This week's episode was especially important because we finally get to hear more about the key witness who ultimately put Adnan behind bars. I came into the episode with high expectations for what I would find out about Jay, and I wasn't disappointed. Most of my questions while listening to this podcast have been centered around him and I think that Koenig's interviews with his friends helped me get a better picture of who he actually is. Adnan's portrayal of him is twisted at times and does not seem to accurately reflect the man who was presented in this episode.
However, something that stood out to me was the fact that we don't get an "official" interview with Jay. Rather, Koenig and Snyder recount their conversation with him after they visit his house, since they promised Jay they wouldn't tape the conversation. This makes sense to me, but I was still incredibly curious as to what that interaction must have been like. Listening back to the audio from the car ride over to Jay's house, Koenig says she wants to give her past self a Xanax because she is clearly so hyped up to finally talk to the star witness of the case. So, I was naturally also hyped up to finally hear from this mysterious character who we've only heard in pre-recorded conversations at trial or with the police.
I remember hearing that Jay had officially done an interview with an outside source, so I looked it up. It is split up into three parts but I found the most interesting information in the second part here: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/30/exclusive-jay-part-2/ . In this portion of the interview, Jay describes the interview from his perspective and it paints a very different picture than Koenig does in the episode.
Jay received phone calls from his friends that a reporter was looking into the details of the Have Min Lee case. When Koenig showed up at his house, he was more worried about his privacy than anything else, especially because his wife wanted to keep his name off the internet in regards to the case. So Koenig represented their worst nightmare when she first arrived at their front door.
Jay describes Koenig as "harassing people" connected to the case and that he felt like "she was lying" when she came to talk to him at his house. I think it makes sense then that he didn't want to talk to her at all, especially considering that Jay and his wife had put his past to rest and had no intention of re-earthing it.
Jay's full interview provides further insight into this man, who seems to be a loyal friend and fiercely protective of his family. In fact, Adnan seems even less believable now and it makes sense to me that the jury would completely trust Jay. Koenig has previously portrayed Jay as a stoner who got into trouble, but hearing Jay explain it makes it seem like just a normal experience for a black youth living in Baltimore. He comes off incredibly believable, which I think is a reason why he agreed to this outside interview in the first place. He mentions that he feared that Koenig would twist his words and that even without talking to him she was able to demonize him in her podcast, according to him. In the interview I looked at, Jay is clearly in control, telling his version of the story, and it's hard to argue against him.
I think you made some interesting points in comparing Adnan's believability to Jay's believability. It made me rethink the case a little bit because Jay doesn't have to be believable necessarily, he just has to appear more believable than Adnan. When listening to his testimony, he didn't fit the "hardened criminal stereotype" that the defense was trying to portray him as. He was respectful, even-tempered, and well-spoken on the stand. As I think about this point more, this may be exactly where the case fell through. Jay did not fit into the mold the Adnan's defense put him in which called Adnan into question. Jay's lack of credibility is the crux of Adnan's innocence and in those 5 days of tedious questioning, the jury is not going to remember all of the information that was relayed, but they will remember the more physical, tangible aspects of him: how he sounded, how he looked, how he seemed. Adnan never testified at his trial meaning that if the jury was making a character judgment on Jay versus Adnan, they would have had nothing to base it off of. The only representation for Adnan was his attorney, whose combativeness and aggressive interrogation style firmly juxtaposed with Jay's mild temper on the stand. This episode definitely gave me a different perception of Jay from how Koenig has been describing him, so I agree with you that Koenig's characterization of him is definitely questionable.
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