Summary and Analysis of Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial: Based on the Book by Rabia Chaudry
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Summary and Analysis of Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial: Based on the Book by Rabia Chaudry
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Overview
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
This short summary and analysis of Adnan’s Story by Rabia Chaudry includes:
- Historical context
- Chapter-by-chapter summaries
- Detailed timeline of key events
- Profiles of the main characters
- Important quotes
- Fascinating trivia
- Glossary of terms
- Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
About Adnan’s Story by Rabia Chaudry:
By listening to the wildly popular, award-winning podcast Serial, readers may be familiar with the case against Adnan Syed, alleged to have murdered his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. But Serial didn’t tell the whole story.
In the New York Times bestseller Adnan’s Story, author, lawyer, and Syed family friend Rabia Chaudry presents compelling new information, dismantling the state’s case against Adnan Syed, one piece of evidence at a time.
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504043366 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worth Books |
| Publication date: | 12/13/2016 |
| Series: | Smart Summaries |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 30 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Summary and Analysis of Adnan's Story
The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial
By Rabia Chaudry
OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4336-6
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Letter from the Author
The letter's date, June 30, 2016, is the very day that Judge Martin Welch overturned Syed's conviction and ordered a new trial. The ruling came after Syed spent 17 years in prison. The author wrote the letter after writing the book, and it serves as a kind of addendum to the events covered therein.
Introduction
On Friday, February 25, 2000, Rabia Chaudry is in a courtroom in Baltimore, Maryland, with Syed's family to hear the jury's verdict in his first-degree murder case. The jury finds him guilty on all charges: first-degree murder of Lee, kidnapping by fraud, robbery, and false imprisonment.
The book features facsimiles of many original documents, including Syed's letters and other writings, entries from Lee's diary, and police files. In Syed's first letter to Sarah Koenig, dated October 10, 2013, he professes his innocence.
Chapter 1. Star-Crossed Lovers
Lee and Syed go to the junior prom in 1998 and quickly begin an intense courtship, one that requires both, but especially Syed, to sneak around behind their parents' backs. The Syeds, Rahman and Shamim, are devout Pashtun Muslims from Pakistan who frown upon western pastimes like television watching. They do not believe their children should be dating. Syed's parents show up at that fall's homecoming dance and bring him home.
Lee worries about pushing Syed into a crisis of faith, and after homecoming, she breaks things off, only to reunite with him soon after. However, by December, Lee has fallen for coworker from LensCrafters Don Clinedinst and calls it quits with Syed for the final time. While a note from Lee to Syed shows that Syed takes it hard at first, the two remain friends. Syed contends that the breakup was not acrimonious. In fact, he meets the new boyfriend when Lee calls Syed for help after a minor car accident. Everything is friendly between the would-be rivals for Lee's affections. And soon Syed is interested in a new girl, Nisha Tanna, with whom he spends New Year's Eve.
Chapter 2. Vanished: Missing Hae
Lee's parents call the police after she had been missing for only a few hours. The search begins at 6:00 p.m. on January 13, when the police arrive at Lee's home and begin calling her friends. They immediately reach Syed on his cell phone but cannot get ahold of Clinedinst until the early morning hours of January 14. Nobody, including Lee's former and current suitors, knows where she is.
The police begin their investigation with a mistake. Lee's car is missing and investigators do not immediately enter the vehicle information into the National Crime database. Finally, local police are given the license plate and description of Lee's car and begin searching.
After Lee goes missing, her uncle hires the Enehey Group's Mandy Johnson to investigate and report the findings to the Baltimore Police Department. The Enehey Group is an investigative research agency that claims to use advanced technology and expertise to gather a wide range of information, from espionage to psychological profiling, from historical background research to software design. Enehey Group often works on a confidential basis with law enforcement agencies. The author questions Mandy Johnson's credibility on Muslim culture.
On January 25, 1999, Detective Joe O'Shea officially interviews Syed. During Syed's conversations with detectives, he gives inconsistent answers as to whether he asked Lee for a ride after school on January 13. Usually, he would have no need for a ride since he had his own car. However, Syed lent his car to his friend — and pot dealer — Jay Wilds that afternoon. This will be a problem for Syed as the case progresses.
Chapter 3. A Body
Off the road and hidden in bushes in Baltimore's Leakin Park on February 9, 1999, a man named Alonzo Sellers finds the partially buried body of a young woman. The victim, who shows evidence of blunt force trauma and strangulation, is Lee. Sellers, whose background includes indecent exposure, fails a lie detector test. A second polygraph clears him.
Detectives pursue a tip from an anonymous "Asian male" who claims that Syed and Lee had liaisons in Leakin Park. The tipster also asserts that Syed once declared that if he were to murder his girlfriend, he would drive her car into a lake.
On February 27, Jay Wilds's friend Jennifer Pusateri informs police that Wilds told her that Syed confessed to the murder. Wilds tells investigators that he saw Lee's body in Syed's trunk and helped dispose of evidence. Once Wilds leads detectives to Lee's car in a local parking lot, Syed's fate is sealed.
Chapter 4. Living the Lie
Detectives arrest Syed at home. His relatives and community are shocked. As his secret world comes crashing down, many are learning for the first time that he had a girlfriend. A letter from Syed to the author describes wanting to fit in with teenage America, and wanting to please his parents. Like many other Muslim teens, Syed hid his indiscretions from his parents and the Muslim community out of respect, a common theme in Muslim culture that creates a sort of double standard: Sins are more severe when they are exposed.
Chapter 5. Murder in the First
When Syed arrives at the police station, he is read his rights and speaks with detectives without a lawyer present. Once he realizes he is facing a murder charge, he requests an attorney. This does not happen quickly.
The investigators seem to entertain the theory of an honor killing — an element of both Korean and Pashtun cultures. At the bail hearing, prosecutors claim there is a history of Pakistani men who murder their significant others in the United States and leave the country. Bail is denied. Syed's parents hire Cristina Gutierrez, an attorney with a strong reputation.
Syed is indicted on April 14, 1999. Detectives ask many people if Syed had asked Lee for a ride after school on the day of her death. Within the first weeks of imprisonment, Syed receives two letters from a friend, Asia McClain, placing him at the library during the time of the murder.
A memorial service, which Syed helped plan, takes place at Woodlawn High School. Syed's mentor and friend, Bilal Ahmed, tells detectives that Syed was at the mosque on the evening of January 13 when the state has placed Syed with Wilds. This, along with McClain's letters, could help solidify an alibi that eliminates Syed.
However, an interview with Jay Wilds's girlfriend, Stephanie McPherson, puts Syed and Wilds together via a call to her from Syed's cell phone. Then she drops a bombshell — Syed told Wilds that he murdered Lee. Interestingly, McPherson plays no further role in the case.
Chapter 6. Witness for the Prosecution
Detectives search Lee's car, but do not find clear evidence. Like Syed's trunk, Lee's showed no evidence of foul play. Many fingerprints were found in Lee's car, including Syed's, which is not surprising since the two were close. However, unidentified hairs were found in Lee's car, along with those belonging to Syed and Lee.
Syed turns Asia McClain's letters over to Gutierrez, but she tells him McClain confused her dates. His alibi collapsed, a clerk's August 21, 1999, notes show that Syed is now hazy about his movements on January 13. His story now makes no mention of seeing McClain because he believes that she was mistaken in her letters. He does recall that he was with Wilds when informed of Lee's disappearance on the evening of January 13. But now he doesn't feel sure about a lot.
Syed asks Gutierrez if a plea deal is possible. She says no.
Wilds's statements to police reveal conflicting times, locations, events, phone calls, and accounts of when he claimed he and Syed smoked marijuana on January 13. Charged as an accessory after-the-fact, Wilds takes a plea deal: his testimony for a five-year sentence with three years suspended.
Syed's trial begins on December 8, 1999, after a delay caused by the state's failure to turn over crucial cell tower evidence. It is not until the first day of trial that the defense receives just two of Wilds's four statements.
In her testimony, Nisha Tanna recollects a phone call from Syed and Wilds on January 13 at 3:32 p.m. Wilds and Syed were at the adult video store where Wilds worked. The call came from Syed's cellphone and police believe it places him with Wilds, not at track practice, where he claimed to be. The state says there are records to prove the call.
More potentially damaging testimony results from a note found in Syed's bedroom by detectives. The note, written between Syed and a friend, discusses Lee. On it, Syed had written "I Will Kill!" Syed and the friend maintain it is a joke from years ago.
Gutierrez's behavior is bizarre, her cross-examinations long-winded and often incoherent. She is overheard calling prosecutor Kevin Urick an expletive in closed court. Later, when Urick attempts to present an exhibit of cell phone records, Gutierrez claims she has not seen them despite having previously signed off on the exhibit.
The judge accuses Gutierrez of lying, trusting in a white noise machine to keep this conversation private. However, the jury overhears and a mistrial is declared. These jurors indicate they would have acquitted Syed. Gutierrez's defense is no better in the second trial, which results in a conviction on all counts February 25, 2000.
Asia McClain, despite her claim that Syed was at the library during the time of the murder, is not called to testify in either trial.
Chapter 7. Life Plus Thirty
After the conviction, Rabia Chaudry becomes more involved in the case. Gutierrez's mismanagement of Adnan's defense is glaring. She failed to establish an alibi or make use of Asia McClain's letters. In fact, Syed suspects that Gutierrez lied when she told him that McClain's recollection was not credible.
Syed receives a life sentence plus 30 consecutive years. He is 19 years old.
Syed is moved to the Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup. Soon after, Chaudry meets with McClain, who sticks to her story and reveals that Gutierrez never contacted her. McClain writes this in an affidavit.
In June of 2001, Gutierrez is disbarred. In January of 2004, she dies of a heart attack, a complication of multiple sclerosis.
Meanwhile, appeals are denied. In May 2010, Syed's new attorney Justin Brown files for post-conviction relief (PCR). McClain's letters and affidavit are cornerstones of the petition. A PCR hearing begins in October 2012, giving Syed a chance to show that he was unfairly convicted and is deserving of a new trial.
Chapter 8. Sarah Koenig
In 2013, the author begins corresponding with a producer of National Public Radio's This American Life, Sarah Koenig, who is intrigued by the story. The seeds of the Serial podcast are sown.
McClain fails to appear at the PCR hearing and on December 30, 2013, the petition is denied.
In January 2014, Koenig receives a call from McClain, who tells her that prosecutor Urick frightened her away from the case and maintains that she saw Syed in the library at 2:30 p.m. Rather than relief, Chaudry and Syed's supporters feel dismayed the admission came after the PCR denial.
Syed and Koenig keep in touch, including prison visits. Chaudry is slowly becoming critical of Koenig and her research. The author was hoping that the podcast would tell Syed's side of the story. However, Koenig attempts to stay impartial in her investigation, not convinced that Syed is innocent. Koenig shares with Chaudry a "cultural research" memo in the police files written by a redacted author.
Chapter 9. Fifth Column
The cultural memo carries the following subject line: "Report on Islamic thought and culture with an emphasis on Pakistan. A comparative study relevant to the upcoming trial of Adnan Syed." This is the Enehey report, written by Mandy Johnson.
The report claims Syed returned from a Muslim retreat with a gift for Lee: a veil with which to cover herself. Syed and Chaudry refute this claim. Chaudry believes the memo is a reflection of the Islamophobia in the United States and the police department.
Meanwhile, what began as a multipart series on This American Life has become Serial, a groundbreaking twelve-episode weekly podcast.
During this time, the University of Virginia Innocence Project agrees to take on Syed's case, believing that there may be physical evidence that could now be DNA-tested and possibly exonerate Syed. The involvement of the Innocence Project is not mentioned on the Serial podcast.
Chapter 10. Serial
Serial is a blockbuster and garners widespread attention. Syed and his supporters are inundated with media inquiries. Many Serial listeners staunchly support Syed, sharing the #JayDidIt hashtag on social media.
However, Serial proves bittersweet for Chaudry. Koenig's inclusion of the notion that Syed had to choose between Lee and his faith angers the author. Moreover, she feels that Koenig did not represent attorney Cristina Gutierrez correctly, sugarcoating her disastrous role as Syed's chief defender. To offer a perspective more sympathetic to Syed, Chaudry begins discussing the podcast on her own blog, SplitTheMoon.
Koenig includes an anonymous man on Episode 11 ("Rumors") who claims that as a young teenager, Syed created a lucrative scheme to rob a mosque collection box. The president of the mosque refutes the story, but Syed supporters feel that damage has been done.
Serial makes no mention of Wilds's criminal record, which features charges of assault, trespassing, domestic violence, and theft. Koenig interviewed Wilds before the podcast began. However, after it had begun airing, she received a threatening call that, while it was obviously Wilds's voice — and it came from his phone number, Wilds denies making. Koenig lets it slide.
Sarah Koenig receives a call from Asia McClain. McClain has been listening to Serial and is angry that prosecutor Kevin Urick claims that she wrote her affidavit under pressure from Syed supporters. She denies feeling pressured. McClain also says that the reason she did not testify at the PCR hearing was that Urick had lied to her, telling her that Syed's guilt was a sure thing.
Chapter 11. It Takes a Village
The Syed camp grows with the addition of lawyer/bloggers Colin Miller and Susan Simpson, who investigate the cell phone records from the day of the murder, but the big news is Wilds's interview with the online publication The Intercept. Wilds tells yet another new story, compounding his history of making conflicting statements about Syed's — and his own — activities on the day of Lee's murder.
In this interview, Wilds claims Syed brought him home at 6:00 p.m. on January 13, 1999, and called him later that night. There is no record of this call, and in earlier statements he had claimed to be with Syed at Leakin Park at 7:00 p.m. Wilds also claims that he and Syed buried Lee at midnight in the rain. It did not rain that night.
Many online Syed supporters discuss the fact that when police searched Lee's car, they found a letter from Lee to her new boyfriend, Don Clinedinst, which the prosecution believes was written on January 13, 1999. The note says she is sorry she could not "stay," implying that she had seen her boyfriend that day in spite of his claim to the contrary. Why, then, is Clinedinst ruled out as a suspect so quickly, without even a simple DNA test?
In January 2015, Syed's lawyer Justin Brown sends McClain's affidavit to the Court of Special Appeals, which rules that Syed can appeal the PCR denial.
Chapter 12. Undisclosed
Susan Simpson unearths an AT&T fax sheet from the state case files. The prosecution did not turn over the sheet, which indicates that only outgoing cell phone calls can establish the location of the phone. This eliminates some of the state's evidence as to Syed's whereabouts on the day of the murder. And because of Wilds's media interview, more calls from that day become suspicious in light of the AT&T fax sheet.
An anonymous Web sleuth who is a doctor raises questions about Lee's autopsy. Lee was found on her side. The lividity (discoloration caused by the gravitational pull of blood) of the body suggests that she was originally in a flat, facedown position for several hours, and therefore that she was not buried in Leakin Park at 7:00 p.m.
Another crack in the prosecution's case occurs when Simpson finds a document related to an interview with Wilds's boss at the video store. It seems that Wilds was missing work to meet with detectives before February 27, 1999, when police claim their first interview with him took place. The growing body of evidence suggests that Syed was always the police's top suspect, possibly due to the influence of Mandy Johnson, who authored the cultural report on Islam.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of Adnan's Story by Rabia Chaudry. Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Context,Overview,
Summary,
Timeline,
Cast of Characters,
Direct Quotes and Analysis,
Trivia,
What's That Word?,
Critical Response,
About Rabia Chaudry,
For Your Information,
Bibliography,
Copyright,