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‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

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Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#51

Post by orblivion »

robga wrote: post #11

Serial was blowout success, but flawed in many ways. For me, chief amongst these is not updating the podcast with new (and potentially exculpatory) information as it came to light over the years. What really progressed the case was the Undisclosed podcast [0]. Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan and an attorney, first took Adnan's story to Sarah Koenig, who documented it in the Serial podcast. But in Undisclos…

Wow, lucky kid that his case got this much attention. It can't be the only ambiguous case out there.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#52

Post by jphoward »

willcipriano wrote: post #46
blobbers wrote: post #17

'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It was the defining podcast. It isn't that it was hyper monetized or incredibly financially successful; simply it showed that the audience was there. It has over 340 million listens as of 2018 . With this eviction of conviction, I suspect that number will be over a billion. It is fitting that it has come full circle and fulfilled the ultimate purpose of investigati…

Karl Pilkington was eating a knob at night a decade prior.

I could eat a knob at night.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#53

Post by legitster »

stingrae wrote: post #50
legitster wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to hear from an actual neutral legal party if that's actually the case. Adnan had a motive and a strong testimony against him from an accomplice who's story had checked out. Is it actually a big miss to not rule out every possible suspect? But on your broader point, I largely agree that anyone freed from unnecessarily long and potentially unjust prison sentences is a good thing.

> "accomplice who's story had checked out" I'm not sure that's how i would put it. He changed his story several times until it fit.

The first few times police interviewed him he thought they were going to go after him on drug charges. After he had a plea deal and a lawyer his story was pretty straight. He even pointed out where the evidence was. And this is the testimony that was offered to the jury and scrutinized on cross examination.

The entire sub-plot in the podcast about his testimony was somewhat misleading on Serial's part.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#54

Post by listless »

blobbers wrote: post #17

'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It was the defining podcast. It isn't that it was hyper monetized or incredibly financially successful; simply it showed that the audience was there. It has over 340 million listens as of 2018 . With this eviction of conviction, I suspect that number will be over a billion. It is fitting that it has come full circle and fulfilled the ultimate purpose of investigati…

Serial is the original true crime podcast, and IMO, nobody since has done it as well as they did.

And holy shit. What an incredible piece of news. I think, though, that if the state vacates a conviction, then they lose the right to prosecute you again. Being let out and then having to relive your nightmare trial with the possibility of going back? That’s sadistic by any definition.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#55

Post by TheCondor »

indigodaddy wrote: post #19

When I finished the podcast I was not at all convinced of his innocence. For me was 50/50 or even 60/40 against innocence. Just my takeaway/opinion of course.. EDIT However, reading both of the AP News articles on this now, it does serve to sway me more toward his innocence. Crazy that the prosecutors withheld this at that time.. Par for the course unfortunately I guess. Seems as though the SA office is trying to do…

I think that's part of the recipe.. All the editing and cleverness of This American Life, a crime and then enough open questions to let you feel one way or the other and wanting more.

I don't remember my exact feelings on his guilt or not but I felt really strongly that the system hadn't worked correctly. Makes you wonder how many less charming guys are in prison because they didn't get a fair defense. The other thing that I also strongly remember was that the prosecution, the victim's family and some of the police were 100% convinced of his guilt. I don't know if it's good or bad but Serial showed that clearly and it created doubt; there was clearly some evidence that suggested misconduct but then the state steadfastly seemed to ignore that.

I don't know what it is, maybe suburban white man fear or something but being wrongly convicted of something like that is a strong and resonating fear for some of us.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#56

Post by jmkd »

robga wrote: post #11

Serial was blowout success, but flawed in many ways. For me, chief amongst these is not updating the podcast with new (and potentially exculpatory) information as it came to light over the years. What really progressed the case was the Undisclosed podcast [0]. Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan and an attorney, first took Adnan's story to Sarah Koenig, who documented it in the Serial podcast. But in Undisclos…

Would Undisclosed have even covered the case were it not for Serial?

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#57

Post by ekanes »

hardtke wrote: post #35
blobbers wrote: post #17

'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It was the defining podcast. It isn't that it was hyper monetized or incredibly financially successful; simply it showed that the audience was there. It has over 340 million listens as of 2018 . With this eviction of conviction, I suspect that number will be over a billion. It is fitting that it has come full circle and fulfilled the ultimate purpose of investigati…

Maybe Serial launched the modern commerically produced crime podcast format, but I'd give a shout out to The History of Rome by Mike Duncan as the "defining podcast." It started quite a bit earlier (2007) and proved that there is a big audience (65 million downloads) for obscure topics covered in depth. Serial spun out of This American Life, so it had some audience to begin with, but THOR is truly "let me put this ou…

An absolute gem. I’ve listened all the way through twice.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#58

Post by antognini »

oconnor663 wrote: post #40
indigodaddy wrote: post #19

When I finished the podcast I was not at all convinced of his innocence. For me was 50/50 or even 60/40 against innocence. Just my takeaway/opinion of course.. EDIT However, reading both of the AP News articles on this now, it does serve to sway me more toward his innocence. Crazy that the prosecutors withheld this at that time.. Par for the course unfortunately I guess. Seems as though the SA office is trying to do…

> For me was 50/50 or even 60/40 against innocence. Totally, but the standard for conviction is "beyond a reasonable doubt". By that standard, a 40% chance of innocence means "not guilty". I don't know whether the law has ever translated "reasonable doubt" into a specific percentage, but I have to imagine it's less than 10%?

Alexander Volokh wrote a tongue-in-cheek law review article titled "N Guilty Men" that tried to quantify that percentage:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=11412

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#59

Post by warner25 »

I'm wondering if anyone here has real insight into the economics of his situation at this point. On one hand it seems like his life has been ruined by the state after spending 20+ years in prison, costing his family everything in legal fees, and forever being associated with this murder. I feel like anyone wrongfully convicted (or even just accused) should have some serious recourse but I suspect that there isn't any. On the other hand, can he realistically make out better than most of us (i.e. turning this into a mid-7 or 8-figure fortune and living happily ever after) by getting book / movie / TV / speaking deals now that he's out?

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#60

Post by dekhn »

ars wrote: post #25
dekhn wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Periodically I go back and check on Mumia Abu Jamal. Yep, still in jail [previously, I had said "on death row"]. He had far more coverage but I guess it happened before things went viral.

I read the Wikipedia article on him, and I don't see why you think he's innocent? Other than an automatic assumption of racism there's nothing in there that would make me think it was a bad trial. This isn't a case of mistaken identity - he was shot by the person he shot. He had a gun that had been discharged 5 times. What am I missing? What's his explanation for having fired 5 times? All I saw was a vague claim that…

I didn't say I think he was innocent- I have no idea. My only point was that there was a "free mumia" movement that also pointed out problems with the legal case, such that there was no airtight prosecution that would have led to the resulting death penalty.
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