"Serial" - interesting true crime podcast from This American Life team

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/magazine/sarah-koenig-cant-promise-a-perfect-ending-to-serial.html?referrer=&_r=0

Great article - timely!

Episode 10 takes a closer look at Adnan's attorney and sheds some light on the strange behind-the-scenes behavior that factored into her court performance. The recordings are interesting (and draining at points) - it's easy to imagine how exhausted the jury could feel.

http://serialpodcast.org/season-one/10/the-best-defense-is-a-good-defense

After hearing those recordings, I can imagine how jurors would become so annoyed by her presentation that they would shut out anything she said.

I also now understand the strategy she chose.

But ultimately I think I became more convinced than ever of who did it.

If next week's episode lives up to the promo, it should clarify things.

Yes, I found her extremely grating and brash. I could not have listened to her at length.

And I find it so odd that she didn't make a point at all about those 6 hours where Jay's timeline doesn't match the call records. Seems like a critical point, if only to discredit the other calls.

Wow:

Serial: The Syed family on their pain and the ‘five million detectives trying to work out if Adnan is a psychopath’

The podcast exploring the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, has become a global phenomenon. In an exclusive interview, Adnan’s family talk to Jon Ronson about listening to Serial, toxic Reddit threads and how his imprisonment has destroyed their lives

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/dec/07/serial-adnan-syed-family-podcast-interview

Thanks for that, @project37.

A real rollercoaster of an episode - psychopath or empathetic? The excerpt from his letter had me imagining myself in his situation. How could you live like that, guarding every single word you say?

In any case, next week is the final episode. I don't think that they can pull together a definitive ending, so I hope that they can at least keep the audience updated through their website (assuming that there's any more story that can be told).

Probably not a great idea.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/12/11/best_buy_serial_tweet_what_s_wrong_with_brand_jokes_about_a_murder_podcast.html

Probably not. But it's fair for her to say that internet outrage coming from people who have latched onto the reinvestigation of an actual murder case for entertainment is tinged with hypocrisy.

https://twitter.com/sesamestreet/status/542794195107213313

The series seems to be running out of steam. SK likely titled this episode Rumours in hopes of having a certain rumour verified. That didn't happen, so she did 30 minutes on minor thefts at the mosque with a garbled voice that claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars were lifted $20 at a time. Adnan would have to attend weekly services for 95 years to amass each $100,000. Maybe SK is saving this math for the last episode? Or perhaps she can get verification on the rumor thereby making it less rumour like and close out on a high note? Either way, it's been an entertaining show.

There's no reason why the show couldn't go on for as long as they like, so clearly the reason it's ending next week is there's nothing much left to talk about. The mosque theft is a bunch of nothing designed to fill time. The interview with the criminal-mind expert was more interesting, if inconclusive and not directly relevant. There is going to be a hearing in January, which apparently is Adnan's last chance for a new trial. Nobody seems to think he has much of a shot. Otherwise, seems like this story is over.

"If he stole from the mosque, he's not a perfect person and thus he must be a murderer." Obviously one thing doesn't equal another but it does throw shade against the people who claim he couldn't have done it because he was such a good kid.

Lots of "good kids" commit petty crimes when they're young and stupid. There's zero reason to think that has any bearing on whether or not he's capable of murder.

http://laughingsquid.com/mailchimp-embraces-its-serial-podcast-opening-mispronunciation-with-a-mailkimp-sweatshirt/

Anyway, the whole "he couldn't have done it, he's so nice" thing is absurd. "He seemed like such a nice guy!" is like the oldest murderer-next-door cliche.

Frank said:

Anyway, the whole "he couldn't have done it, he's so nice" thing is absurd. "He seemed like such a nice guy!" is like the oldest murderer-next-door cliche.

That's why I always make sure I'm an ***** to my neighbors. Throws them off the scent. Keeps the basement intact.

I saw the whole "stealing from the collection" story break on Reddit a while back. Somebody posted to accuse Adnan, then other people posted to accuse the accuser of sexually abusing minors (even naming him, which created a whole thing), then Adnan's brother got involved, and it got uglier from there.

Rabia (the woman who first brought the story to TAL) had since deleted her Reddit account because it just got too toxic for her over there. She continues to blog her side of the story and publishes a post following each episode. She moved to a new site: http://www.splitthemoon.com/

Frank said:

Lots of "good kids" commit petty crimes when they're young and stupid. There's zero reason to think that has any bearing on whether or not he's capable of murder.

I should have clarified - that seems to be the "point" of this episode and the perspective a lot of people were sharing in this episode.

It's not an idea that Koenig seems to put any stock in, though. It more seemed like her way of acknowledging all of the reddit stuff. I wish they had tackled it more directly, but I guess this was the most responsible way to take on some of the claims without getting sucked into the cesspool. Anyway, none of it actually amounts to anything of significance.

Which seems to be true of the whole case

TarheelsInNj said:

Which seems to be true of the whole case

As was always self-evident. I simply cannot imagine that anyone ever expected Koenig to uncover some kind of explosive new evidence that would conclusively determine whether or not Adnan is guilty. It was never--from moment one--that kind of narrative. Partly because it's a cerebral TAM take on a crime story, and partly because it's REAL, and reality just doesn't work like Murder She Wrote.

I think once the Innocence Project episode happened, a lot of people expected there would be a real outcome

I found this article really interesting, about the pending appeal in the case:

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/10/7363799/serial-adnan-syed-appeal

What exactly did these people think that outcome might be? The Innocence Project works within the legal system. Even if they did somehow managed to someday get Adnan's verdict overturned (which is highly unlikely), it would take years. There was never even the remotest chance that their involvement for a couple of months would lead to some Perry Mason moment that would upend the whole story.

Yes, that is interesting. Here is the relevant bit from that Vox piece on the Innocence Project:


LN: I understand this is effectively Adnan's last chance. Is that the case?

CM: He has exhausted his state direct appeals. Under Maryland law, he gets one appeal where he can file the post-conviction petition in state court. That's the one that he submitted, and the circuit court rejected it. And now the Court of Special Appeals have decided if it's going to grant him leave to appeal to that court.

And that's all he can do, except for the Innocence Project asking for DNA testing of Hae Min Lee's [rape kit, on which the Virginia Innocence Project is reportedly pursuing DNA testing]. Independent of his current post-conviction petition, they can seek DNA testing. And if he was trying to make a claim of actual innocence, that could be a collateral appeal — but that’s very unlikely. After this, his only avenue is DNA testing in state court.

I'm not sure who you're arguing with, exactly, but there are definitely a lot of real people out there who are hoping for some kind of actual conclusion. Whether that's realistic or not doesn't matter. It will be very interesting to see what the response will be when there inevitably is no real conclusion.

nevermind

I'm not arguing with anyone. Or maybe I'm arguing with these hypothetical people who might be expecting a tidy conclusion that there was never any possibility the show could (or even wanted to) deliver? I really don't see a big Sopranos moment next week, though. The Sopranos was a work of fiction. TAM listeners are by and large too savvy to expect a big twist ending.