Serial - the podcast *spoilers*

That is extremely vague and useless.

Watch Rope.

I have. Good on you for knowing the one Hichcock where the guy is actually guilty ;)

My point is basically when you are guilty of something (and Jay is by his own admission to his friend and to the police guilty of at minimum being an accessory to murder) it's not surprising that you would try (and the detectives would try to assist you, since you are their sole witness to a murder) to massage details in such a way as to minimize that crime and maximize the murderer's crime. That kind of massaging is sort of inevitably going to result in these inconsistencies, but it doesn't invalidate the general thrust of his testimony (this is basically what the detective that Koenig argues too so no points for originality for me).

Well, obviously I agree with that, as it's exactly the same thing I am saying: He lied to cover up his own guilt. We just disagree on where that guilt ends. But if we know that Jay was involved, and is willing to lie about it, and get Jenn to lie about it, then there is no reason to believe anything of what he says. And it's not that I'm a fanatic about presumption of innocence - Bill Cosby def did it - but when that is put on top of the problems with figuring out when Adnan would have had time to do it, and the thing with Adnans 'alibi', which anyways is better than Jay's, then I'm going to go ahead and feel it's more likely Adnan wasn't involved.

But also, if we're saying that criminals change their statements to cover up their tracks, then why didn't Adnan do the same? Like with his phone being at Leakin Park when he says he's at mosque: It's the easiest thing in the world to explain: 'I was too stoned to know where my phone was.' The tough part of that alibi is claiming to be somewhere filled with people, where someone should have been able to debunk it completely. The phone thing is just weird.

Oh anyways, I'm stopping now, it's late in DK.

i can't remember - is there any actual forensic evidence for Hae's time of death? iirc her time of death is based off jay's testimony and jen saying that jay told her about it that night. is there evidence to prove Hae was also buried in Leakin Park that same night?

the whole 'could this guy who is pleasant and likeable and responsible REALLY have killed anyone' really makes me crazy

because my whole thing is why are people not more cognizant of the fact that [warning unsubstantiated hyperbole] half the fucked up shit in the world is done by ppl who ARE pleasant and likeable bcz the combover serial killers are like, 1% of anyone.

my biggest beef with this show is the way she idealizes character traits that just seriously have nothing to do with anything.

anyway this whole episode just felt like a 'we need to fill an episode' cul-de-sac to me

SK is clearly a likeablist

But also, if we're saying that criminals change their statements to cover up their tracks, then why didn't Adnan do the same?

Because different criminals are different and their situations aren't really comparable.

Sorry still stuck on this Jay works alone scenario because my mind is boggling at it. Let's pretend that this is all Jay and it's a crazy crime of passion or whatever and then he's like "woah better cover this shit up" and he starts doing that methodically and at the same time starts framing Adnan, calling Nisha, arranging for the phone to be near Leakin Park cell towers, telling Jen that night that Adnan did it, etc, but why do any of that? Why bring Adnan into it at all? Most of these actions result in the policy getting to Jay! And Jay has no way of knowing that Adnan won't have an alibi, no way of knowing that Adnan will end up being a total patsy, no way of knowing that he'll get to walk. Was he just counting on being the luckiest criminal ever?

Also Adnan has no alibi. It's not way better than anyones. He literally cannot remember where he was basically the entire day and one person (other than Jay) remembers seeing him that afternoon.

Also Adnan has no alibi. It's not way better than anyones. He literally cannot remember where he was basically the entire day and one person (other than Jay) remembers seeing him that afternoon.

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, December 11, 2014 11:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and like SK said herself, how could you not remember anything about a day when the police call you and tell you your ex-girlfriend is missing?

i think he was so confident that a)jay wouldn't tell the police anything b)even if he did, no one would believe him that he thought a simple deny deny deny/i don't remember anything strategy would work. i also think having jay borrow his cell phone and car was a half-assed way of covering/muddying his tracks.

Adnans 'alibi', which anyways is better than Jay's

Neither of them have an alibi.
Jay confessed, and Adnan has no alibi other than Asia MacLean, and she has recanted - and it would't necessarily let him off the hook even if it did check out.

is there any actual forensic evidence for Hae's time of death?

This is a really key question - and something that I think was blatantly misrepresented in Serial, which makes a huge deal about the "21 minutes" in which the crime must have happened. BUT that 21-minute timeline comes from Jay and the Best Buy call - both of which Serial argues forcefully are unreliable. I understand they're making the point about how the prosecution's timeline seems impossible - but the inference is that if Adnan could not have killed Hae in those 22 minutes he must be innocent - which isn't true.

From Episode 1:
According to Jay's story and the cellphone records, she was dead by 2:36 PM. So sometime in those 21 minutes, between 2:15 and 2:36, she was strangled. So that's obviously the same window Adnan needed to account for. To quote Adnan, "My case lived and died in those 21 minutes."

But we know Jay's timeline ultimately does not add up - which leads us to believe Jay might be minimizes or omitting his own role in Hae's death - why should we believe Hae had to have been killed in that 21-minute window? If Jay is lying about his role, that's the part of the timeline he is MOST likely to be lying about. So again, it just does not prove Adnan's innocence if this story doesn't check out... and Adnan's vague account of this period (basically "I was probably at the library because sometimes I checked email" at that time and "I never missed track" later) certainly doesn't amount to an alibi.

But I will say again because I'm feeling guilty for trashing the show and playing internet Columbo for my own entertainment now: the big truth that Serial revealed stands: this is a miscarriage of justice. Prosecution put up a shitty case and pulled some dubious moves, and the defence did a bad job. Whether he did it or not, it seems like he did not get a fair trial.

i'm glad SK is doing this show instead of you guys

xp I think he got a fair trial. At same time I don't think burden of proof was met, but it's always easy to Monday Morning quarterback these things.

No way did he get a fair trial - at least one juror admits totally judging Adnan for not testifying, which jurors were specifically told not to do, and given the evidence and testimonies, and the fact that Jay was cut a deal that was never revealed in court, I can't believe a jury could legitimately find Adnan guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt".

If this is not a fair trial than basically no trial in the United States is a fair trial.

Seriously prosecution didn't do anything completely egregious to taint the case.
His defense was able.
And the jury was unanimous.

I don't see the misconduct or inequity here. Adnan caught some bad breaks and obviously for the money he was paying his defense could have been sharper, but to say this was a miscarriage of justice? I don't see it.

a jury ignoring instructions/nullifying doesn't mean an unfair trial. If the judge had not given the instruction, the trial would not be fair.

By the way I did read about the Whitman case. That case is so messed up it makes this one seem tame by comparison.

Sorry Witman case.

wow you all make me feel like such a bleeding heart!

I'm looking forward to next week's finale, and next December's HuffPost story about how that dude from Serial is still in jail.

If this is not a fair trial than basically no trial in the United States is a fair trial.

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), 12. december 2014 17:46 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, amen. And it isn't, and no one ever is, it seems. US justice is completely fucked up.

i suspect that jury instructions are more often not followed than they are followed, but i thought the jury was aware of jay's deal. maybe i'm misremembering. i remember the one juror expressing disbelief that he didn't go to jail, but i thought there had been testimony about it. i feel like SK started with the conclusion that the defense did a bad job, but hasn't proven it. there are things that could have been done differently, and the attorney's style was really grating, but i'm not persuaded that she really fucked up.

I think it was more that SK started with Adnan's family's allegation that the attorney had fucked up, but then concluded that she'd done ok. Except maybe for not following up on Asia.

yeah

Did Jay have any motive to kill Hae/any motive to say Adnan did it, if Jay didn't and a third party did?

there is no evidence of a motive on jay's part, just speculation that he was cheating on stephanie, hae knew about and was threatening to tell.

http://i.imgur.com/pq88ulD.jpg

There's an "h" in there if you listen closer.

sounds like HHKREEMP? to me

KHIMP at the very least

Right? Just like my dn.

exactly

*delivers hifive*

internet very much in character looking at a show about a girl's murder and wondering "How can we insert 'mail kimp' into some Linkin Park lyrics for our tumblr?"

^

I understand the feeling of distaste about a lot of the Serial jokes but I think it's inaccurate to say Serial is about a girl's murder. It's really about a man's conviction. Obviously Hae's murder is central to that story and I'm not in any way trying to diminish that but the podcast just isn't about her. It's about Adnan.

well, yeah. that's the main problem with it. I didn't have a problem with that Best Buy tweet, but some of the hipster stuff is lame:

https://41.media.tumblr.com/48ba39102e5ece9209f31c7a84300a5e/tumblr_ng2dko0kH21t0d7sno1_500.jpg
http://36.media.tumblr.com/ea6b52083d06b538af1f6fb9deae1cd6/tumblr_nf0414Zgds1qicn50o1_500.jpg

woah that's brutal, what the fuck is wrong with people?

I don't get that second one at all.

Linkin Park had a song called In The End It Doesn't Even Matter. It's a hideously formed "joke" based on Leakin Park, where the body of Hae Minh Lee was buried.

Leakin park is pronounced like Linkin Park in a Baltimore accent

One thing that struck me about this whole thing is the very neutral, professional tone that SK and a lot of the interviewees have - is that an American thing or is it just the amount of time that's gone by since 1999?

Actually dunno about 'professional' there

huh? she seems very casual and informal to me, especially with friends and family of Adnan

what you're hearing is know in America as "the NPR voice"

xp yeah - that's what I mean, casual, neutral, sort of thing. Ah and there's a name for it

At first I was honestly hearing that tone and thinking it was definitely a sign of guilt but I think it might be more that Americans are better at having confident conversations w/strangers where they come across as relaxed