If you've listened to Season 1 of the Serial podcast, narrated by Sarah Koenig and produced by the makers of This American Life, you may have wondered why Maryland prosecutors were so opposed earlier this year when Adnan Syed was granted a retrial. If you haven't listened to Serial Season 1, don't read this. If you have some time, go to www.serialpodcast.org and listen to the podcast-- it's definitely worth your time.

I first listened to Serial when its first season started in 2014. It was super intriguing and had me hooked from the first episode. It was like a TV-crime drama in real life, a nonfiction thriller playing out in real time. Well, fifteen years after the actual murder conviction of Adnan Syed, but real time in regards to Koenig's re-investigation of all things relating to Syed's case. With each friend, relative, witness and jury member related to the case that Koenig interviewed, a clearer picture was painted of what really happened. At least it seemed that way-- my personal verdict, as I recall from that first listen, swung wildly from, "It was definitely Adnan!" to, "There's no way it wasn't Jay," and even, "Mr. S had to have played some role." The end bit about the serial killer infatuated with murdering Asian women never really shifted my opinion.

This is all what the podcast is geared to do for its listeners. First and foremost, it attracted a large audience because it was dramatic, bringing things to light at just the right time and asking "What If?" over and over again. The first time I listened to the podcast, it worked. I listened to Season 2 recently, which is centered around the Bowe Bergdahl. This was also a juicy story, and very culturally relevant-- it's fresh in our minds how a captured U.S. soldier was brought back from Taliban confinement by a trade for convicted and held terrorists. Obama made this call and went through with the deal in May of 2014. Koenig and her team, once again, did a terrific job in reporting and producing with Season 2. However, I thought after completing the final episode: that was no Adnan Syed story.

This is the effect Season 1 had on me: I thought Adnan's case was completely wide-open, and that justice was finally being served when Adnan was granted retrial. So why were Maryland prosecutors so adamant about it all being a farse? Why did they insist the appeal was "meritless," citing the "sensationalized attention" the case got as being "fueled by supporters of a convicted murderer" and that it "should not bear on the just and proper resolution of this appeal." Such language comes from a brief signed by the elected attorneys of every Maryland county. Only the signature of Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby was wanting on the brief.

Perplexed as I was and deciding that it had been too long since I had listened to the podcast for me to maintain a firm position (and having plenty of time to kill while delivering pizzas for Papa John's), I decided to give the first season of Serial another listen. Perhaps I'd grown up a little bit and could better understand the details of the podcast; maybe it was that I forced myself to not wishfully think Adnan was innocent and to take an objective stance. It was probably a mix of these which attributed to my (somewhat) confident verdict: Adnan Syed is guilty of the murder of Hae Min Lee.

There is one principal reason this almost certainly must be true: no one else had any motive to kill Hae. Hae was beloved by all who knew her, and she hadn't made any serious enemies--besides, it seems, Adnan. The other possible suspects, at one time or another, were Adnan's friend Jay, Hae's then-current boyfriend Don, and "Mr. S" (name not given for privacy reasons). The show makes another possible accusation right at the end, but as I said earlier its basically nonsensical.

Jay had no reason to kill Hae, unless he was a psychopathic killer, which there was no evidence for. And Jay's story is enough to make both Mr. S and Don innocent as well. Neither Mr. S (also would have had to be a random murderer) nor Don would have collaborated with Jay to kill Hae. But this is the only possible scenario if Adnan is completely innocent. An alternative scenario doesn't hold water, considering Jay knew where Hae's car was. Jay was involved somehow, and would have no reason to kill Hae.

The most curious thing about the whole podcast is Adnan's behavior. Basically, he seems fairly content in prison. Like he knows he deserves it. He doesn't even suggest anybody that could've done it. He doesn't point the finger at Jay, the only possible alternative to Adnan being the killer. Why? Because he knows it's not true, and such a story would quickly be debunked. Adnan for the most part "can't remember' what happened on the day of Hae's disappearance. To me, this means that any story he could come up with would have too many holes to be taken seriously. Adnan loosely clings to the hope that the state's case is inaccurate because of an impossibility with time, but Koenig and her people prove that the murder would indeed have been possible following the state's timeline.

It seems Adnan is being cryptic on purpose, not confessing to the crime but also not blaming anyone else. To me, this is a conflict of moral standing. Adnan doesn't seem like a terrible person. He made an impassioned decision to kill his ex-girlfriend as a high schooler, and doesn't want someone else to unjustly serve jail time for his crime. But he's also biding his time in un-confession, hoping that somehow a loophole is found and he doesn't have to spend his whole adult life in prison.

The Maryland prosecutors are right: despite Serial chronicling Adnan's case insightfully and diligently, looking at every angle, this is a closed case. Adnan Syed is guilty of murder and should not be given a retrial.

Source: Baltimore Sun Online, http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/crime-law-justic...