Legal Case Analysis: The Podcast Serial Case

This paper will consist of an analysis of the case presented in the podcast Serial. The podcast Serial is based on a first degree murder case in Baltimore, Maryland, USA that took place on January 13th, 1999. The case consisted of Adnan Syed, a 17-year-old Muslim boy attending his final year of high school being charged with the first degree murder of his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee. 16 years later, Adnan is adamant that he did not commit the crime, however he is still serving a life sentence for her death. In relation to the case, alibi believability, polygraphs, psychopathy, interrogations, inconsistencies within Jay’s story and confessions will be discussed throughout this paper.

A person’s alibi is their account of where they

Adnan was found guilty for the murder of Hae Min Lee but never once confessed or confirmed his involvement. It was Adnan’s friend Jay who connected the dots throughout the investigation by providing the police with important details of Hae’s murder. If police had conducted a Guilty Knowledge test with Adnan during his interrogation, the police would have had the opportunity to ask him those specific questions pertaining to the murder and monitor his reactions. With The Guilty Knowledge Test, only Adnan would know the answers to important questions such as the whereabouts of Hae’s vehicle and how she was murdered. The Guilty Knowledge test is very effective at identifying innocent participants and has a 98% accuracy rate (Dahl, 2016). Therefore, if Adnan really was innocent there is a very high chance this would have been detected by conducting a Guilty Knowledge

When questioned about the type of person Adnan was, many responded with “the Adnan I knew, couldn’t have done it” in reference to Hae’s murder. On the other hand, the court painted Adnan to be a possessive and controlling ex-boyfriend and even called him psychopathic. Psychopaths are individuals that posses a specific set of personality traits and behaviors. Psychopaths often appear normal and friendly to others but are self-centered, dishonest and lack empathy. Psychopaths provide a good first impression but are impulsive and very deceitful. Depending on who you talk to, Adnan Syed could be referred to as a psychopath. Although Adnan wanted to share his innocence, his defender told him not to otherwise he would make matters worse for himself. During the case, Adnan’s defence attorney asked for the jury to consider it a crime of passion, rather than intent to kill. However, the judge disagreed and said that Hae’s murder was planned and that Adnan used intellect and charisma to manipulate Hae and took her to her