Serial Podcast Spoilers!!!
Dude. Seriously. If you are like me, and you are a Serial Podcast fiend you DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THIS… And that is why the information will be way way way down there…
But for those of you who are saying, “Chief, what’s a Serial” let me give you a string of links first.
If you want to find an addiction group to support you – click here. Or even here.
And if you would like to actually find the podcast download page – you can do that here: click this one last.
But for now, I’m shutting up. Leave if you don’t want to know the dish. I’ll be lower down in the post if you are interested.
You sure? Alright. The AP is reporting that the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has asked prosecutors to respond to the post-conviction appeal in September to see if they too believed Syed had ineffective counsel. The ruling is apparently due out in January.
Apparently, this is highly unusual. But to say Syed got ineffective counsel is almost as good as saying that the world is round. Or that islands are surrounded by water. That is about the ONLY thing we know to be true in this case, which is that Syed got worked by his lawyer. A witness who could account for his location during the time of the murder wasn’t even interviewed. By ANYONE… so yes, there was an egregious failing on behalf of Syed’s counsel.
Syed’s lawyer has said that, “The Court of Special Appeals has shown some interest in the case and asked the state to respond to our application, which is more than they usually do in this procedural posture. But I truly think the appellate courts make their decisions based on the merits of the case, and not the popularity of a podcast.” Which is good to hear. But I think is completely what a lawyer of an extraordinarily popular podcast subject HAS to say. Right? I mean, seriously. You have to tell the court that has your client’s life in their hands that they WOULD NEVER be swayed by a silly podcast. I mean, noooo. Couldn’t happen.
Which of course is crap. Of course they are swayed by a complete recounting of every single one of the failures on behalf of Syed’s counsel. Each one re-investigated, and turned over. Each one questioned. Of course they would be impacted. They can’t get this good of a detail by looking at Syed’s rap-sheet, or the brief handed to them before they rule on an appeal. Can’t happen. And so they listen to the podcast back and forth to work. And someone at the Maryland Court of Special Appeals says to a buddy… hey, have you listened to this podcast? We are totally ruling on this case like right now…
Anyway, if you want to learn more about the state of the appeal, and the process that is now unwinding… here are a couple of links for you:
link one, link two, link three
So, here we stand. Serial is an enormous, totally groundbreaking podcast. So far there have been something like 15 million downloads of the various episodes. Which is unprecedented. And I am going out on a limb and saying that Adnan will be out of jail by February at the very latest. The Court of Special appeals will find that there was gross negligence on the part of Syed’s lawyer. Promise. Who has since passed away. Which makes it even easier for them to rule against her.
But is Syed innocent? Did he kill his ex-girlfriend? That is the real question. Or are we letting a murderer off the hook accidentally? Well, regardless of whether he killed her or not, there has been a terrible mockery of justice made in this particular case. He wasn’t given a real trial. The evidence presented by the prosecution was trumped up to fit a timeline that just doesn’t work. Let’s say he did do it. Fine. 15 years is longer than many murderers serve. We’ll consider the deduction of sentence a sort of a communal/societal price of doing business in a jacked up and fallen world. Sort of a Kentucky windage if you will.
I don’t want to dig into the case more than Sarah already has (which is impossible of course) but I am DYING to hear the next couple of episodes. I would have voluntarily given up Thanksgiving this year just to get my normal Thursday episode, thank you very much. But whether you think he is guilty or not. Do you think he’ll be released? Let’s start a pool. I’ve put my money on February 14th. Alright? What day do you have? Or never, is just as good an answer as anything. (Or not! haha.) Love to know what your theory is on whether Syed will be released.