The Case Against Adnan Syed

Regardless of whether Adnan is guilty or not, it's proven many times that the justice system is broken. Many people consider it as sacred but in reality, it's just a man made system and doesn't always become successful in delivering justice. It works on the ability of people to present the truth in order to serve justice, but people can be biased, easily manipulated, and influenced. This includes everyone in the justice system. The many innocent people, who were put in jail and later exonerated, and the people who were let go freely even though they were guilty, are the biggest proof of it. The system prefers the rich and powerful. If you have the money, you can hire the biggest lawyer with the biggest mouth, whether you are guilty or not, and that lawyer will try to manipulate the system to prove your innocence.

N 2014, a podcast called "Serial" went viral when doing its first season on the Adnan Syed murder case. Apparently it's been downloaded 175 million times. Think about that! That's more than half the country's population. Now 5 years later comes this 4 part documentary from HBO, in essence a visual rehash and update of the podcast. As the documentary opens, we get a short introduction as to the main persons involved in this matter, including 18 year old Hae Min Lee, who was brutally murdered in early 1999, 17 year old school mate (and ex-boyfriend) Adnan Syed, their respective families, and others. The attention of the Baltimore Police focuses quickly on Syed, a Pakistani American whose family is super-strict, but he himself is not.

Couple of comments: this documentary is written and directed by highly respected and long-time documentarian Amy Berg (whose 2006 "Deliver Us From Evil" was nominated for Best Documentary Oscar). The documentary is in 4 parts, and I have now seen 3 of the 4 parts (I'll watch the last part surely later this week). The documentary feels at times s bit heavy-handed, if not one-sided, at least through the initial 3 parts, mostly telling the story from Syed's and his lawyer's and family's perspective. Part 2 ("In Between the Truth") looks up close at the various testimonials. Because so many aspects and angles of the case come up, I admit that at times I lost track of certain things. It's not very often these days that one gets too much information! When Berg lets the Korean American family and Baltimore community speak their minds, it only reinforces how little attention is paid to them overall. One interesting item that came up a number of times is how the "Serial" podcast has impacted the people involved, even those just on the fringes (a HS classmate comments that she wishes she'd never gotten involved in the podcast).

Despite its flaws, I nevertheless found this pretty compelling viewing. I think one reason for the podcast's extraordinary success and now the strong ratings for this documentary is that the appetite from the public at large for a murder case in which we may never fully know what truly and really happened, is simply insatiable.

*UPDATE* I saw the 4th and final episode and it doesn't change my overall view of this documentary series: heavily tilted towards the Syed camp's view of events, but in the end we really don't know know what happened 20 years ago

It just shows how messed up the legal system is :( keeping his family in my prayers

Definitely not up to the high standard one expects from HBO. The producers seem preoccupied with making the doco "entertaining". The fancy graphics, the animation, and the editing, all distract. It's ultimately a wasted opportunity to present the case in a clear, considered and constructive way, for the benefit of both those who are for or against Adnan Syed.

Dragging out a story that has been told a million times before, by a million other mediums, makes it boring and uninspired.

There is also one inexcusable misrepresented fact: "Because of new evidence unearthed after SERIAL, Adnan Syed has been granted an appeal". Unless I'm mistaken, this new evidence came about through the "Undisclosed Podcast", specifically through the hard work and legal acumen of lawyer Susan Simpson. While this new evidence was unearthed "after Serial", the statement gives false credit to that podcast.

For those claiming they "know" Adnan was and still is guilty are just as bad as the unbelievable stubborn and outright corrupt US "justice" system. I've listen to the podcast and I've watched this documentary and whilst it may have been one sided I'm baffled to see how anyone can be so convinced of his guilt. There is literally nothing that proves he did anything, other than a pathological criminal and liar whose story changed daily. I've seen many other cases in which the prosecution do everything they can to pin a murder on someone and ignore glaring holes and inconsistencies and seemingly how zero interest in finding the truth simply to clear it from their desk and move on. This crazy idea to get someone to plead guilty despite maintaining their innocence for 20 odd years, simply to prevent them from suing the state for time spent in prison it madness. I'm infuriated that people can't see past the collusion and hell bent evil simply to avoid admitting they got it wrong and worse knowingly locked someone up with zero hard evidence. Equally infuriating is that this documentary ended with so much more to be told, including that Adnan did get realised and explain more about this. Hopefully someone will pick up where this finished.