Alibi witness in ‘Serial’ case is cross-examined

The first Season One: Update episode is up now, and two more will follow. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals returned the case to Baltimore City Circuit Court previous year for post-conviction proceedings. But an overwhelming 92% said they felt his lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, did a poor job of representing her client. Koenig announced her plans to cover Syed’s post-conviction hearing in an email to newsletter subscribers earlier today.

The second day of testimony has wrapped up in hearings for the convicted killer who is asking a judge for a new trial on the grounds that he received ineffective counsel in case that was profiled on the podcast “Serial”.

Regardless of the tough questioning, Syed’s side believes the hearing will be a positive development for his case.

During season 1 of Serial, Koenig had spoken with McClain, so when McClain testified on February 3, she mentioned the podcast. “There was just a lot of drama in the room while she was testifying”, Koenig said, “because there had been so much talk about her, and what she might have said, would have said, parsing everything she said… and then to just hear her say these things that sounded very straightforward was kind of arresting”.

The state began cross-examining McClain late Wednesday afternoon by questioning her memory of dates and places from 1999, WMAR reported. McClain’s alibi hadn’t been presented in court by Syed’s defense attorneys in his 2000 trial; Serial posited that Syed was plagued by poor representation.

Defense attorney Justin Brown also called an expert to discuss cellphone tower data prosecutors used to link Syed to the location Lee’s body was found on the day they say she was killed.

Syed was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 2000, and sentenced to life behind bars. Syed was arrested roughly six weeks after Lee was killed.

“The immediate family members have decided not to attend this hearing”.

Adnan Syed, 35, who is serving a life term in prison after being convicted of murdering his 18-year- …

“I’m not responsible for what other people might interpret”, McClain said.

Each time, she responded that she couldn’t remember and at one point broke down.

Koenig’s investigation into the Syed trial never quite took a stand on the case, but it wasn’t from lack of trying. She said the first half of the day was spent establishing that Gutierrez “had been declining in a bunch of ways” including “physically, professionally, financially”.

Vignarajah argued yesterday that Syed’s attorney at the time didn’t contact McClain because her testimony may have contradicted his statements to police, and that their decision was strategic.

After learning of Urick’s testimony Chapman said she requested her phone records and verified that her conversation with Urick lasted 34 minutes.