Rabia Chaudry C/O Macmillan Speakers Bureau 175 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10010 (646) 307-5544
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SPOTLIGHT CLE: THE MURDER CASE OF STATE v. ADNAN SYED CLE Credit: 1.0 Wednesday, June 21, 2017 2:25 p.m. - 3:25 p.m. Exhibit Hall 2 Owensboro Convention Center Owensboro, Kentucky A NOTE CONCERNING THE PROGRAM MATERIALS The materials included in this Kentucky Bar Association Continuing Legal Education handbook are intended to provide current and accurate information about the subject matter covered. No representation or warranty is made concerning the application of the legal or other principles discussed by the instructors to any specific fact situation, nor is any prediction made concerning how any particular judge or jury will interpret or apply such principles. The proper interpretation or application of the principles discussed is a matter for the considered judgment of the individual legal practitioner. The faculty and staff of this Kentucky Bar Association CLE program disclaim liability therefore. Attorneys using these materials, or information otherwise conveyed during the program, in dealing with a specific legal matter have a duty to research original and current sources of authority. Printed by: Evolution Creative Solutions 7107 Shona Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 Kentucky Bar Association TABLE OF CONTENTS The Presenter .................................................................................................................. i The State v. Adnan Syed ................................................................................................ 1 Hae's Disappearance........................................................................................... 1 Adnan's Arrest and Trial ...................................................................................... 4 Petition for Post-conviction Review ...................................................................... 8 Sarah Koenig, Serial, and Undisclosed ................................................................ 9 Re-opening the PCR Proceedings ..................................................................... 14 So, Where Do Things Stand Now? .................................................................... 18 THE PRESENTER Rabia Chaudry c/o MacMillan Speakers Bureau 175 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10010 (646) 307-5544 RABIA CHAUDRY is an attorney, a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she researches the intersection of religion, violent extremism, and CVE (countering violent extremism), and an International Security Fellow with New America. She is the founder of the Safe Nation Collaborative, a CVE training firm which works on two fronts: providing CVE and cultural competency training to law enforcement, correctional, and homeland security officials, and providing national security and CVE training to Muslim communities and institutions. Ms. Chaudry is a 2016 Aspen Ideas Scholar, Fellow of the Truman National Security Project, a Fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. She is the public advocate of Adnan Syed, the wrongfully convicted man at the center of the most popular podcast in history, Serial, and is the co- producer and co-host of the podcast Undisclosed, with over 80 million downloads. Ms. Chaudry is a frequent public speaker on CVE, criminal justice, advocacy, new media, faith, and gender. She has addressed dozens of national and international conferences, including the private sector, government (State Department and National Counter Terror Center), and nonprofit organizations. Her writing appears in many outlets, including Time, Guardian and others. Her book, Adnan’s Story, was published in August 2016 by Saint Martin’s Press i ii THE STATE V. ADNAN SYED Lori J. Alvey Season one of the podcast Serial, "a season-long exploration of a single story, unfolding over a series of episodes," held the number one position at the top of the Apple iTunes charts even before its debut on October 3, 2014.1 By mid-November 2014, episodes of the podcast had been "downloaded or streamed more than 5[million] times from the iTunes store alone,"2 making it the first podcast to ever reach that number of downloads so quickly.3 As of December 23, 2014, the estimated number of downloads had reached 40 million,4 and people and media outlets across the country were buzzing about the story of Adnan Syed, a Maryland teenager sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. On June 20, 2016, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted Syed's petition for post-conviction relief, vacated his conviction, and granted his request for a new trial. This paper will briefly outline Syed's case for those who have not had the opportunity to listen to Serial or Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed, an investigative podcast launched in 2015 by Rabia Chaudry, a lawyer and friend of the Syed family, and lawyers Susan Simpson and Colin Miller. It will also provide an update of where the case currently stands following the State of Maryland's appeal of the Circuit Court's order granting Syed a new trial. For those who are interested in a much more detailed, in-depth discussion of this case5 and its effect on Mr. Syed and his family, I recommend that you read Ms. Chaudry's recent book, Adnan's Story, which I will reference throughout this paper. I. HAE'S DISAPPEARANCE In January 1999, Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee were both seniors at Woodlawn High School in Woodlawn, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Both students were popular, athletic, and part of the school's academic magnet program.6 They had 1 Larson, Sarah, "Serial: The Podcast We've Been Waiting for," The New Yorker, Oct. 9, 2014, available at http://www.newyorker.com/culture/sarah-larson/serial-podcast-weve-waiting. Last accessed May 11, 2017. 2 Dredge, Stuart, "Serial podcast breaks iTunes records as it passes 5m downloads and streams," The Guardian, Nov. 18, 2014, available at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ 2014/nov/18/serial-podcast-itunes-apple-downloads-streams. Last accessed May 11, 2017. 3 Roberts, Amy, "The 'Serial' podcast: By the numbers," CNN.com, Dec. 23, 2014, available at http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/18/showbiz/feat-serial-podcast-btn/. Last accessed May 11, 2017. 4 Ibid. 5 There are many details, inconsistencies, and theories regarding Adnan's case that I could not include in this paper due to space limitations. I have tried to stick to the details and information most pertinent to the Circuit Court's order granting his petition for a new trial. However, there is a wealth of information that has been uncovered in this case by the Undisclosed team that raises serious questions regarding the conduct of the police and state prosecutors in this case. This information is discussed in its entirety in Ms. Chaudry's book, Adnan's Story and in the podcast Undisclosed. 6 Chaudry, Rabia, Adnan's Story, (St. Martin's Press 2016), at 13. 1 begun dating the previous year after their junior prom,7 but Hae had recently ended the relationship in December 1998.8 Both had experienced stress throughout the relationship stemming from their families' opposition due to religious and cultural differences. Hae was born in South Korea and moved with her family to the United States during middle school.9 Adnan's parents are from Pakistan, and Adnan was an active member of his local mosque, the Islamic Society of Baltimore.10 As Ms. Chaudry describes in her book, Muslim families in America typically maintain rules for their children that prohibit dating, alcohol, parties, drugs, and for some, opposite-gender friends.11 "[O]f all sins, the one they most worried about was getting involved in a relationship before marriage. It was love. And it was sex."12 Both teenagers attempted to hide their relationship from their families with limited success, but the strain became too much. Hae also expressed guilt in her diary that she felt she was coming between Adnan and his religion.13 Following the breakup, Adnan and Hae remained close friends, even after she began dating a co-worker named Don Clinedinst in early January 1999.14 Hae went missing on January 13, 1999. According to witness reports, she left school around dismissal time at 2:15 p.m. and was supposed to pick up her cousin at a nearby early learning center by 3:15 p.m. Her family discovered she was missing when the learning center called her home at 3:30 p.m. to request someone come pick up the child.15 Hae's family contacted police two hours later when they could not locate her at work or through her friends.16 Over the next few weeks, police made attempts to locate Hae's car, which was also missing, and spoke with her friends and family in an attempt to establish a timeline of her day on January 13th. Police first called Adnan on the day Hae disappeared, and he stated he had seen Hae during school but not afterward.17 Police were unable to reach her new boyfriend, Don, until 1:30 a.m. on January 14th.18 He stated he had not talked to Hae since January 12th. There are no details in the 7 Id. at 14. 8 Id. at 21. 9 Id. at 13. 10 Id. at 11. 11 Id. at 75. 12 Id. at 76. 13 Id. at 18. 14 Id. at 22. 15 Id. at 14. 16 Id. 17 Id. at 27. 18 Id. at 29. 2 police notes at this time regarding Don's whereabouts on January 13th, and officers did not go meet with him.19 In a telephone conversation on January 22, 1999, Don told police Hae had spent the night with him on January 12th, the day before she disappeared.20 He also stated he had spent January 13th working from 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. at a LensCrafters store in Hunt Valley on loan from the Owings Mill store where he worked with Hae.21 Police verified Don's alibi by calling his manager at the Owings Mill store on February 1st. They did not visit the Hunt Valley Store or obtain his timesheets or pay stubs to verify he was working there on January 13th.22 After the first week of February 1999, police did not call or visit Don again.23 Meanwhile, Adnan and Hae's mutual friends told police that there was nothing unusual about Adnan's behavior in the week following her disappearance.24 Police first interviewed Adnan on January 25, 1999.