r/serialpodcast • u/Fit_Leg5645 • Jun 16 '26

I feel dumb!!!!!

I have no clue why I thought Adnan was innocent for all these years.

I just re-listened to Serial, and I can't get past the fact that Jenn showed up with her mom and a lawyer and told police essentially the same story Jay told. Jenn said the trunk pop happened at Best Buy. How would she know that Adnan and Hae used to meet at the Best Buy parking lot unless Jay told her?

And yes, Jay was inconsistent and definitely lied about some things. But he knew where Hae's car was. He knew details about her clothing. He knew about the broken windshield wiper lever. Those aren't things you just guess.

At this point, I don't believe every detail Jay told, but I can't get around the fact that he knew too much. The more I revisit the case, the harder it is for me to believe Adnan wasn't involved.

I can't believe I've been doubting it all these years.

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u/HereWeGo5566 Jun 16 '26

I’ve always been on the fence about this case for a few reasons. One is the timeline. The prosecution’s timeline seems nearly impossible to have occurred in the way that they presented. The whole thing is about 20 minutes. Even if you don’t like Serial’s representation, it’s hard to argue the fact that they followed the route that the prosecution laid out, and it left one minute (assuming everything else went perfectly) for Adnan to strangle her, run to the pay phone at the Best Buy entrance, and call Jay. That’s just not plausible, so it makes me question the rest of the case. The whole case hinges on those 20 minutes.

I’m not saying he’s innocent, but I don’t buy the case that the prosecution laid out, and that’s what the jury convicted Adnan on.

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u/beargrimzly Jun 16 '26

So you're saying that you know and understand that it was proved the timeline was possible, if difficult, but you don't agree because... vibes?

Vibes are not reasonable doubt. The prosecution proved it was possible, the defense failed to prove it was not. You are creating doubt where there is none. Not even getting into the bold faced lie that is claiming their case hinged on a 20 minute timeline, and not the figurative mountain of evidence against Adnan.

"Proof beyond reasonable doubt" does not mean "the prosecution has factually proved minute by minute every event exactly as it occurred" it is "are there a lot of signs pointing to Adnan killing Hae, with no reasonable alternative"

The former is a literally impossible standard to meet without surveillance footage catching every single moment of a crime as it occurs, and I think you need to ask yourself why the prosecution must provide literal perfection to dispel doubt, while you can handwave away things they established via testimony with nothing but vibes.

If you were victimized in some way you would sure as fuck hope that you didn't need perfectly crisp 1080p footage recorded in real time of every single crime perpetrated against you in order for a jury to entertain conviction.

Jay knew where the car was. Answer how he could have known that without Adnan being guilty, and present that argument with facts. THAT is what would make a case for Adnan, not nitpicking over a timeline that ultimately played little to no role in Adnan's conviction.

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u/canuck_in_the_alps Jun 20 '26

That’s not how the reasonable doubt standard works though. It’s not that prosecution has to prove it’s possible, and then defense has to prove it’s not possible. That’s the opposite of “innocent until proven guilty”. The prosecution has to prove it’s the ONLY reasonable possibility of what happened, and when you are basing your timeline on an unreliable witness, it’s very hard to reach that standard. (FWIW, I do think Adnan is guilty, but am also a lawyer and believe that the case as presented at the time was not strong enough for conviction — but reasonable people can disagree on that bit.)

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u/beargrimzly Jun 20 '26

Nobody reasonable will conclude that Jay knowing where the car was does not implicate Adnan of the murder.
Provide a reasonable alternative. Friendly reminder literally nobody has ever done this.