Serial is a podcast that is trying to prove the innocence of Adnan Syed, a man who was charged of murdering his girlfriend when he was 17. After listening to the Serial podcast, I believe that Adnan Syed is innocent.
To start, the first argument that Keonig uses in her podcast is that it is highly unlikely that anyone, especially a teenager, would remember what happened a long time ago without there being any significant events, and it was what people said they supposedly did six weeks ago that was used for arguments in the trial. To prove that this is difficult, Koenig asks four people what they did six weeks ago. Three of them, all 18 year old males, did not remember what they did at all, and the fourth one only remembers what he did because it was the last day of state testing and he had saved up to go to a nightclub. What is important to keep in mind is that this trial happened in 1999, before cellphones, so teenagers had no way of really remembering what happened. I believe that this is a strong argument and that with this thought in mind it seems much more likely that Syed is innocent.
In addition, Keonig has recordings of interviews inserted into her podcast. These interviews are with people that believe Syed is innocent, and they have their own personal arguments. One girl, Ravia, age 40, said that the lawyer threw the case, which was why Koenig took the case in the first placed. They described Syed as “the community’s golden child” and he was a very well-liked kid. While listening to their interviews as well as other interviews throughout the podcast, it seems highly unlikely that Syed was guilty of murder.
Lastly, the argument that I found the most compelling, is what the court had against Syed. The argument was that Syed was not supposed to date, and so when his girlfriend broke up with him after he had put everything on the line for her he was outraged and supposedly left with nothing, so he killed her. They also said that because of his lying, as well as the fact that he smoked, drank, and had sex, he was a bad person, so he must be guilty. What bothers me about this is not only is it not enough evidence, but it is also not true. Syed was the community’s golden boy, he had a life outside of his relationship, he was not left with nothing. In addition, the reasons supporting the fact that Syed was a bad person are things ever teenager does, especially in 1999. There were other teenagers just like him, with the same religious rules in their households, that smoked, drank, and had sex. This was evidently not enough proof to put Syed behind bars, and I believe that this proved his innocence.
To conclude, it is evident that Syed is innocent. His whole trial was clearly a sham, there was not enough proof to charge him, in fact there was more proof of his innocence than there was proof of his guilt. Syed deserves a retrial so that he can have a fair chance at proving his innocence, as his last trial was clearly unfair and useless. In the United states in 2015, 149 people spent an average of 15 years in prison before being cleared of all charges and found innocent (Hause) and in the year 2017 Adnan Syed has the right to become one of those numbers.
To listen to the Serial podcast visit their website at https://serialpodcast.org/
Works cited:
Hause, Marti. “Jailed but Innocent: Record Number of People Exonerated in 2015.” NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 03 Feb. 2016. Web. 28 July 2017.
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