Just when I think I'm all caught up on Serial and can pay attention to something else for a while, something new comes up that completely absorbs me. As the latest example, we now know what Adnan Syed looks like today. Syed hasn't been released from prison just yet, although fans of the first season of Serial and those who listened to Undisclosed might be hoping otherwise. Rather, we've caught a new glimpse of Syed because he was in the Baltimore City Circuit Court — along with his family and Serial creator Sarah Koenig — for a post-conviction hearing, asking for post-conviction relief.
Syed is asking for a new trial on the basis that his original trial attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, provided "ineffective assistance of counsel." In other words, Syed claims that he wouldn't be in prison today if he'd had a better lawyer. Specifically, Syed's legal team is claiming that Gutierrez neglected to follow up with Asia McClain, who provided what could be a potential alibi for Syed. Gutierrez, who died in 2004, cannot refute these claims. To recap, McClain stated in January 2015 in a new affidavit provided to The Blaze that she "was with Syed at the exact time the state argued that he killed his ex-girlfriend in 1999," despite the fact that attorney Kevin Urick claimed that she had recanted her original affidavit. "What actually happened is that I wrote the affidavit because I wanted to provide the truth about what I remembered," McClain wrote. "My only goal has always been to provide the truth about what I remembered."
The hearing is expected to last about three days, so we will likely have plenty of opportunities to see how much Syed has changed since his conviction in 2000. Here is Syed, aged 35, in shackles, his prison uniform, a hat, and a thick beard, in court on Feb. 3:
And here he is at a babyfaced 18 in 1999, compared with today.
Even more rattling images are sure to follow as the process continues. All we can do at this point is to send good mental energy toward justice in this case, in whatever form that takes.
Image: Serial
