

There were serious flaws in the investigation and legitimate questions to be answered by Baltimore PD regarding their treatment of the case. Syed has argued that his trial attorney, Cristina Gutierrez made a series of mistakes on his case, including failing to speak to a crucial witness and later ignoring his request to seek a plea deal.

Well on Monday, Syed got a big break in his fight for a new trial. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed to send his case back to a lower court so that he can file a request to reopen the case.

This is hugely important, as Syed's legal team want an affidavit by a witness who gives him a potential alibi to be considered—this referral to a lower court opens the door to her testimony being included in the appeal he has pending. The account of Asia McClain was never raised by his defence at trial—despite Syed urging his lawyer to follow it up (which is one of the reasons behind his claim of ineffective counsel). McClain states that she was with Syed in a library at the time the prosecution assert Lee was killed. She also claims she was discouraged from attending Syed's original post conviction hearings in 2012. The court also granted a stay of the appeal (giving time for the new evidence to be included), stating that it is "in the interest of justice".

McClain’s attorney said

“If subpoenaed by either party, Ms McClain, as she’s always wanted to do, will fulfil her obligation to testify truthfully to any question asked of her”.

Rabia Chaudry told CNN affiliate WBAL;

"We get to go back into post-conviction, like we did three years ago, basically bring in Asia and the court can then decide if the attorney messed up by not bringing in the alibi witness."

The circuit court still has to decide whether to reopen the post-conviction proceedings. But Syed is pleased with the appeal court's order, according to his brother, Yusuf Syed, who spoke to him Monday and told WBAL;

"He was really happy and excited, especially since the court said it was in the interest of justice."

Syed, 34, is currently serving a life sentence for Lee's murder.

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Undisclosed—So THIS is Why Jay Kept Lying His Ass Off About That Day with Adnan

New information...

Oh my f*cking God, if you still believe the case against Adnan Syed is 100 percent airtight—and that there's no room for any reasonable doubt when it comes to the evidence and testimony that was used to convict him—you better stop what you are doing right now, and listen to this week's episode of Undisclosed.

As Popdust previously reported, the 34-year-old has spent the past 15 years behind bars, after being sentenced to life plus 30 years, for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee back in 1999—Syed vehemently maintains his innocence.

The case garnered national attention last year after NPR reporter, and This American Life producer, Sarah Koenig, covered it in great depth, on Serial, her weekly podcast series. However, after twelve gripping episodes, listeners were left no clearer as to Syed's innocence or guilt.

Rabia Chaudry, the lawyer who first alerted Koenig to the case, along with fellow attorneys, Susan Simpson and Colin Miller, are giving their all in an attempt to remedy that—working tirelessly to tear apart the State's case against Syed—and they are broadcasting their findings every two weeks on their podcast series, Undisclosed: The State Vs Adnan Syed.

During the first episode of Undisclosed, the team dissected the State's version of what occurred on January 13, 1999, the day Hae was murdered—pulling to pieces many of the witness statements, and turning up two shocking new accounts of what allegedly went down that day, that were never presented at either the first trial (which ended in a mistrial), or the second, which resulted in Syed's conviction.

In a follow-up special broadcast a week later, titled, Addendum 1: New Information About The Trip To Cathy's, Chaudry, Simpson and Miller shredded another vital, key piece of the prosecution's case against Syed—what purportedly went down January 13 (post murder, pre-body dump), at the apartment of "Cathy" [real name Christy], a close friend of the prosecution's star witness, Jay Wilds.

The second installment of Undisclosed, focused on Hae's movements that fateful day—and, as became evident very early on in Serial, the prosecution's version of events appears to be more than a little “off."

Then, in a second special, broadcast, last week, titled Addendum 2: More information on Takera, and on Hae's other diary—they presented the revelation that Hae kept a second diary, which, if found, could possibly hold the key to Adnan proving his innocence.

But, it's this week's broadcast, covering the purported events of Jay's day on January 13, that proves to be the real Kryptonite when it comes to the State's case against Syed.

And, as became very apparent, very early on, and then continued throughout the entirety of Serial, there is something very very rotten in the state of Maryland...specifically Baltimore.... more specifically Baltimore Police Department.

“January 13, 1999, is the seminal day in this case," Chaudry starts off as way of introduction. “That is the day Hae Lee would leave school and disappear forever. Today, we get to the heart of the State's case—the center of gravity in this murder charge against Adnan, a wormhole that warps timelines, and maybe the most mysterious figure in this story, according even to Serial—today, we look at Jay's day."

She then goes on to lay out what we DO know about Jay:

“Who is Jay? Jay is a former Woodlawn Hills student," Chaudry says. “He graduated a year before Adnan and Hae, he knew them primarily because of Stephanie, his girlfriend—Stephanie and Jay had dated since middle school….Stephanie had been friends with Adnan since middle school, they were pretty close, they were in the magnet program together, and they had been crowned the King and Queen of junior prom in the spring of 1998."

Then, what people who have been following the case always want to know—were Jay and Adnan friends?

I mean, I'm not the only one here wondering, why would Adnan call Jay and ask him to help bury the body of the ex-girlfriend he just brutally murdered, if the two weren't at least friends? Makes no sense, right?

“According to the statements we have—both at trial, and police statements—whether made by Adnan, or Jay, or Jen—Jen was also a Woodlawn High 1998 graduate, and a friend of Jay's, and very much involved in the prosecution of the case…according to all those folks, it seems like they weren't actually really friends," Chaudry claims, going on to reference Jen's interview with cops in 1999, where she talks about Jay and Adnan not being “friend" friends, and Jay's own testimony during trial in 2000, where he says they “weren't really tight" and that Adnan was more of an acquaintance than a friend.

OK! Well, so what actually happened between these two “acquaintances" on that fateful day? What do we know to be real, true, actual fact?

“We start the day with Adnan dropping off his car with Jay," Chaudry explains. “They both agree on the time… there's a 10.45 am call to Jay, after which, Adnan comes by his house…the problem with telling the story about Jay's day, is that Jay has given a minimum of seven different stories about what happened on January 13th…four police interviews, two trial testimonies, and most recently, an interview he gave to the Intercept."

“Simply put, these stories are not consistent at all," Miller continues. “Despite the prosecution's claim at trial, there's no spine to Jay's story that holds it together…there's very little detail that's consistent across even really two of these different stories by Jay—and even if we ignore the minor details, there's simply no consistency in the big picture of what Jay is telling the cops, and eventually the jury at trial.

“When we really break it down, there's only been a few things that have really been consistent throughout Jay's story and they're pretty minor.

“And so, first, he consistently says that Hae's body was buried in Leakin Park, although the time for this burial varies quite dramatically, he does consistently say that at least one of the instruments that was used to bury Hae's body was a shovel, and, he does say it came from one of his relatives' houses, but, he doesn't say which house consistently across interviews.

“He does acknowledge he had Adnan's car and phone on January 13th…. he does consistently say that he was at Jen's house on Jan 13th, until at least 3.40…which, of course, is inconsistent with the State's theory at trial—which is that Hae was killed by 2.36…which is when the Best Buy call took place.

“And, finally, he is consistent that on January 13th, Adnan showed him Hae's body, in the trunk of her Sentra—although, both the time and the location of this trunk pop varied quite meaningfully across his interviews and testimony…And so, when we look at these consistencies in Jay's story, they really mean nothing without, again, this big spine and structure that holds it together.

“For instance, the shovels…sometimes he says there was one shovel, sometimes it's two shovels, sometimes there's a pick involved, sometimes he's helping to bury the body, sometimes not. Whose house did they come from? Was it from his mother's house? His grandmother's house? And so, we have all these various stories about the burial… and in terms of the trunk pop…. where did that take place? Was it the Woodlawn library? Was it a strip off of Vincent Avenue? Was it Franklin Town Road? The Best Buy, the story at trial? Was it a pool hall as he told his friend? Was it a gas station? Was it at his grandmother's house?

“And so, if we look at all these stories, up until 2014 they vary very wildly, and then, finally in The Intercept interview, he actually says he lied to the police initially, and said the trunk pop happened at “Cathy's" house, despite that never being disclosed to the defense at trial.

“And so, what we see, is that when we try to decipher what Jay is saying in these various statements, it's almost meaningless to do so, because these accountings are so very different...and, in fact, he's admitted himself, that he's lied in various statements about the events of January 13th 1999.

"And so that then leaves us with just two things we can look at when trying to decipher what aspects of Jay's day might in fact be reality—and, the first is to look at other witnesses and what they have to say about interacting with Jay on January 13th… and the second is to see the evolution of Jay's story…where it started, and how it got from point A to point Z when he eventually testified at trial."

The two witnesses are Jen and "Cathy" [real name Christy]—and Miller breaks down Jen's story bit by bit—first, when Jay went over to Jen's house in the morning….second, what did Jen and Jay do while he was at her house? Third, when did Jay leave her house? Next, when did Jen and Jay meet up again later that evening? Finally, what did they actually do that evening?

And, it soon becomes crystal clear that Jen's account does not match with Jay's at all….

For instance, when it comes to them meeting up for the first time in the day, Jen told cops, “I want to say I got home, probably between 12.30 and 1, and then I'd say Jay got there probably between 1 and 1.30."

However, Jay claims he went to the house to hang out with Jen's little brother Mark, they played video games together, went to the mall, returned to the house and then Jen turned up.

How about what the two did after that? Does that match at all?

Nope, not really.

Jen says that she and Jay were at her place all afternoon and that Jay never left. However, according to Jay, he left and came back multiple times. They also don't agree when it comes to the phone calls that Jay received while at Jen's house—one of them supposedly from Adnan, post murder, asking Jay to, “come and get me, the bitch is dead."

One thing they do consistently agree on though—is that Jay was still at Jen's house until around 3.40pm, when Jay supposedly got the call from Adnan….and that's pretty damn significant, because, as Miller points out, it completely debunks the “Nisha call" theory that the State relied on at trial to “prove" Adnan had killed Hae by 2.35, and been back with his phone [which Jay had borrowed for the day] by 3.32.

Plus, it doesn't fit anywhere with the call log for Adnan's cell from that day—which shows a call at 3.15 and then next one not until 4.30….

So, when you consider how many times Jay's story has changed—how all the different supposed facts shifted and morphed time and time again, why did he consistently stick to the 3.40 time claim?

Well, drum roll…..

“That's [Jen and Jay's] alibi," Chaudry opines. "Jen and Jay were together till 3.40, a time when we know Hae had already been intercepted and was probably already killed. So, if Jen and Jay were together till 3.40 pm, like they say, then neither could be responsible for her murder."

Whoa….

OK, well, what happened that evening—supposedly after Jay had helped Adnan bury Hae's body in Leakin Park? Do Jen and Jay's stories match there?

Once again—nope....not the f*ck at all.

Jay claims he and Adnan buried the body, then they abandoned Hae's car on a vacant lot, then he and Adnan stopped by the mall to toss the shovel/shovels/pick/whatever in a dumpster, that Adnan then dropped him off at home, and then Jen came to pick him up from there later. He goes on to claim that after she picked him up from his house he told her what had just just happened and Jen took him to a dumpster to dispose of the clothes he had been wearing.

However, Jen claims Adnan dropped Jay off at the mall and that's where she met him—and, according to Jen, they didn't drive to drop off the clothes until the next day!

And, that's the version of events that the prosecution chose to run with at trial.

So, finally….. what did Jen and Jay do after they met up (wherever it actually was?!!)…

Well, once again, who really knows, as their accounts vary dramatically…

They both agree that they stopped by Stephanie's house—and bizarrely, they both claim it was around 8.30—which is categorically not possible, as Stephanie was playing a basketball game that night which didn't finish till just before 10.30 pm.

However, after both agreeing on something that couldn't have actually happened, their accounts of the rest of the night go their separate ways—with Jen claiming they went to a party at an on-campus sorority house for an hour or so, before heading to “Cathy" [Christy] and Jeff's house—and Jay claiming they went straight to their house and did not go to a party before hand.

But, now we get to the real crux of the matter.

As Simpson says, “We've always known Jay lies, he admits he lies… but the real enigma here is… why?"

That's the million dollar question… what would be his motivation? What's the utility of these lies?

Turns out, as Chaudry explains, “All this time we had been trying to plot Jay's dream, but it turns out, it was ever his dream to begin with."

Then shit gets real….. REAL real......real f*cking crazy.

The Undisclosed team plays audio from Jay's interviews with cops—and, if what we are hearing is true and un-doctored in anyway, their argument that the Baltimore Police coached their star witness during his interviews, and coerced and bullied him in to giving false testimony against Adnan, holds pretty damn true.

It's dynamite—and you can listen to it below.

Meanwhile, keep checking back on Popdust for more updates on the story—and head over to audioboom for more Undisclosed: The state Vs Adnan Syed.

listen to 'Episode 3 - Jay's Day' on audioBoom

Undisclosed Addendum 2—Could Hae's Secret Diary Hold The Key To Adnan's Innocence?

The Undisclosed team continues to muddy the legal waters that were used to drown Adnan Syed and land him in jail for the rest of his life.

As Popdust previously reported, Syed, 34, has spent the past 15 years behind bars, after being sentenced to life plus 30 years, for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee back in 1999—Syed vehemently maintains his innocence.

Rabia Chaudry, the lawyer who first alerted Koenig to the case, along with fellow attorneys, Susan Simpson and Colin Miller, are giving their all in an attempt to remedy that—working tirelessly to tear apart the State’s case against Syed—and they are broadcasting their findings every two weeks on their podcast series, Undisclosed: The State Vs Adnan Syed.

During the first episode of Undisclosed, the team dissected the State’s version of what occurred on January 13, 1999, the day Hae was murdered—pulling to pieces many of the witness statements, and turning up two shocking new accounts of what allegedly went down that day, that were never presented at either the first trial (which ended in a mistrial), or the second, which resulted in Syed’s conviction.

In a follow-up special broadcast a week later, titled, Addendum 1: New Information About The Trip To Cathy’s, Chaudry, Simpson and Miller shredded another vital, key piece of the prosecution’s case against Syed—what purportedly went down January 13 (post murder, pre-body dump), at the apartment of Cathy, a close friend of the prosecution's star witness, Jay Wilds.

The second installment of Undisclosed, focused on Hae’s movements that fateful day—and, as became evident very early on in Serial, the prosecution’s version of events appears to be more than a little “off.”

Today, they broadcast another special, titled Addendum 2: More information on Takera, and on Hae’s other diary—the latter of which, if found, could possibly hold the key to Adnan proving his innocence.

But, more on that later.

The team kicks off the podcast by answering listener questions, which cover a variety of subjects—including the level of friendship between Hae and Jay Wilds; the true identity of the mysterious “Takera” and why she wasn’t interviewed by authorities following Hae’s murder; why nobody can track down evidence of when exactly the interview between Hae and local news station, Channel 36, actually happened; if the clothes Hae was wearing in that interview can be compared to those found on her body; if the wrestling match that the State claims happened January 13th, wasn’t on that date, what does it mean for their case; and, is there a record of Adnan logging on and checking his email during the time Asia McClain claims she saw him at the library working on the computer?

According to Chaudry, Hae and Jay did know each other, had at least one class together, and had the same circle of friends, as Jay was dating Stephanie, a friend of both Adnan and Hae. But, Chaudry says, “there doesn’t seem to be any indication that they were actually 'friend' friends.” And, there was no mention of Jay in Hae’s handwritten diary.

When it comes to the true identity of Takera—who played such a major role in last week’s podcast—Miller shares that they do know who she is, claims, “it is clear she was never interviewed by police” and goes on to question why not.

“According to the prosecution at trial, the last student to see Hae alive was, again, her best friend, Ayisha," Miller says. “And, Ayisha was in her last period, AP psychology class, and, according to the prosecution, Ayisha saw Hae at the end of class, in class, talking to Adnan.

“And so, if you’re the State, and you’re trying to determine did this conversation take place on January 13th, what was its content, what did Hae do after class? Who is the person you would most want to talk to? The answer is probably the person who sat next to Hae in AP psychology class….she likely would have been there for the conversation with Adnan….she’s likely the person most likely to accompany Hae out of class—and so, who was that person?

“It’s a good question, and it seems like one the State decided to pursue….and they had the AP psychology teacher draw a diagram of the class. She plotted Adnan sitting at the back of the class, furthest away from the door, plotted the two people who sat next to him....the teacher then plotted Hae in her seat, on the side of the class, closer to the front door, and then the one person who sat next to her—apparently the other seat was empty.

“Hence, the question is, who is this other person who sat right next to Hae in AP psychology? And the answer is..”

Drum roll……

Yep, you guessed it…..Takera!!

“And, there’s no transcription mistake here,” Miller continues. “The teacher correctly spelled both her first and last name….and, so, what are we left with? We’re left with Debbie, the original last person to see Hae alive, and yet, Takera, who is almost certainly part of this conversation, was never interviewed.

“The state’s view at the end of trial is that Ayisha is the last student to see Hae alive….and yet, Takera sits right next to Hae, in that same AP psychology class, and again, as far as we can tell, no attempt whatsoever to interview Takera.”

Now, that’s either just plain bizarre, just plain incompetent, just plain fishy…. or some kind of combination of all three.

So, now to the question of, did the interview between Hae and Channel 36 actually happen on the day of her murder, as the State claims, or, did it actually happened on January 5, eight days prior, as the Undisclosed team argued during last week’s podcast? And, why can nobody pin down evidence of the actual date?

“Reason we haven’t been able to get information from the channel itself, is that they don’t have it,” Simpson explains. “Folks have reached out to them to try and get verification, but have not really been able to dig anything up. Apparently the original tape doesn’t exist…and the original would have the date and time stamp.. and they have no record of when the video was actually made, which is just, kind of sad—and, also odd, because, you think, it was 1999, it wasn’t like it was 1899, but it’s just one more thing that easily could have been verified, you know, 16 years ago, and now we’re struggling to do.”

OK, well, how about the clothes Hae was wearing in that video? Can they be matched to the clothes that were found on her body? If it’s a positive match, wouldn’t that be proof that the interview did happen on January 13th, the day of her murder?

Sadly no, as Chaudry explains, “In that video she’s wearing either a Lacrosse, or field hockey uniform, I don’t know the difference, and, we do know those uniforms were kept on campus. There was a locker for them, and they stayed there, so, it’s no surprise those were not found in her car, or with her.

“What is surprising though, is she was wearing tennis shoes and socks in that interview—Hae didn’t have a locker on campus, she used her car as a storage place, but her car didn’t have her shoes, or her socks in it, when the cops found it, which is weird, because, if she had had those with her that day, they should have been in the car somewhere.”

And, talking of what was found—or not found rather—in Hae’s car, there’s the mystery of the disappearing hot fries.

During both of Syed’s trials, Woodlawn High teacher, Inez Butler, testified that Hae stopped by her concession stand after school on January 13, and bought apple juice and hot fries. But, according to Chaudry, “What cops noted in their report though, because it didn’t add up, was that, although they found a bottle of apple juice in Hae’s car, they didn’t find any hot fries…which they should have, if Inez Butler was recalling the right day…..those snacks should have still been there…but they weren’t. So, what did the cops do? Because their report says, 'did we ever find the bag of hot fries?' No, they didn’t.”

And so, if the State’s timeline for January 13th is completely off—if Butler was recalling another day, and if the wrestling match that was a key part of their narrative for that day, didn’t occur on that date—does that throw everything up in the air?

Miller says that yep, it does. It changes everything.

“If we think back to Serial, we have Summer, and she’s talking with Hae about the wrestling match up till about 2.50….3pm on January 13th,” he explains. “And what that means is, we have Asia McClain who saw Adnan in the library, up until about 2.40 pm….and, while she’s legally relevant… she’s factually, pretty irrelevant…because, if Hae’s still at school till 2.50…3 pm…Adnan certainly could have seen Asia at the library, and then gotten in her car.

“Well, if there’s no wrestling match on January 13th, Summer is taken out of the narrative. .. and, in fact, the last person to have seen Hae on January 13th is likely Becky…who, again, said, she saw Hae leaving school around 2.20 pm in a hurry, with something else to do, and somewhere else to be.

"And that does two things… first, it makes Asia, actually very important….if she saw Adnan up until about 2.40, and Hae’s leaving school about 2.20….well, then, obviously Adnan didn’t get into her car…. the other point is to say, we know Hae usually left school around 3 o’clock, to pick up her cousin at 3.15….well, according to Becky, she’s leaving school in a hurry at 2.20, to do something else….so, she’s leaving about 40 minutes earlier than usual….and this is something I’ve been trying to determine ever since Serial ended… what was this something else that was causing Hae to leave 40 minutes early, when did it come up, how did it come up?

“My best theory at this point in time, is, the ride with Adnan was still discussed at lunch, and so, sometime during Hae’s computer class, or, sometime during AP psychology, I think she got something on her pager, something came up, question is, what was that something?”

That’s the burning question, and, as the police failed to pull Hae’s pager records following her murder, and the pager has never been found, it is likely to continue burning bright and hard well into the future.

Then, there’s the question of Adnan’s emails—if he WAS at the library working on the computer on January 13th, as Asia claims, surely there must be a record of it?

Once again, that’s a very frustrating and resounding no, as Chaudry explains, “Adnan had gotten Asia’s letters shortly after he was arrested, and she had mentioned he was on the computer when she talked to him, and he remembered that when he had actually seen her at the library, that he was on the computer…. so, he had given his lawyer his email address, and also his password, and we know that, because it’s in her notes from 1999. Now, we have no evidence that she actually ever checked his email address, and what’s really frustrating, especially for someone like me, is that, that would have taken absolutely no effort.

“I mean, you could sit in your own office, never leave your own office, and log in to somebody else’s Hotmail account. And there’s just no evidence, there are no print-outs of his activity… and what happened is, she went back to Adnan, and said, ‘I checked with Asia and the dates are wrong,’ so he kind of forgot about Asia, and he forgot about the email stuff.

“By the time I learned about Asia, and the possibility that he may have been checking his email, which was like, a year later, after he was convicted, I immediately went to try and log in to his account… and, the account had been suspended, because that’s how Hotmail worked, they did not keep inactive accounts open. And, since that time, a number of folks have tried to get that information from Hotmail, including Sarah by the way, from Serial...a number of Adnan's lawyers…and what the response has been, is that, it’s just gone….1999 was too long ago, and that information’s gone.

“Which is kind of hard for me to believe, because, I always thought that once it’s out there on the internet, it never goes away, so there’s part of me that wonders, if somewhere, in the very dark recesses of internet archives, his account records exist, and gosh, it would be great if Microsoft would step up, and say, ‘hey yeah, we’ll find it for you.’”

But, things get even murkier when it comes to the subject of Hae’s “secret” second diary.

According to Chaudry, “Hae had a handwritten diary that was found and was used at trial. At trial, Hae’s brother testified that he had gotten caught snooping—he had gone into her room and read her diary, and Hae had found out. As a result, Hae had stopped writing all of her entries on the physical book that was introduced into evidence… instead, she had started writing her more sensitive diary entries on her computer… and she would save them on a floppy disc, that way, they weren’t available to her brother and he couldn’t find them.

“There’s no official record of what happened to that diary, the one on the floppy disc,” she continues. “But, there is a big clue from the police files…and from the evidence that was taken into custody….in Hae’s car the police found a floppy disc, it was labeled ‘Hae school stuff’ and it was on the backseat…. we don’t know what happened to it…we don’t know where it went…. we don’t know if anyone ever checked it…but it’s a good bet that’s where the diary was kept…and if we want more information about what Hae was doing, what her plans where, it’s a good place to look.

“The police never did though—or at least, never officially. There are some oddities in the trial record though that suggest that maybe someone had access to it. For instance, in closing arguments, the prosecution claims, in Hae’s diary she had written that she had given Adnan a ride two days before her death—and this was evidence that she would have given him a ride on the 13th as well. Problem is, there is no entry in her diary to support this, either the prosecution was simply making this up, because it helped their case against Adnan, or, possibly, it actually was in Hae’s diary, just not the one that was introduced into evidence.”

The plot just thickens and thickens….. and, likelihood is, it’s going to continue to do so yet further, especially after next week’s podcast, when the Undisclosed team dissects Jay’s alleged movements on the day of Hae’s murder.

Keep checking back on Popdust for more updates on the story—listen below to this week's Addendum special—and head over to audioboom for more Undisclosed: The state Vs Adnan Syed.

listen to ‘Addendum 2: More Information on "Takera," and on Hae's Other Diary’ on audioBoom

Undisclosed Breaks Down Hae’s Last Day, Casts More Doubt On Adnan Syed’s Guilt

With each new episode of Undisclosed: The State Vs Adnan Syed, the Maryland prosecution’s murder case against the then-19-year-old Woodlawn High School student seemingly becomes shakier and shakier.

As Popdust previously reported, Adnan Syed, now 34, has spent the past 15 years in jail, after being sentenced to life plus 30 years, for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee back in 1999—Syed vehemently maintains his innocence.

The case garnered national attention last year after NPR reporter, and This American Life producer, Sarah Koenig, covered it in great depth, on Serial, her weekly podcast series.

After the final episode of Serial aired, listeners were left no clearer as to Syed’s innocence or guilt, although, it seems that everyone has some kind of unsubstantiated opinion—more of a gut feeling—on the subject. [I know I do, and it’s that Adnan did NOT murder Hae….but, like I said, that’s just opinion, based on gut instinct.]

I’m not alone when it comes to believing Adnan is not a murderer though—The Innocence Project has become involved in the case, and a whole slew of attorneys and investigators are working together to overturn Syed’s conviction.

The Maryland Court of Specials Appeals has agreed to hear arguments from Syed's current legal team, who are requesting a new trial on his behalf—arguing, with good cause it would appear, that their client's original defense was negligent and incompetent.

As Syed waits it out inside jail, Rabia Chaudry, the lawyer who first alerted Koenig to the case, along with fellow attorneys, Susan Simpson and Colin Miller, are working tirelessly on the outside to tear apart the state’s case against Adnan—and they are broadcasting their findings every two weeks.

In a follow-up special broadcast last week, titled, Addendum 1: New Information About The Trip To Cathy’s, Chaudry, Simpson and Miller shredded another vital, key piece of the prosecution’s case against Syed—what purportedly went down January 13 (post murder, pre-body dump), at the apartment of Cathy, a close friend of the prosecution's star witness, Jay Wilds.

The second installment of Undisclosed, focuses on Hae’s movements that fateful day—and, as became evident very early on in Serial, the prosecution’s version of events appear to be more than a little “off.”

“This week we are going to focus on Hae’s day… what her schedule was on Jan 13 1999, and who the last person to see her alive was,” Chaudry explains.

“Hae was 18-years old, a senior in high school, a scholar athlete, with a 3.8 GPA,” she continues. “She played Lacrosse, she co-managed the boys’ wrestling team, and she worked a part time job. She was popular, she was definitely hard working and she was a star at Woodlawn High School’s magnate program.”

Chaudry goes on to recount the events of the night before Lee’s murder—January 12th, 1999—during which she had dinner with her new boyfriend Don, before heading home to her parents’ house.

Hae spent the evening at Don’s house, he recalls her being in a good mood, despite arguing with her mother. She leaves Don’s around 10pm, and she gets back to her home around 11.30pm. Once home, she and Don stay up talking on the phone, till around 3am… Adnan calls at 12.45am for a minute-and-a-half to give her his brand new cell phone number. She writes down the number in her diary, resumes talking to Don, then, writes a diary entry about Don.

“According to Don, [during the call] Hay tried to convince him to call into school and say she was sick so she could spend the day with him, on January 13th…he talked her out of it…. she said OK, and that she would call him when her work shift ended—she was scheduled to work 6-10pm that night. According to Don, he never speaks to her.

So, with the scene set for the prelude of Hae’s last day on Earth, Undisclosed goes on to break down the State’s version of what happened next.

The prosecution claims that on January 13, 1999, Hay went to school like any other day; she had classes all day; she was filmed by a local news team, Channel 36, for a piece about her being Student Athlete of the Month; at some point during the day Adnan asks her for a ride after school; she tells a teacher that she will be attending a school wrestling match later that night—but, she never makes it, because she drives Adnan to the parking lot of the local Best Buy, where he strangles her to death around 2.36 pm, makes a call from a pay phone to Jay, asking for help, then, later that night dumps her body in Leakin Park.

The prosecution’s timeline is cobbled together from several different witness testimonies, seemingly all laying out the events that unfolded January 13.

However, with some good old fashioned investigation, and careful cross-referencing of the myriad of different statements and testimonies given to cops and at trial, the Undisclosed team blows the purported timeline to pieces.

After going through the day hour by hour, it soon becomes apparent that many of the witnesses’ accounts are completely wrong factually—at least when it comes to the date.

Woodlawn High teacher, Inez Butler, testified at trial that she spoke to Hae as she was leaving school on January 13, and that Hae told her she would be back later that night to attend an away match with the wrestling team at Chesapeake High School. Disturbingly though, Inez’s story changed each and every time she told it.

In her initial police interview, the teacher states that she talked to Hae around 2.30pm—when she visited Butler’s food concession stand to purchase some snacks—claiming, Hae seemed “upset” as she had been fighting with her mom, and that she made it clear she wouldn’t be attending the wrestling match that night.

However, in her second statement, she claims that around 2.30, Hae pulled up to the concession stand in her car, jumped out with the engine running, grabbed a snack, threw some money down and quickly sped off.

The interviewing detective questions Butler on the time, asking if it's possible she could have seen Hae earlier, at around 2.15—but, she remains resolute, insisting there's no way it could have been before 2.30, as the school bus loop prevents students from leaving the car park any earlier than that.

But, by the time it come to trial, Butler testifies that Hae pulls up in her car at 2.15-2.20 (conveniently fitting with the State’s murder timeline), she grabbed some snacks and didn’t pay for them, but that was OK, as she knew Hae would be back again at 3.35pm to catch a bus to the wrestling team’s away match.

Then, at the second trial, her story changes yet again, as Butler testifies that Hae pulled up at 2.15-2.20, took some snacks and didn’t pay, and that she reminded Hae she had to be back at school by 5 pm, for a wrestling match starting around 6.30 or 7.30.

Despite the details constantly morphing, one part of Butler’s last two accounts—that Hae told her she would be back later that evening to attend the wrestling match—matches with another witness statement.

Bizarrely, until she rang into Serial, to tell Sarah Koenig she had some new information on the case, none had ever heard of Summer—a Woodlawn High student, who co-managed the wrestling team with Hae.

Yep, this chick co-managed the wrestling team, with the murder victim, who disappeared on the day of a wrestling match, and yet, cops didn’t even bother to speak to, or question, her.

Summer told Koenig that she distinctly remembers seeing Hae at school at 3pm, on Jan 13 (which would totally derail the prosecution’s timeline, because they charge that Hae was murdered by Adnan at 2.36 pm).

Summer claims she remembers so clearly because she was going to be scoring a school wrestling match at Randallstown High that night, and, as she was new to scoring, she told Hae she needed for her to be there with her to help.,,,but, Hae never turned up.

Sooo, one of the witness claims the match was at Chesapeake, and one claims it was at Randallstown.

Curiouser and curiouser….

But, what’s REALLY curious, is that it turns out there was no wrestling match on January 13! The match, part of the state’s narrative for 16 years, never actually happened…at least, not on January 13.

After searching through old newspaper clippings to try and pin down which school the match was actually at, Simpson discovered that there were two different wrestling away matches in January 1999—the one against Randallstown, which actually happened January 5—and, one against Loch Raven, which happened January 12, when Hae was with Don having dinner.

Well, that's that part of the State's narrative shot down...But wait! Then, there’s the other part—the claim that on January 13, Hae filmed an interview with Channel 36 in the school gym.

After raising speculative doubts about the interview occurring on that day—not one newspaper report at the time referenced the fact Hae had filmed a TV interview on the very day of her murder; no witnesses mentioned it to police in their statements or during their trial testimony; that it would seem strange for Hae to ask Don to call in sick to school for her on the day she was filming an interview about being Athlete of the Month—the team moves onto the factual evidence.

Following Hae’s murder, a handwritten note to Don was discovered in her car:

Hey cutie, sorry couldn’t stay, have to go to a wrestling match at Randallstown High, but I promise to page you as soon as I get home, OK… till then, take care and drive safely, always, Hae

PS: Interview went well and I promise you a tape so can see me as often and as much as you want

At trial, the prosecution made a big sing and dance about the note—as it seemingly tied everything together when it comes to their version of events—claiming, Hae had been planning to drop the note off to Don later that night, but was murdered by Adnan before she got the chance.

But, given that the wrestling match against Randallstown actually happened on January 5th, and NOT on the 13th, it would lead to the conclusion the TV interview also actually happened on the 5th, and not the 13th.

So, the State’s timeline has suddenly become shakier than Keith Richards the morning after a big night out.... that, Butler was not one of the last people to see Hae alive... that everything she testified to happening (albeit in different ways each time) actually occurred eight days previously to Jan 13.

It also leads to the conclusion that Summer’s account of what happened that day means jack too…. which, as she was never actually interviewed by the cops, or testified at trial, you would think is pretty unimportant really—however, as Miller points out, it’s anything but.

“Why is it important? It’s important because like a lot of people, when I listened to Serial, I believed [what Summer said about January 13], and I thought she saw Hae around 2.45-2.55 or so, at school, and that takes us back to Asia McClain…”

Ah, yes…. that name again.

For those who are not as unhealthily obsessed with this case as I and many others are, McClain claims she saw Syed in the library on January 13, “up until about 2.40…”

Which, you may have worked out, would render impossible the prosecution’s claim that at 2.36 pm, Syed was strangling his ex-girlfriend to death (in broad daylight), in a Best Buy car park.

The shock emergence of Summer with her entirely credible version of events that day, seemingly kicked Asia’s alibi to the curb, and gave cause for doubt to even the most die-hard Adnan is innocent proponent. Then, as seems to be the case over and over, there’s yet another curveball thrown. And, if Asia’s alibi IS real and genuine, there is no way Adnan was getting a ride from Hay after school, and, no way he murdered her at 2.36 pm…

So, if Summer and Anaise Butler did both get the date confused, that would mean that , according to statements, out of all the other remaining witnesses, Debbie and Ayisha were actually the last two people known to have seen Hae alive?

Right?

Ha! Hell no…. don’t think it’s going to be that simple! Guess what?

Debbie claims that in her police statement, she did tell the cops she and Ayisha saw Adnan and Hae interact in the school corridor around 2.45pm, as he was on his way to track practice—but, she also told them that there was a third witness present. That third witness was “Takera” [which is not her real name, but the one that is used in Debbie's testimony].

According to Debbie, Takera asked Hae for a ride after school, but Hae turned her down, claiming that she couldn’t as she had to go pick up her cousin.

Takera’s name crops up several times throughout Debbie’s statement to police—there’s a second incident mentioned, where Debbie claims that she, Ayisha, Takera and her sister all went to talk with a crisis intervention team that was sent to the school following Hae’s murder.

Which begs the question—why the fuck wasn’t she contacted and interviewed…. by the police, the prosecution, the defense?!! Well, turns out, the first mention of Takera’s name occurs on page 31 of the police documentation for the case—and, the paperwork that was handed over to the defense team ends on page 30.

Finally, there’s the mystery of what happened to Hae’s pager. Police never pulled the records for her pager—which would seem to be the most basic of school boy errors when investigating a murder victim’s last movements and interactions. The pager has never been found, it was not with Hae when her body was discovered, nor at her home or in her car.

What happened to it? Did the person who murdered Hae contact her during the day, and then dispose of the pager after they killed her in order to hide their tracks?

So many goddamn unanswered questions!

Chaurdry concludes:

What we know now is that Hae’s day looked a lot different to what we thought it did. Although she had school, as everybody said, she certainly wasn’t doing her filming for channel 36 on Jan 13. ..that filming took place the same day she wrote that note to Don, which happened to be the same day she had a match. None of that happened on Jan 13…it all happened on Jan 5…

Other things we know—that we’re pretty certain about— is that at some point during the day, Adnan asked Hae for a ride after school, she initially said yes, and then later, in front of a couple of different people, she said no, I cant give you that ride… so that takes us to Debbie and Tikarra—we’ve heard a lot from Debbie… her police statement, her testimony at two trials… but, we’ve never heard from TiKarra, none ever contacted her, not the police, the prosecution, the defense…but, she may have been one of the last people to see Hae alive…

So, where does Undisclosed go next? To pick apart the account of Jay’s day... of course.

listen to ‘Episode 2 - Hae's Day’ on audioBoom

Undisclosed—New Evidence Blows Apart State’s Case Against Adnan Syed Yet Further

To quote Hamlet (kind of)—something appears to be rotten in the state of Baltimore….

The rot I'm referring to surrounds the Adnan Syed murder case—which, the good cops, and court, of Maryland, appeared to think was rock solid, and airtight, back in 1999.

Or not, as the case may be—because, it sure as hell looks like a lot of witnesses were coached, even downright told, exactly what to say, when it comes to the events of January 13, 1999, the date that the state charges Syed strangled his ex-girlfriend and fellow student, Hae Lee, to death, before dumping her body in Leakin Park.

As Popdust previously reported, the15-year-old murder case sparked fresh new, national attention late last year, after NPR reporter and This American Life producer, Sarah Koenig, made it the focus of the wildly successful first season of her new Podcast, Serial.

At the end of an exhaustive investigation by Koenig and her team—the results of which spanned a total of twelve riveting podcasts —we were left no clearer when it came to whether, definitively, Syed was innocent or guilty of the heinous crime he was convicted of.

In fact, Serial ultimately ended throwing up way more questions than answers.

Syed has maintained his innocence throughout—and, as Koenig soon discovered, there are more twists and turns in this case than your average baseball season—in addition to some really shaky witness testimonials that changed dramatically from police interview to police interview, right up till, and throughout, the subsequent two trials (the first of which ended in a mistrial); and a very strong argument that Syed's defense team provided inadequate legal council.

The latter argument was so compelling in fact, that Maryland's Court of Special Appeals granted permission back in February for Syed to reopen his appeal—and, despite Serial ending last December, his legal team is continuing to raise public awareness of their client's case, and fighting to clear his name—in a bi-weekly Podcast called Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed.

In the first episode, which aired on Monday 14th April, Syed's new lawyer, Rabia Chaudry, along with fellow attorneys, Susan Simpson, and Colin Miller, dissected the events of that fateful day back in January 1999.

They pulled apart many of the witness statements, and presented two shocking new accounts of what allegedly went down that day, that were never presented at either trial—one from Debbie, a school friend of both Adnan's and Hae's, and, one from Woodlawn High's Coach Si, which seemingly matches up with Syed's assertion that he was at track practice on time, on January 13, despite the prosecution's star witness, Jay Wilds' testimony to the contrary.

Now, in a special broadcast, titled, Addendum 1: New Information About The Trip To Cathy's, which aired last night, Chaudry, Simpson and Miller tear to pieces another vital, key piece of the prosecution's case against Syed.

Chaudry explains that after the first episode aired, they received some new information from a listener, “which gives us some more insight into Cathy and what she remembers of that day, and by that day, of course I mean January 13, 1999."

“Just to refresh your memory, Cathy was a friend of Jen's," Chaudry continues. “And according to Cathy, and Jay, on January 13, 1999, Jay came to visit Cathy at her apartment, with Adnan, in the evening."

“The prosecution's theory of the case is that after Adnan finished his track practice on January 13, he is picked up by Jay," Miller explains. “He smokes some weed, they go over to Cathy's house, and she's surprised by this guy that seems extremely high.

"She says it's about six o'clock because she's watching Judge Judy…she says that Adnan gets a call from a friend, who is basically tipping him off that the cops are going to call, and Adnan freaks out…. He says, 'What am i going to do? What am i going to say?' And eventually, he and Jay leave in a hurry…. they get into Adnan's car.. the headlights are on.. they're just sitting there, and Cathy is confused as to what's going on, and they quickly leave.

"And, the prosecution claims they leave to go to the park and ride, change their plan, decide they're going to bury Hae's body in the seven o'clock hour, and the prosecution claims, this explains exactly what is going on for a definite burial on January 13."

Now, as the team points out, there's a few issues when it comes to this testimony—first is that Cathy admitted at trial that she was actually told by a detective that the date must have been the 13th……but, more importantly, and, if true, a total smoking gun, according to Syed's team, there is no way it could have been on that date—at least, if there was any credibility to Cathy's initial interview with cops, and her testimony at trial.

See, Cathy was adamant it had to be January 13, as she claims she was at a school department of social work conference all day, from “around 9 am till 4.30" prior to Jay and Adnan stopping by her apartment around 6.

Trouble is, it turns out that the Undisclosed listener who called in, had a copy of the December 1988-January 1999 calendar for the school of social work, and there was no conference on that day.

There was, however, a short conference on January 23, in addition to a longer one on January 22, which covered the very subject Cathy testified her conference was about….clinical interventions with traumatized children.

In addition, as Syed's legal team points out, January 22 was a day out from school, so it would have provided Syed with a whole day to smoke weed and therefore appear as high as Cathy described him as being in her police testimony—as opposed to if it had been on the 13th, and he had driven straight to Cathy's directly from track practice.

Whoa.

Now, if this is indeed true, how the FUCK did Syed's original counsel miss this? Why didn't she double check all of the prosecution witnesses' statements for factual errors and date contradictions?

And, if she had picked up on this alleged glaring inaccuracy, what could she have done with it when it came to trial?

Miller explains, “First she could have allowed the prosecution to include the trip to Cathy's as a key part of its narrative, in the opening statement at trial…. second, she could have then allowed Cathy and Jay to testify at trial about the trip to Cathy's…the phone calls, Adnan freaking out, and then Adnan basically coercing Jay into burying Hae's body in the seven o'clock hour, when such a burial otherwise, really doesn't make much sense…

“Then, at that point, she could have raised the fact the conference didn't occur on the 13th… this is known as evidence contradicted by other evidence…. it's a form of impeachment…. it's calling into question the credibility of other witnesses….including the key witness for the prosecution, by showing that what they claim, couldn't have happened…. it also would have been a key way to undermine the key narrative of the state, regarding the burial of the body."

Yeah, like I said, if true, it's kind of a smoking gun… to say the least. And, once again, as the original Serial did time and time again, it just begs the question, what the fuck?!!!! If Adnan DIDN'T do it…. then who DID?!!!!

Well, promising to throw up yet more questions, Chaudry teases that on the upcoming episode of Undisclosed, which airs Monday 27th, they are going to present a previously unheard of witness, who, “if we are to believe certain statements from the police, may have been last person top see Hae alive."

Oh, but, it doesn't end there!

According to Chaudry, this mystery witness may have also gotten a ride from Hae just prior to her murder…..

Addendum 1 below, and check out Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed, on Monday, for yet more twists and goddamn turns.

listen to 'Addendum 1: New Information About the Trip to Cathy's' on audioBoom

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Adnan Syed Case Dissected—What ACTUALLY Happened The Day Hae Lee Was Murdered?

Just when you think you’ve made up your mind if Adnan Syed is innocent or guilty, there’s yet another curve ball thrown.

As Popdust previously reported, the 34-year-old has spent the past 15 years in jail, after being sentenced to life plus 30 years, for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, back in 1999—Syed vehemently maintains his innocence.

The case garnered national attention last year after reporter, and NPR This American Life producer, Sarah Koenig, covered it in great depth, on her new weekly podcast, Serial.

At the end of the first season last December, there were many, many questions left unanswered—to say the least—and, pretty much every listener was left at least slightly conflicted when it came to the subject of Syed’s innocence or guilt.

Last month, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed to hear arguments from Adnan’s legal team, who are requesting a new trial on his behalf—in the meantime, that very same team has decided to continue to explore their client’s case—and throw shadow on the prosecution’s version of events, via a new podcast series, titled, Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed.

The first episode aired Monday April 13th—and, you an listen to it right here on Popdust.

The new Podcast is written and produced by lawyer, Rabia Chaudry, along with fellow attorneys, Susan Simpson, and Colin Miller.

At the very start, Chaudry discloses she is a longtime family friend of Syed’s—she’s known him since he was 13-years old, he was her younger brother’s best friend—she also shares that it was she who first brought the case to Koenig's attention.

Chaudhry explains that she, Simpson and Miller, are “not journalists, but three lawyers, interested in the minute details of the case of the State vs Adnan Syed,” continuing, “We like getting into the leads, and plan on taking you with us.

“This is not going to be a beautifully crafted narrative as with Serial—you will be run down many rabbit holes in the case—but, we aim to bring a new analysis to things you’ve already heard, share things you’ve never heard, and answer some of the most frequent questions that I get asked as I talk about the case, and Serial, across the country.”

So, let’s kick off with one of the BIGGEST questions surrounding the case—why doesn’t Syed remember anything about what happened on January 13, 1999—the day he was contacted and told his ex-girlfriend had mysteriously disappeared—and the date, it subsequently transpired, she was strangled to death?

Well, so here’s the thing [TAKE NOTE, MY COUSIN, AARON DEXTER!!!!]…according to Syed’s defense team, things are nowhere near as mysteriously vague and blank as we have been led to believe.

Adnan’s defense team go into great detail when it comes to that fateful day—and, as is often the case, things are seemingly not quite as clear cut, depending on whose side you fall on—And, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not fully swayed either way, but (SO FAR) I definitely feel that there’s more than enough reasonable doubt surrounding the case to seriously question the validity of a guilty verdict.

“It’s a bit of a misperception that Adnan has absolutely no recollection of [January 13] whatsoever,” Chaudry claims. “I get asked this question all the time… how can he remember nothing?

“That’s actually not true. Adnan did remember many portions of the day—in fact, he had made notes to that effect, that he gave to his attorney in September 1999… breaking down what he remembered…different periods and stuff.”

From that starting point, Chaudry, Simpson and Miller, take Syed’s recollection of accounts and compare it to all of the witness statements and testimony; the police statements; and all of the “grand jury stuff”, in a bid to “try and corroborate what Adnan has said, and, try to figure out who is, and who is not, remembering correctly. To try and nail down what Adnan was doing, where he was, all day, on January 13.”

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

Nope, in actuality, not really……

Miller, who is Associate Dean of Faculty Development at the University of South Carolina School of Law, points out that as often happens in court cases, witness statements, especially those taken some time after events transpired, can drastically contradict each other—due to a memory deficit called “confabulation”—which results in witnesses falsely remembering events that actually occurred over multiple days, as happening on one single day.

Given that, Simpson concludes the most credible accounts are those that are corroborated by more than one witness—which, in this case, are few and far between, quite frankly.

With that in mind, the team break down January 13 into four time periods:

ONE: The morning—Adnan’s arrival at school

TWO: Early afternoon—when school lets out

THREE: Later afternoon— following track practice

FOUR: The evening—after Jay picks Adnan up

There are two differing witness accounts when it comes to the start of school on January 13 1999.

Debbie, a fellow Woodlawn High School student, and mutual friend of both Adnan and Hae, told cops she remembered Adnan being late to school that day, claiming he arrived “sometime after 8.05 am”…. however, there is no official record of Syed being tardy on that date—despite previous accounts marking him as late on January 5, and 12, in addition to many other days.

Meanwhile, the second witness, Krista, also a fellow student and mutual friend of the former couple, claims in her initial police statement, back in March 1999, that Adnan was on time that morning—and, more importantly, she recollected walking into school with him as they bumped into Hae, whom, she claimed, Sayed asked to give him a ride after school, to which Hae agreed.

The two versions are obviously conflicted—so, who is right, who is wrong?

There are arguments to be made either way that one or other had the date wrong when it came to their account—but, after weighing up both stories, Syed’s team comes down on the side of Krista.

In the meantime, Miller shares that two witnesses subsequently recalled seeing Syed immediately after the end of school, around 2.15, to, 2.20pm, outside the career guidance councilor’s office.

According to Miller, one of the witnesses, Becky, told cops she was with Keisha and Ayesha, when she saw Adnan and Hae walk past each other in the corridor that afternoon—in her initial police statement, she claimed Syed stopped and asked Lee if it was still OK to give him a ride after school (as mentioned in Krista’s statement)—but, Hae said she couldn’t, as, she “had something else to do” and that, Adnan said it was “fine”, and he would ask someone else.

If indeed true, this is dynamite—as, when it came to the time of trial, this very important part of the story was noticeably missing.

Becky did subsequently testify to seeing Hae in the corridor that afternoon at school, and recalled her saying she “had to be somewhere” before walking out the door to her car, but made no mention of Adnan, and or, his and Hae’s interaction….

Shockingly, Syed’s defense failed to quiz Becky as to whether their client was a part of that conversation, or even there in fact….Posing the question—did Syed’s defense team drop the ball? Or, was there a strategic reason for not asking? Or, were they never provided with a copy of Becky’s original statement to cops, that seemingly blows away the prosecution’s argument that Adnan wangled his way into Hae’s car after school, by asking for a lift, then went on to strangle her to death?

Keisha, who also appeared as a witness for the prosecution, testified to seeing Hae and Adnan talking together that afternoon—a fact the prosecution jumped upon and used as evidence during their closing statement—arguing that Syed HAD to have killed Lee… as, he had asked her for a ride earlier in the day, she had agreed, Keisha saw them together talking after class…..and therefore……unless “something strange” happened during the next few minutes, it’s reasonable to believe Adnan got in Hae’s car, and then killed her….

On a side note, you would never have known Keisha’s testimony would ultimately prove so damning—according to Syed’s defense team, her initial police interview was so brief, and seemingly so irrelevant, that it allegedly wasn’t written up immediately and wasn’t filed by cops until two weeks later.

Then, according to Syed’s defense team, there’s the later part of Debbie’s statement to cops, claiming she saw Adnan outside the career guidance councilor’s office around 2.45 pm, holding his gym bag and talking about heading to track practice—and, the claim that she later saw Hae, sometime between 2.45 and 3.15…

Adnan's team allege that by the time of trial, Debbie had been written out of the prosecution timeline, as her version of events didn’t fit with their assertion that Syed had strangled Hae in the Best Buy parking lot by 2.36 pm, when he is alleged to have called Jay from a nearby pay phone and asked to be picked up.

So, yeah, what about Jay?!!!

That was the burning question throughout the entire first season of Serial—and promises to remain so, for at least the foreseeable future, throughout future episodes of Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed.

Then, there’s the alibi provided by Asia, that Sayed was at the library that fateful afternoon—oh, and the testimony from Coach Si that seemingly matches up with the assertion that Syed was indeed at track practice, on time, on January 13, 1999, even though Jay testified otherwise.

Hmmm…. there’s that name again.

Oh, but what about Kathy's testimony, and those pesky cell phone tower records? Infuriatingly, when it comes to those hoping for "closure" there's seemingly an answer for every one of the prosecution's arguments..

Listen to the first episode below and check back on April 27th for the second installment of Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed

listen to ‘Episode 1 - Adnan's Day’ on audioBoom