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Hey hey,

So obviously the biggest news of the week is that Adnan Syed was released from prison.  WTF finally, am I right? (And if you think I'm wrong I would LOVE to know why). Pretty much this entire issue will be dedicated to this news.

ENJOY!

My Pod

This week's episode of Who's Knocking (My podcast with co-host Hanna Feuer!) is part 2 of the story of Michelle Knotek. We chat about the rest of her crimes, her and Dave's trials and convictions and where are they now? Check it out on Youtube, Apple or Spotify.Part 1 can be found here. And maybe subscribe to us on youtube, if you want :)

Adnan’s release

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Okay so obviously the big thing of the week is Adnan's release from prison. And if you aren’t aware (doubt it) you can read about it here. Adnan is currently out of prison but has to remain at home until the prosecution decides if they want a new trial or not. My bet is that they drop things entirely. Fingers crossed!Now, the big drama that I’ve been trying to sort out all week is more between some of the big players in this advocacy/podcast world. On the Twitter I am seeing a lot coming from Rabia Chaudry and Asia McClain aimed at Sarah Koenig, host of Serial. Like most people, I listened to Serial, thought it was great and have barley kept up with the case besides seeing the odd headline. It’s a very sad state we’re in that there are so many (probable) wrongful convictions out there that it’s hard to keep up with all of them.  So anyways, it seems that Rabia, who actually brought Adnan’s case to Sarah in the first place, now alleges that Serial got a lot of things wrong, and actually hindered some of Adnan’s appeals. She also pretty outright accuses Sarah of racism.  

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Rabia is lawyer and a childhood friend of Adnan's and has been one of his biggest advocates throughout this whole ordeal. She hosts a podcast called Undisclosed, which covers wrongful convictions and the US criminal justice system. She also wrote a book called Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial (which I just purchased btw).And then there is Asia, who was a pretty big player in the serial podcast. She was a witness who has said that she saw, and had a conversation with Adnan at the time of the murder. She is his alibi. She has also levied some accusations at Sarah on Twitter. Here is an interview she did a while back that I think makes her perspective pretty clear.

So what are the real criticisms of Serial, the true crime podcast that launched a thousand (lol way more) true crime podcasts? I think it mainly comes down to this: People who followed the case closely and who went on to listen to Undisclosed seem to think that Serial did not go far enough. They  say that NPR put out a very popular podcast, that left most people thinking that probably Adnan was not guilty, whereas Rabia's crowd was positive of his innocence. Those two thoughts may sound similar enough, but in the criminal justice system, they are actually very different. And not to mention in the court of public opinion.This appears to come down to a lot of evidence that at the time of Serial looked one way ie, the cell tower evidence that looked like Adnan was at the burial site, which later was proven incorrect. In Serial, Sarah also had doubts about whether some of the cops involved had Islamophobic motives, some critics of Serial think they in fact did. And then there is the criticism that Serial, or the New York Times who now owns the podcast, should post updates on the Serial feed to reconcile the things that they got wrong. I think this Twitter thread argues this side pretty well. I don’t know about you all, but I will be diving further into this case in the coming weeks. Just for shits.  Here is a list of places you can do that:Serial Podcast‍Undisclosed Podcast‍Adnan’s Story‍The Case Against Adnan Syed - a documentary by Amy Berg (she did West of Memphis)The Undisclosed WikiAnd if you need a little chuckle you can also watch this (very old) SNL sketch. Hae Min Lee

As it is with so many other wrongful conviction cases often the victim and the victim's families get lost in the shuffle. This case is no exception. This Baltimore Sun article seems to indicate that Lee's family may have been treated as an after thought during these proceedings, at least that is what they're claiming. The State Attorney's Office disagreed. The family asked for the judge to delay the hearing so that they could make it from California to Baltimore but the judge denied the request. I'm super curious to know what people think about this. Thoughts?If you ask me..... I dunno man, the truth is the truth. I understand it must be EXTREMELY emotional for their family, but 23 and a half years is a very long time to be rotting away in prison. I hope that releasing Adnan, and vacating his sentence (which they haven't yet done but should) will light a fire under the ass of the Baltimore police and DA's office to bring to justice whoever actually did kill Hae Min Lee. It's about damn time if you ask me!

‍On brand

If you watched any of out latest podcast episodes, or if you follow me on instagram, you may have caught us in these amazing and very on brand sweaters. They are by Forensic Myles and I have a 20% off code (Madison) for anything on her site! Also just so you know, if you purchase from FM, you have to option of rounding up your purchase to make a donation to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which is a charity started by Mariska Hargitay (AKA Olivia Benson from Law and Order: SVU). Their mission is to "transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever".So that's pretty cool...

‍Survey

Did you listen to Serial?

AND

Did you listen to Undisclosed?

Thoughts? Feelings? What do you know that I don't???

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