‘Our film is the trial he may never get’: The Case Against Adnan Syed director defends true crime phenomenon

‘Our film is the trial he may never get’: The Case Against Adnan Syed director defends true crime phenomenon

The explosion of true crime over the past few years has seen millions of us turn armchair detective as we try to solve famous cold cases, from the murder of JonBenet Ramsay to the case of Steven Avery.

But with an ever-growing list of true crime documentaries and movies popping up, most recently two projects on Ted Bundy, one starring Zac Efron, there have been claims that the true crime phenomenon is problematic, and that it romanticises horrific crimes.

However, in the case of Adnan Syed, true crime documentaries are his only option to get his story heard.

The Case Against Adnan Syed follows up the story put forward by series one of Serial, which shone a light on the murder of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee, for which Adnan Syed is serving life in prison.




And director Amy Berg believes she and her team are now doing the job of a prosecutor.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Berg said: ‘I think that if prosecutors would take cases that are questionable to trial, we wouldn’t need to do this over and over again, so we can’t stop.

‘There is not a single prosecutor in America who gets a case and says “wait, there’s some questionable evidence here, let’s open it up, let’s take it to trial”. They only do that when there’s been a DNA match or a confession, it’s not standard operating procedure, and it’s so unfortunate. And they have more power than anybody in the justice system, and they’re elected.

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‘The last appeal was almost comical in terms of what they were relying on. Adnan had won in two different courts, and the last prosecutor’s brief was relying on the fact that nobody could read the mind of Adnan’s deceased attorney.

‘It was heavily weighted on that. It’s so strange that was the path he was taking – how can you interpret what a person was thinking if they’re not there to defend themselves? – but he won.

‘Six other judges said he needed a new trial. So now, my film is the trial he may not ever get.’

Rabia Chaudry – an attorney and advocate for Syed, who first brought the story to Serial’s Sarah Koenig – added: ‘We waited for the legal system to do its job, and it didn’t, so we had to go to the media.’

Syed was granted a request for a new trial in 2016, ruling that Syed’s now deceased former attorney Cristina Gutierrez ‘rendered ineffective assistance when she failed to cross-examine the state’s expert regarding the reliability of cell tower location evidence’.

Amy Berg has uncovered new evidence in the series (Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for HBO)

However, last month, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed the lower appellate court’s ruling, denying a new trial, saying ‘Syed’s legal counsel was deficient but not so much that it prejudiced the case’.

Syed was found guilty of his ex-girlfriend Hae’s murder in February 2000, and was given a life sentence. In the trial, his school friend Jay Wilds testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae’s body and dispose of her car. Cell tower records also found Syed had been at the burial site.

Syed, however, has maintained his innocence, and in The Case Against Adnan Syed, new evidence is uncovered – and while Berg did not go into the film believing Adnan was innocent, she claims they found no evidence linking him to the crime.



She said: ‘My investigation was totally separate from Rabia, and I didn’t know for sure how I felt about Adnan. I was looking for evidence that would convict him, as well as anything else – we just didn’t find anything connecting him to the murders.

‘We followed the state case all the way through from the original trials, and that was one storyline that helped drive us, and then we also wanted to explore the aftermath of this horrific event that affected so many people on both sides. When you keep seeing the absence of evidence, it makes you feel a certain way.

‘But it’s not how I feel about Adnan, it’s about what happened in this case.

Rabia Chaudry believes publicity is a means to the end (Picture: Getty Images for HBO)

‘Hopefully, people will absorb our investigation and the new information that we uncovered in a way that shows what a miscarriage of justice really looks like.’

Ever since Serial racked up millions of downloads in 2014, Adnan Syed’s name has become known worldwide, with podcast listeners debating his guilt or innocence as entertainment.

But as he is in prison, Rabia admits that Syed, now 38, doesn’t fully understand how well known his case has become.

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I still don’t think he gets it. It’s almost impossible for him to get it, because he doesn’t have the same exposure on social media. But it’s interesting, because the guards and staff in the prison are following the case, listening to Serial and watching the documentary, and a number of guards in the last few weeks have come to him and given him condolences and said “I’m so sorry, you don’t belong here”.


‘They know him, they’ve been around him for a decade. And Adnan has been getting hundreds of letters.’

Berg said: ‘People who are going through the legal process the way Adnan is, they’re not really concerned with fame. They’re concerned with trying to get back to their family. Nobody wants to be famous for something they didn’t do. Damien Echols [one of the West Memphis Three, who were convicted for the murders of three boys] said nobody wants to talk about the worst thing that ever happened to them over and over again, but you have to in order to get the word out and get justice.’

Chaudry added: ‘The publicity is a means to the end, it’s not the end.’

The Case Against Adnan Syed will air from 1 April on NOW TV with the Box Set available to stream in its entirety with the contract-free Entertainment Pass, for just £7.99.

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