The fact that this case relied upon the testimony of a single individual, Jay, who seems to also have a spotty recollection of the events is a troubling reflection of the judicial system. That a man could be sent to jail solely on one account, supported by no evidence whatsoever, is very disconcerting.
Now, another point to be made is that Adnaan may happen to be guilty and thus rightfully in prison. The main contentions for his innocence in this episode seem to stem from his positive disposition. Rabia and her younger brother, Adnan’s good friend, support his character and consistency. Yet there is clear potential for bias.
Asia is a pivotal character in this case, not only because her witnessing Adnaan occurred during the time window but also because she notes his calm attitude towards Hae, his ex-girlfriend. However, these marks of amiability are seen often in cases with psychopaths, noted by the narrator. It is somewhat plausible that Adnaan lost his senses after the break-up with Hae, that he is concealing some twisted inner personality invisible to others.
Initially, when Asia claimed that she was pressured by the family to support Adnan with an alibi, I thought that she had been threatened by the actual culprit of the murder. However, through the phone call recording, it seems that that may have not been the case. Asia comes across as a rather honest, upfront individual, albeit quite belatedly. Some other thoughts I have are that Adnan comes across as extremely intelligent and charismatic. He acknowledges the doubt that he presumes the narrator may be having, he doesn’t exhibit the rage, resentment or desperation that might be expected from someone possibly robbed of fifteen years of his life. “The case lived and died in those 21 minutes,” Adnan says resignedly. Although he admits that not remembering that day seems convenient, to him that day was just another day out of many. And as the narrator expostulates in the beginning of the episode, memory is all but reliable.
You make some interesting points here though I don't necessarily agree with all of them. For example, the court system's decision to use Jay's testimony to convict Adnan seems to be somewhat sound. Without the bias of Adnan's "charismatic" appearance, you have Jay's pretty detailed albeit somewhat inconsistent story painting Adnan as the villain. The only things to counter this story are the various charming characteristics people of the community attributed to Adnan and Adnan's denial of Jay's story. The former of these should not only be inconsequential to whether or not Adnan was guilty, but also somewhat inconsistent with Adnan's actual achievements, as evidenced by Rabia's inaccurate listing of Adnan's honors. This leaves the case to Adnan's word versus Jay's, in which case I think the Jay's argument proves stronger. There is no clear motive for why Jay should lie and Adnan's "I don't remember the day" argument is just not strong enough to prove his innocence (this case seems somewhat paralleled in the recent movie "The Judge").
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, there is some evidence to support Jay's story accusing Adnan in the form of the cell phone records the police used to "bolster the main plot points." Jay says that Adnan gave him both his phone and car while Adnan went to commit the murder while Adnan says that he gave his car to Jay so that he could buy his girlfriend a present. In the former scenario, Jay says that Adnan then calls his own phone in order to tell Jay to pick him up at Best Buy. When looking at the phone logs located here (http://serialpodcast.org/maps/timelines-january-13-1999), it seems evident that Jay did end up in posession of Adnan's phone for one reason or another and that calls were made to that phone at around the time of when Hae was allegedly killed by Adnan. This, combined with the the locations listed next to the times should be reasonably sufficient evidence to at least give Jay's story a bit of credibility, especially if these locations corresponded to the places Jay said he was rather than Adnan said he was (Best Buy vs. library.) Finally, it is interesting that Adnan made calls to Hae the morning of the murder. This could be used by the prosecution to suggest Adnan was arranging a meeting with Hae in order to kill her. I wonder what Adnan said about these calls if he remembered them at all.
Finally, concerning the testimony of Asia, the weather report and explanation below the first podcast seem to reasonably discredit her claim and for the time being I don't think that her account is credible enough to use to prove Adnan's innocence.
You have a good point about the Adnan vs. Jay testimony, but I have to disagree-- while Jay's testimony may be totally sound, it shouldn't be enough to convict Adnan without any physical evidence actually linking Adnan to Hae's murder (even the cell phone records only prove that Jay had Adnan's phone, which could be explained in other ways). I don't want to spoil anything, but the cell phone records and the inconsistencies in Jay's story comes back later and, personally, I'm not convinced of the prosecution's story. Even just with the information we have from episode 1, their explanation of Adnan's bad character seems pretty shaky, and their motive is only truly convincing if you have that bad character-- as Koenig mentions, for Adnan to appear happy, calm, normal and to maliciously plan the killing of Hae would require some serious mental health issues and manipulation skills. Later in the show (this is not a spoiler,) an expert comes in and says something like less than 1% of the population are psychopaths, and most psychopaths aren't criminals. The chances of the chill, calm Adnan being this psychopath are incredibly slim.
DeleteYou note that the main contention for Adnan’s innocence is his positive disposition, and that the main links to this claim come through Rabia and her younger brother, the latter who knew Adnan very well. However, as is rightfully noted, both are susceptible to bias, as they were both very familiar with Adnan and share a close connection with him. However, the narrator herself notes that Adnan seemed to verify those qualities, particularly through his large brown deer eyes, an image that immediately evokes an honest, innocent, babyish face that seems incapable of even conceiving murder, let alone committing it. However, the point you make about these traits being consistent with psychopaths seems
ReplyDeleteto deserve some expansion. Psychopaths are extremely skilled at manipulation. They are capable of lying without the slightest trace of falsehood, and are easily able to convince someone to believe in an untruth. They do not need to sound psychopathic in the traditional sense of the word, which evokes some robotic, emotionless character, but rather can easily be charismatic and kind, showcasing that exterior to cover up inner plans. The point you make about Adnan not exhibiting rage or desperation goes to this – it is possible that, if Adnan was psychopathic, this is an elaborate exhibition of a calm
exterior, which psychopaths are fully capable of projecting. There is also the note by the narrator that she hopes this is not some sick, twisted means of escaping from prison; this dread actually paints a possibility in which several facts fall into place in the Adnan-is-a-psychopath theory.
You also discuss Asia’s role as a pivotal character in this case, which initially seems to be the
case. You are correct in the fact that she comes across as honest and true. It seems as if she has no motive to fabricate. Moreover, her letter claiming that she was with Adnan at the time the murder was thought to be committed, if it made it to court, would strike a crippling, if not fatal, blow to the prosecution’s entire case. However, she, along with all humans, is still victim to the distortion of memory by the passage of time. Asia claims that she remembered these events so clearly because of the first snow that day. But the weather report casts some significant doubt over that claim. Through meticulous search, it shows that 1) there was no snow at all on January 13, and 2) the first snow in fact
occurred several days earlier on January 8. It is easily possible that, with these two events separated by
only days, Asia confused the two as being together, especially when she is recalling these much later. However, unless more evidence is introduced otherwise, Asia’s credibility, and therefore her critical role as a witness in Adnan’s favor, seems to be in serious doubt.
Rohan Anand