Monday, April 27, 2015

Today's second episode of the Undisclosed Podcast focused on Hae's day on January 13, 1999 and tried to answer the question: Who was the last (innocent) person to see Hae alive? In the episode, we narrowed down the likely choices to Becky/Aisha and "Takera." But what if none of these people turned out to be the last (innocent) person to see Hae alive? And what if the last (innocent) person to see Hae alive were in fact the last person to speak with Adnan on his cell phone on the 13th?

There's been a burning question for many fans of the Serial Podcast ever since they took their first look at the call log for Adnan's cell phone: Who is "Ann"? As you can see from Adnan's call log, the last call made or received from his cell phone on January 13, 1999 was a one minute, forty-four second call at 10:30 P.M. to "Ann." So, who is "Ann"?

Debbie mentions her twice in her statement to detectives on March 26, 1999. Here's the first reference:



So, "Ann," Debbie, and Adnan usually went to the library to hang out during lunch/free period.

Later, Detective MacGillivary asks Debbie why she thinks Adnan is guilty, prompting the following exchange:



This exchange might lead you to wonder how "Ann" learned that a sergeant got more evidence against Adnan after he was arrested. Well, here are the first six names on the State's interview list.

The other five names should be familiar to all of you. Debbie was a friend to both Hae and Adnan, she was interviewed by police on January 28th, March 2nd, and March 26th, and she tesified at both trials. Krista was another friend to both Hae and Adnan, she was interviewed by police on March 1st, and she testified at both trials. Becky was a third friend to both Hae and Adnan, she was interviewed by police on April 9th, and she testified at Adnan's second trial. Aisha was Hae's best friend, she was interviewed by police on March 2, 1999, and she testified at Adnan's second trial.

The second redaction in the above document is "Cathy," who was interviewed by police on March 9, 1999 and testified at Adnan's second trial.

The sixth name, and the first redaction above, is "Ann." Like Aisha and Debbie, she was interviewed by police on March 2, 1999. On March 2nd, Aisha was interviewed at 11:05 A.M., "Ann" was interviewed at 12:35 P.M, and Debbie was interviewed at 1:30 P.M.*

One thing you might wonder is why "Ann" was such a high priority for the police. One obvious answer is that she was the last call on Adnan's call log for January 13th. Another answer comes in the form of Adnan's answer when told that Ann might be a witness against him**:

So, this answer might explain that last call on January 13th. Perhaps this was the call in which Adnan gave "Ann" his new cell phone number. Beyond that, Adnan explains how Ann was in the same A.P. Psychology class that he took with Hae, Aisha, and Becky. You might recall that Aisha and Becky both recall Adnan and Hae talking at or right after the end of that class, with Hae quite possibly/probably telling Adnan that she could no longer give him a ride because something came up and she had "something else" to do/"somewhere else" to be.

Did "Ann" have a similar recollection?*** It's impossible to tell from the prosecution or defense files because the State apparently lost the notes from the interview with "Ann." They also lost the notes of the March 2nd interview with Debbie although there was the later recorded interview with Debbie on March 26th. There was, however, as far as we can tell, no subsequent interview with "Ann" by either the State or the defense.

This leads to three possibilities. First, despite "Ann" providing information in her interview that was helpful to the State, she was never interviewed again by the State. I think we can all agree that this is exceedingly unlikely. Second, "Ann" had nothing meaningful to say, which is why she was never contacted again after her initial interview. It's always a possibility, but it's tough to imagine "Ann" having nothing useful to say despite being in that A.P. Psychology class, talking with Adnan at the end of the day on January 13th, and "usually" hanging out with Adnan in the library during lunch.

Third, "Ann" told the police something that was harmful to the State's case. Maybe she heard Hae telling Adnan she couldn't give him a ride. Maybe, like Debbie, she said that she saw Adnan after 2:36 P.M. Or maybe, also like Debbie, she said that she saw Hae after 2:36 P.M. In fact, maybe "Ann" was the last person to see Hae alive.

At this point, all we can say is that (1) we have no idea what Ann told police on March 2nd; (2) we have no idea what happened to the notes from that interview; and (3) we have no idea why there was (apparently) no follow-up with Ann.**** That said, like "Takera," she will be contacted. And if she remembers telling someone from the State something that was helpful to Adnan's case back in 1999, well...there could be a very good argument for a Brady violation.

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*This is complete speculation, but one reading is that Aisha and Ann were both interviewed for about 55 minutes, with a 30 minute lunch break from 12:00-12:30. Or maybe the interviews were shorter, with longer gaps between them.

**The second redaction is personal information about Ann that is unrelated to Adnan's trial.

***The likeliest person to have a similar recollection would be the person who sat right next to Hae in A.P. Psychology; more on her later.

****That goes for the defense as well. This appears to be another huge blunder by Adnan's trial attorney. The State put Ann as #2 on their interview list, interviewed her 2 days after Adnan's arrest, and then told the defense that it had lost the notes from her interview. If you're defense counsel and later realize that the State is not going to call Ann as a witness, don't you get someone on your team to talk to her to determine why the State dropped her? At worst, she has nothing of value to say. At best, she could make your case.

-CM

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2015/04/todays-second-episode-of-the-undisclosed-podcast-focused-on-haes-day-on-january-13-1999-and-tried-to-answer-the-question-wh.html