The Case Against Adnan Syed

It just shows how messed up the legal system is :( keeping his family in my prayers

Definitely not up to the high standard one expects from HBO. The producers seem preoccupied with making the doco "entertaining". The fancy graphics, the animation, and the editing, all distract. It's ultimately a wasted opportunity to present the case in a clear, considered and constructive way, for the benefit of both those who are for or against Adnan Syed.

Dragging out a story that has been told a million times before, by a million other mediums, makes it boring and uninspired.

There is also one inexcusable misrepresented fact: "Because of new evidence unearthed after SERIAL, Adnan Syed has been granted an appeal". Unless I'm mistaken, this new evidence came about through the "Undisclosed Podcast", specifically through the hard work and legal acumen of lawyer Susan Simpson. While this new evidence was unearthed "after Serial", the statement gives false credit to that podcast.

Knowing what we know now? Shame on every single person who left a review stating Adnan was where he belonged/the murderer.

Now that ACTUAL DNA evidence completely exonerates him, and what this series (in my opinion does poorly) tries to do is cast reasonable doubt upon him as the person guilty for her demise.

There's a reason the Baltimore County prosecutor has joined with the defense to completely dismiss and vacate, and a strong argument against the death penalty. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

That Jays story was every taken seriously, knowing that Ritz (initial detective involved) was found guilty of several different kinds of misconduct (prosecutorial, exculpatory, fabrication) in another case the same year as this one, only reiterates the fault in Wilds' testimony.

Not a great series but hits many of the points those who so firmly believed in his guilt should have been paying attention to.

Writing a short review to counterbalance some of the more negative reviews (of the armchair detectives that happily pass judgement). Though, I do agree the documentary doesn't present the case particularly well, or their argument of the case's failures, and without Serial and Undisclosed, this documentary wouldn't receive any attention/acclaim, which is a pity.

I have no idea if Adnan is guilty, but what is clear is, that the police investigation, trial, and succeeding actions of the judicial system, have little interest in providing justice on the basis of evidence (which should be of concern to everyone). Is that due to it being an inconvenience, general incompetence or institutional corruption?

In any event, reviewers should look to the title of the documentary, and then consider whether the state made its case (based on information/evidence available) before offering their opinions. The documentary highlights that it didn't, though this could have been argued better.

N 2014, a podcast called "Serial" went viral when doing its first season on the Adnan Syed murder case. Apparently it's been downloaded 175 million times. Think about that! That's more than half the country's population. Now 5 years later comes this 4 part documentary from HBO, in essence a visual rehash and update of the podcast. As the documentary opens, we get a short introduction as to the main persons involved in this matter, including 18 year old Hae Min Lee, who was brutally murdered in early 1999, 17 year old school mate (and ex-boyfriend) Adnan Syed, their respective families, and others. The attention of the Baltimore Police focuses quickly on Syed, a Pakistani American whose family is super-strict, but he himself is not.

Couple of comments: this documentary is written and directed by highly respected and long-time documentarian Amy Berg (whose 2006 "Deliver Us From Evil" was nominated for Best Documentary Oscar). The documentary is in 4 parts, and I have now seen 3 of the 4 parts (I'll watch the last part surely later this week). The documentary feels at times s bit heavy-handed, if not one-sided, at least through the initial 3 parts, mostly telling the story from Syed's and his lawyer's and family's perspective. Part 2 ("In Between the Truth") looks up close at the various testimonials. Because so many aspects and angles of the case come up, I admit that at times I lost track of certain things. It's not very often these days that one gets too much information! When Berg lets the Korean American family and Baltimore community speak their minds, it only reinforces how little attention is paid to them overall. One interesting item that came up a number of times is how the "Serial" podcast has impacted the people involved, even those just on the fringes (a HS classmate comments that she wishes she'd never gotten involved in the podcast).

Despite its flaws, I nevertheless found this pretty compelling viewing. I think one reason for the podcast's extraordinary success and now the strong ratings for this documentary is that the appetite from the public at large for a murder case in which we may never fully know what truly and really happened, is simply insatiable.

*UPDATE* I saw the 4th and final episode and it doesn't change my overall view of this documentary series: heavily tilted towards the Syed camp's view of events, but in the end we really don't know know what happened 20 years ago