Serial - Jay speaks (part 2)

Part 2 of the three-part interview was released today.  At this point, I think we can agree that this interview is falling for short of its potential.  In the end, it's nothing more than a fluff piece as the interviewer is not asking Jay any real hard questions.  The questions that may seem tough on the surface are really just setups for Jay to express contrition and talk about how it has affected his family.  The last part seems to clearly be about the collateral damage to Jay as a result of the popularity of Serial.  We'll get there soon.

As for the interview itself, the focus centered on three topics.  First, was Jay's speculation on who provided the anonymous tip to the police.  According to Jay, based on knowledge of grand jury testimony that he really should not have, he thinks it was someone from the mosque.  Presumably, this is Bilal, who is the youth leader who is mentioned in Episode 12. 

Not really sure if this amounts to something.  Grand jury proceedings are secret if an indictment is reached, so Jay is talking about stuff that he should not have knowledge of.  I would assume this came from the prosecutor.  Of course, the editor's note states that they were able to confirm with two sources that the individual in question pled the fifth, which suggests that these proceedings are not as secret as they should be.  

The second part is basically a personal interest piece talking about Jay's inner demons about the experience.  And honestly, I really don't care.  It's good I guess he felt ashamed and embarrassed for his involvement in burying the body?  But it's not like testifying was some heroic act that redeems his past transgressions.  He stayed silent until the police found out about him and testified because he received a sweetheart deal and avoided prison.  He testified out of his self-interest, and it strikes me as really hollow when he talks about Hae's family and what they went through.  

The (I guess) most substantive topic centered around SK and the podcast's attempts to reach out to Jay.  The facts of the story seem to match up with what SK recounted in Episode 8.  At some point, Jay insinuates SK was lying:

"No, she said she was doing a radio show. They pitched it to me as an NPR radio show. I could also tell that she was uncomfortable talking to me. Her lips were quivering, and I just felt like she was lying. They were in the love seat over there [points across the room], and their body language was just making me really uncomfortable. It was confusing because they also pitched this story to me as a documentary, and they wanted to put me on video. By this time my wife was getting real upset. Our kids were crying. My wife knows about my involvement in this case. Because I eventually cooperated with the police and testified, I know that there are people back home who would consider me a snitch and would hurt me. So, for the most part, we’ve been really protective about our privacy. My wife would regularly Google my name to make sure none of my personal information would show up. So when these two women show up at my door it sent my wife into a panic. And when we asked them how they got our address, Koenig said something like, ‘Sadly, it wasn’t hard to find.’"

He also blames the podcast for "demonizing" him, although he admits he hasn't been able to listen to the podcast:

If you’re telling the truth, then what harm would it be to talk to Koenig?I am telling the truth, and look what happens when I didn’t talk to her. Look how she’s demonized me. And I feel like if I did talk to her, it would have given her twice as much ammo to twist my words. She came to my house and frightened me and my wife. Then [Julie Snyder] came out and said that I had ‘animal rage.’

So the confusing part is what did SK lie to him about?  And how did she demonize him?  If anything, the reproduced email is clear evidence that SK was exceedingly professional and up front with him.  By this point, SK (like any semi-intelligent person) saw that Jay's testimony was a bunch of crap.  So if the podcast reports on what happened, then the audience is going to reach the inevitable conclusion that Jay lied.  And once it is established Jay lied, people are going to speculate as to why he lied.  That's just the way things work.  

It seems Jay is conflating the Serial reddit with the podcast.  He hasn't listened to the podcast and I'm sure he isn't clear on what's coming from the podcast and what people are extrapolating from the events that are presented.  But here is what we know:  

• Jay was a drug dealer.
• He knew where Hae's car was.
• He admitted to helping to bury the body.
• He is the only person who can tie Adnan to the murder.
• His testimony is full of inconsistencies and his story has been definitively debunked as false.
• He received a plea deal and avoided prison time.

These are all just facts.  There is no demonizing here.  We the audience do not know Jay as a person.  And given our construction of him simply as a collection of information that we do know, he seems extremely shady.  And that's what SK was trying to tell him:  

When you ask what’s the benefit to you, it’s a little hard for me to answer, because it’s kind of a personal question specific to you, and I don’t know you enough to know the answer. But what I can tell you with confidence is that I think in the end, you’ll feel better with the end result if you’re an active voice in the story — rather than someone who’s being talked about, you get to do the talking. I think the simplest pitch I can make to you is: You have a story about what happened to you, and you should be the one to tell it.   That’s why I came to [location redacted], to ask you to tell your story. You’re in the documentary either way, so it just seems more respectful and fair to you to let you tell what happened, rather then having me piece it together from whatever I can glean from the record. On paper, in the trial transcript, you’re two-dimensional. But in real life, of course you’re more than just a state’s witness. You’re a person who went through a traumatic thing.

But now, it's too late.  The damage has already been done and our first impression of Jay are those pieces from the record... pieces that don't quite fit.  

And that seems to be the point of this interview; for him to try to tell his side of the story and make the audience view him as a person.  But this is not the way to do it.  Telling yet another story about what happened -- a story that can't possibly be true --   is the worst thing he could do.  Rather than make him seem like a person, he is just confirming what's out there:  that he keeps changing his story and the new story doesn't make sense.  

I suspect that the next part will talk about some of the things people have hypothesized.  Maybe even some of the choice material from Reddit.  And the piece will try to paint Jay's family as collateral damage to what became the biggest podcast/cultural phenomenon of the year.  But the podcast isn't to blame for this damage.  All of this can be traced back to Jay's own actions, and he only has himself to blame.  

Serial - Jay speaks (part 1)

Last week, a few short sentences posted on a Facebook account created a huge buzz among the Serial fan base.  The reason?  The post was made on Jay's Facebook, stating:

For the followers of the serial podcast produced by Sarah Koenig: I will make my self available for one interview : 1st, to answer the question of the the people who I hope are concerned with the death of Hae Min Lee (the person who's paid the ultimate price for Entertainment). 2nd, to out this so called reporter for who she truly is.

The post was removed within 24 hours, but it was enough to cause rampant speculation.  A post on the Serial reddit discussing the Jay FB post spawned over 1300 comments.  People wondered who he would talk to.  What would he say?

Today, we got our answer in the form of the first part of a multi-part piece from the Intercept.  It's unclear how many parts the interview will span.  But notably, Jay offers yet another account of the events of January 13, 1999, which also fails to hold up to a modicum of scrutiny.

First things first, the timeline of events.  Here are the highlights:

• He says that Adnan loaned him the car when they were hanging out during last period (which Adnan was ditching).  Jay said he needed to run to the mall to get a gift for Stephanie, and Adnan said that he was going to be late for practice, so just drop him off at school, take the car and cellphone, and he'd call when he was done.  
• Right off the bat we know this is bogus.  Given that school ended at 2:15pm, that would put "last period" at some point between 1:30 and 2:15pm.  According to the call records, we know Adnan called Jay at 10:45am.  And there were two phone calls made to Jenn's house at 12:07 and 12:41pm, meaning Jay would already have been in possession of the phone at that time.
  
  Jay could be saying they had met up earlier and they hung out for much longer, say from Noon on.  But then Adnan would have ditched pretty much most of the school day.  They would have had ample time to go to the mall to buy Stephanie's gift.  And even still, Adnan would not have to rush back to school for track practice since it didn't start until 4pm.
  
  The "last period" is an oddly specific lie, but still a lie.
  
• He drops Adnan off at school and head to Jenn's house where he normally goes to "sit and smoke with [his] friend."  He gets a call when he's at Jenn's to pick him up.  He goes to pick Adnan up at Best Buy, Adnan says he killed Hae.  Hae's car is nowhere to be seen.  He has not seen the body.  He says it was starting to get dark, so it was between 3 to 4pm.
• So by this timeline, he would have dropped Adnan off at school some time after 2pm.  He would have gone to Jenn's house then, and received the call from Adnan.  There were two incoming calls, the infamous 2:36pm call and a 20-second call at 3:15pm.  Giving Jay's story the benefit of the doubt, the 3:15pm call would make more sense.  The 2:36pm call is too early for the timeframe of the Best Buy pick up, and Jay would have just gotten to Jenn's house after dropping Adnan off.
  
  We also know this contradict's Jay's (and Jenn's) testimony that they were together at Jenn's house until after 3:30 to 3:45pm.
  
• He says that Adnan told him that Hae's car was somewhere there and that he killed her in the parking lot, but that, "according to what I learned later, is probably not what happened."  He speculates Hae's car was probably there until Adnan came to pick him up later that evening.
• It's one thing to leave a car parked at a park-and-ride for 3 to 4 hours.  It's another to leave a car parked in the parking lot of a commercial store for that long.  Not sure how things are in the Baltimore suburbs then, but in my experience, if you park your car in a private parking lot and leave the premises, they will ticket/tow your car pretty quickly.  Perhaps it would have gone unnoticed for 3-4 hours.  But it seems like something that would not be left to chance.
  
• Then they drive over to "Cathy's" house.  Cathy, Jeff, Laura, and Jenn are there.  They are smoking when Adnan gets a phone call from the police and gets all panicky.  Jay says they should part ways.  He doesn't remember if Adnan dropped him off or if he got a ride from someone else.  He got home some time about 6pm.  
• A few interesting bits.  First, Laura and Jenn are also at Cathy's apartment.  You may remember Laura as the one with the lovely quote from the podcast.  Jenn is important because the prior testimony was they didn't see each other until after 8pm.
  
  The timing doesn't fit either.  Jay says he returned home from Cathy's place at around 6pm.  But the three calls that supposedly pinged the tower near Cathy's place (according to the State's expert) occurred at 6:07, 6:09, and 6:24pm.  The 6:24pm call is speculated to be the Officer Adcock call.  Also, there is the 5:14pm voicemail call, which suggests Adnan got his phone back around then.  And under this chain of events, Adnan went back to school to go to track, but ended up skipping track altogether since he was picked up at Best Buy between 3 to 4pm and then was with Jay.
  
  So Jay could have been off by an hour, but it seems more like Jay and Adnan were there from about 5:30 to 6:30pm.  The 5:14pm voicemail check is more troubling under this timeline because why would Adnan wait for over an hour to check his messages?
  
  But even more odd about this scenario is that Jay is not "associated with" the crime yet.  He had Adnan's car and phone, picked him up when Adnan called him.  And Adnan just told him that he killed Hae.  He didn't see the body yet.  Adnan did not ask or coerce him to help dispose of the body.  So why in the blue hell is he taking Adnan to hang out with his friends???
  
• Jay says he went home (to his grandmother's house) where he was trying to collect himself because he was "pretty distraught, fucked up, feeling guilty for not saying anything."  Adnan calls him, either when he's on his way to the house or right outside.  Jay goes outside and Adnan is with a different car, not his own.  Adnan pops the trunk and sees Hae's body.  Adnan threatens to go to the cops about the weed and all that shit if Jay doesn't help.
• Oh boy, where to start.  I suppose we start with the facts, ma'am.  According to the call log, the police call ends approximately 6:28pm.  There is a 27-second call to Yaser Ali made at 6:59pm.  Immediately followed by a call to Jenn's pager at 7:00pm.  Meaning there is a 30-minute window for Adnan to be panicked about the police phone call at Cathy's apartment, he and Jay parting ways, Jay getting home, Adnan going to ditch his own car and pick up Hae's car, and drive it over to Jay's house.
  
  Oh, and there is no call made to Jay on the call log.  That too.
  
  This is also yet another new location for the infamous trunk pop.  This is the most absurd one yet.  Because after you murdered your ex-girlfriend and put her body in the trunk of her car and ditched the car in a commercial parking lot, what you really want to do after you get a call from the police letting you know they are looking for her (and, presumably, said car), go get the car and drive it (with dead body in trunk) to someone's house, and pop the trunk and show the body on the street in front of that person's house.  Yes, makes perfect sense.
  
• Jay says that he said he would help dig the hole because he was concerned about getting his grandmother involved (for running drugs out of her house).  Adnan leaves and returns to the house several hours later (around midnight), this time in Adnan's car.  They drive and Adnan takes him to Leakin Park and it starts raining.  They dig for about 40 minutes.  Jay refuses to help move the body so Adnan makes him drive to Hae's car, which was parked around a corner up a hill on the street.  Adnan gets into Hae's car and tells Jay to follow halfway down the hill.  Jay waits for 30-45 minutes until Adnan comes back with gloves on, saying she was really heavy.  Then Adnan goes to ditch Hae's car and Jay follows in Adnan's car.  They drive for a few minutes, Adnan picks a place at random behind some row houses, leaves her car, and takes Jay home.  
• So Jay says that after around 6pm at Cathy's house, Adnan came over in Hae's car to show the body.  Then Adnan comes back around midnight in his own car.  Issue is that there are 3 phone calls to Jenn's pager during this time:  at 7:00pm, 8:04pm, and 8:05pm.  Also, there were two incoming calls at 7:09pm and 7:16pm that pinged the vicinity of Leakin Park, sandwiched between those calls to Jenn's pager.  
  
  So there's clearly something not right here.  That doesn't mean the body was not buried after midnight -- in fact it makes more sense to bury the body late at night instead of between 7 and 8pm.  But there are the calls that pinged Leakin Park, bookended by calls to Jenn... which suggests Jay was with Adnan (or his phone at least) between 7 and 8pm.  So this idea of Adnan showing the body, leaving, then coming back at midnight makes no sense.
  
  Adnan also has a two car-one driver problem.  So apparently Adnan leaves Jay's house that evening in Hae's car.  According to this story, Hae's car is parked around a corner up a hill near Leakin Park.  Previously it was parked at the Best Buy parking lot.  Then Adnan magically re-appears with his own car.  So unless Adnan had help, there's a problem.  He could have driven to Best Buy, left his car there, grabbed Hae's car, driven to Jay and do the trunk pop, then go to Leakin Park to leave Hae's car... but then Adnan is stranded by Leakin Park with no car.  Google Maps puts this about 4 to 5 miles away, a bit far to walk.  Maybe he took the bus, but it seems like a bad idea to create all these witnesses of your movements.
  
• The interviewer asks Jay why this story is different from what he told the police and why his story changed over time.  His response (in its full glory):
  
  
  Well first of all, I wasn’t openly willing to cooperate with the police. It wasn’t until they made it clear they weren’t interested in my ‘procurement’ of pot that I began to open up any. And then I would only give them information pertaining to my interaction with someone or where I was. They had to chase me around before they could corner me to talk to me, and there came a point where I was just sick of talking to them. And they wouldn’t stop interviewing me or questioning me. I wasn’t fully cooperating, so if they said, ‘Well, we have on phone records that you talked to Jenn.’ I’d say, ‘Nope, I didn’t talk to Jenn.’ Until Jenn told me that she talked with the cops and that it was ok if I did too.
  I stonewalled them that way. No — until they told me they weren’t trying to prosecute me for selling weed, or trying to get any of my friends in trouble. People had lives and were trying to get into college and stuff like that. Getting them in trouble for anything that they knew or that I had told them — I couldn’t have that.
  I guess I was being kind of a jury on whether or not people needed to be involved or whatever, but these people didn’t have anything to do with it, and I knew they didn’t have anything to do with it.
  That’s the best way I can account for the inconsistencies. Once the police made it clear that my drug dealing wasn’t gonna affect the outcome of what was going on, I became a little bit more transparent.
• W.T.F.  So it's not quite clear when Jay was convinced that his drug dealing wasn't going to affect the outcome.  But this story he's telling the interviewer is completely different from what he ever told the police and what he testified to -- under oath -- at trial.  So there's that.
  
  Also, according to this story, Jenn was never involved.  Jenn never picked Jay up and they didn't go around wiping down shovels or dumping his clothes.  According to Jay's new timeline, they would have been done burying the body at some point around 2am.  And considering Jenn's normal routine is to wake up at 6:30am (see Jenn's statement at page 4), it seems unlikely she would be driving around with Jay at 3 in the morning disposing of evidence.  

So in summary, we have another alternate account of the events that do not hold up to the most basic level of scrutiny.  It's unclear whether the interviewer will actually press Jay and highlight some of these inconsistencies.  Based on what I have seen so far, I don't have much hope.  

A couple of additional thoughts from the early part of the interview before Jay talks about the timeline.  

• Jay expresses some disdain for the magnet program at Woodlawn, saying he "resented the school" for setting up the program.  Even though football paid for everything.  
• This is similar to Jenn's feeling towards Hae (calling her stuck up).  Not sure if it matters, but it seems like an interesting thing to discuss in this interview.
  
• Jay describes Adnan as "a little pompous, a little arrogant" and "a little bit more uptight than the other Muslim kids" that he knew.  He thought it looked like Adnan has "never lost anything before" and it was hard for him to deal with being the "loser." 
• Nothing here to indicate that Adnan would be the type of person Jay would be afraid of.  And here he maintains the drug angle as the source of leverage.  So the idea of Adnan threatening Jay to keep him in line seems even less credible.
  
• He describes Hae as really independent:  "But she seemed to be more mature, like she was two, three, four years older than us.  Like she was a junior in college.  The way she moved and went about her day.  She just seemed like an older chick who happened to be in high school."  
• That's an interesting description of Hae.  We know he knew her because they had Biology class together.  But there was no indication they spent much time together.  So it's an interesting description of her.  

At this point, I really don't understand the motivation for giving this interview.  It definitely isn't going to win over the Jay doubters and restore his image -- telling another bogus story is the worst thing he can do.  Of course, he was forcibly dragged into the public spotlight for something he did when he was 19.  But then again, he did admit to helping bury the body of a young girl and kept quiet about it for weeks.   

The next part promises to discuss Jay's theory on the anonymous caller, why he agreed to testify, and how Serial showed up at his door.  I doubt that there will be anything factually noteworthy there.  But it is fascinating to watch this unfold... kind of like watching a car wreck take place.  

Serial Episode 12 - What We Know

In the finale of the season, SK wraps up the series the only way she can, providing some new information, providing an update, and noting that the facts still are not known.  There have been articles wondering how the series will conclude and whether it will live up to expectations.  But I'm not sure if anyone enthralled with the story was expecting a concrete resolution.  It just didn't seem possible.  But if you wanted something more definitive, at least the Funny or Die parody video was thoroughly enjoyable.

Onto the recap:

Don's Story:  The first new major development SK reports is that she spoke with Don.  He contacted her recently and didn't want tape to be played, but ok'ed recounting their conversation.  A few tidbits came up:

• Hae was at his house late the night before in a town north of Baltimore city.  She wanted to play hooky the next day to hang out with him, but didn't want to make it an unexcused absence.  He told her she should go to school and that he had to work that day anyway.  They made plans to meet after Hae's shift ended at 10pm that night.
• The night before is not new.  The thought of her wanting to play hooky is an interesting aside - would this have been avoided if she had played hooky?  Also, they were supposed to meet at 10pm.  But she also wanted to stop by and see him at work/leave a note.  So she was clearly head over heels.
• SK mentions a note with Don's name on it was found in Hae's car.  It read:
  "Hey cutie, sorry I couldn't stay.  I have to go to a wrestling match at Randalls Town High.  But I promise to page you as soon as I get home, ok?  Till then take care and drive safely.  Always.  - Hae"
• Don said he didn't know about the note.
• The note is interesting because of the timing.  So when would he have written the note?  It would make sense that the note would have been written after she got to Owings Mill and saw Don wasn't there.  And that would suggest she was intercepted shortly thereafter.  Or she could have written the note at school forgetting Don was working at a different location.  But the "sorry I couldn't stay" is odd.  She couldn't stay where?  At the Lens Crafters to wait for him?  At his house the night before?
• Don tells SK that he immediately thought he would be a suspect.  He immediately made sure he knew where he was.  After being asked questions, he traced his steps and remembered where he was when.  SK notes that this is different from Adnan's reaction, but also notes Adnan was only 17 and high.  
• Interesting distinction between the two.  I tend to think Don's reaction is more reasonable, but I'm not a teenager.  Would Don's older age factor into it?  Or would his mom or someone have sat him down to think carefully about the day (whereas Adnan would not have had that at home since he had kept Hae a secret from his parents)?
• Don said he doesn't remember calling Hae after the 13th.  He wondered if she had gone to CA.  It wasn't that he didn't care, but he just didn't know what he would do.
• Now this is interesting.  One idea is that he only dated her for a couple of weeks and if she ran off to CA or something, he wasn't as invested.  But then he tells SK that he did love Hae and she had given him confidence.  Unclear if he is speaking after 15 years and knowing she had died then.  Or if he is recounting how he felt in the moment.  I suspect his feelings are colored by hindsight.
• SK notes Don's alibi is solid.  Don was filling in for someone at a different branch in Hunt Valley that day.  Computerized time card has him arrive at 9:02 am, take lunch from 1:10 to 1:42, and leave at 6pm.  But she notes the manager of that store was Don's mom.
• Don said he didn't know about the progress of the investigation.  Was worried he was a suspect.  Didn't know about Jay until hearing the podcast.  
• This is where the coincidences just seem to get absurd.  Finally someone has a rock solid alibi... wait, scratch that.  Even this alibi can't be 100% trusted because his mom was the manager.
• He recalled meeting Adnan in the parking lot after Hae had a car accident.  Don said they had a perfectly nice conversation.  He was very polite, articulate.  They joked around but felt like a typical sizing up - typical of the ex-boyfriend meeting the new boyfriend.  Adnan had said something to the effect of wanting to make sure Don was an okay guy.  Hae's diary places this meeting on Dec. 23.  At trial, this was stated as having happened in January.  
• Seems pretty straightforward.  Don seems as he is being very fair and balanced at this point.  He is either spectacularly objective or he had doubts that Adnan was really the killer.  But after hearing the podcast, perhaps that colored his understanding of the case hearing how flimsy the State's case really was.
• Don's testimony at both trials was bland.  Don said Urick pulled him into a back room and yelled at him for not making Adnan sound "creepy."  SK says she asked Urick about this but he said he was not allowed to talk about the case.  
• At this point, I think we can all agree Kevin Urick is a scumbag.  After this entire experience, the only thing I can say definitively is that Urick is a villain in this story.  He crossed ethical boundaries, tried to tamper and influence witness testimony, provided an attorney for his star witness getting a sweetheart plea deal, and resorted to race baiting and stereotypes to secure a conviction.  

On balance, it's not clear that anything new came from the discussion with Don.  I suppose the note was new, but this was ancillary to the Don conversation.  But it was an effective discussion to close off one hanging thread.  Even though SK never got Jay or a full conversation with Jenn or even Stephanie to talk, checking Don off the list did satisfy something in the narrative.  

And I think it's safe to assume that Don wasn't involved.  The note seems like it would be bad for him, and he would have gotten rid of it.  He was working on the other side of the city during this time.  So even if he was able to step out for a few minutes, leaving for an hour to go to the other side of the city would have been noticed.  

Josh - The other new person was Josh, a friend of Jay's who worked with him at the porn video store.  They were friendly but not that close.  He would occasionally give Jay a ride.  They'd hang out and smoke up.  

• On the night Jay was picked up by police, he had called Josh because he didn't want to be alone at the store.  He wasn't afraid of the police but something else.  He was afraid people were after him.  On that night, there was a van parked across the street at the Amtrak commuter rail station parking lot that freaked Jay out.  He didn't even want to go outside.  Josh says Jay didn't mention the name but learned through the podcast that it was Adnan.  SK presses Josh asking how he knew it was Adnan if Jay didn't say the name.  Josh admits it could have been somebody else, but whoever Jay was afraid of must have been the person who did it.  
• This is the most striking part of the story.  As Josh tells it, Jay was freaking out for his safety.  But it just doesn't seem like Adnan would be the source of this real fear.  Besides, as Jay puts it, it was the threat to Stephanie that kept him in line.  So why would Jay be afraid for his own safety here.  It just doesn't add up.  This may be the strongest support for the unknown third party theory - that the actual murderer was someone who really was a hardened criminal who Jay actually would be afraid of.  It explains Jay's fear.  It explains the narrative gymnastics of the every-shifting story.  It explains why Jay would cop to helping dispose of the body.
• SK directly asks Josh if Jay was afraid of someone with Pakistani relatives.  Josh says yeah, yeah, he said it was someone who was Middle Eastern.  He also says Jay told him it was the ex-boyfriend.
• Not sure if this is SK's presentation, but Josh just didn't seem convincing here.  Not that he is intentionally lying, but this may be another issue of confirmation bias.  Jay says Adnan did it, so Josh is projecting Adnan as the source of this fear.  Also, Pakistan is not in the Middle East.  I find it highly unlikely Jay would not have told Josh the name but said (erroneously) that the guy was Middle Eastern.
• Josh says Jay told him he was involved, almost bragging that he helped bury the body.  Josh didn't take him seriously and thought he was making it up.  He did that sort of thing.  
• This fits the Jay is a poser theme.  He's more bark than bite.  Maybe this fits the third party theory.  After he helps the real big bad dispose of the body, he thinks he's a big deal now.  So he feels confident enough to talk himself up.  Once the police start closing in on him, now he realizes that he might be in danger, so that bravado is gone and fear is the motivating factor.
• The version he heard was similar to the version that Chris recounted.  Jay was somewhere when Adnan came to him for help.  He's clear Best Buy was not mentioned because Josh went there often and would have remembered.  Thought Chris's pool hall story could be right.  Was under the impression it had gone down later in the day and not mid afternoon.  
• If this is true, that's two different people he told the same story to.  Yet this is different than the story he told Jenn.  Not sure if there's anything definitive, but it seems to be another strike against the State's theory of the case.
• Josh didn't understand why Jay would help Adnan.  It's one thing to not snitch, but something entirely different to pick up a shovel and help bury the body.  
• Amen.  It does not make sense.  What would Adnan have over Jay to force him to take this drastic, extreme measure?  

So what to make of Josh?  He provides something we never had before - an account of Jay's behavior before being picked up by the police.  It seems that Jay really was afraid of someone, but I have a hard time believing this person was Adnan.  That just doesn't fit.  And if you look at Jay's March 15th statement to the police, it seems like he was afraid of someone (but again, not sure if I buy it is Adnan):

Ritz:   He gets in her car and your driving his car. At that point there‘s a phone booth on the other side of the building. And your driving off the parking lot, why don‘t you stop your car and say, call the police, and say someone had just committed a murder. There's a body in the trunk of the car?

Jay:  I don’t know, I just feared and I, I, and you don’t understand like, like how it is.

Ritz:  Who are you afraid of, if you make an anonymous phone call, you give a description of her car.  Give a description of [Adnan] and say there’s a body in the trunk of that car.  You give them the tag number of the car.

Jay:  Can we stop for a second.

Ritz:  Yes.

Jay:  A few seconds.

Ritz:  Well if you have any questions you can ask me on tape.

Jay:  I don’t understand this line of questioning (inaudible)

Ritz:  I’m trying to understand why you go through all this and.

Jay:  First it was just like shook and then after that ah, I was part of it, so I mean I couldn’t just, you know what I mean. I had just as much not called, like you said before when he said he was gonna kill her to the point of when I was standing there looking at her in the trunk I didn't call to the point of, I dugged the hole, you know what I mean. It's, it's all those looping together if I didn't step out at one I couldn't just say well her it is in the middle, I'm just gonna call the cops.

Ritz:  Oh I understand what he has over you or if your involved in this from the very beginning.  If he paid you any money to help him ah, if your were part of the conspiracy part. Once he's planning all this because it took a lot of careful planning. He had this planned out cause you made mention of the fact that when he's strangling her, in her vehicle that he's worried about her scratching him to get any tissue or any ah, (inaudible) evidence underneath her fingernails?

Jay:  Yes.

Ritz:  So he’s thought about all this.

Jay:  Yes.

Ritz:  He's thought about it to the point were he gives you his car, his cell phone, he tells you were to meet him, calls you to the location, has you following him around to

ah, the parking ride over on Route 70. Ah, to the point were your involvement in, in this

is beyond belief, other than you being afraid of the police. Either he has paid you

something, or.

Jay:  Like I said he knows that I sold drugs.  I mean that was, that was, I mean that’s, he could get me locked up for that, I mean.  I’m sure if I ratted him out for [redacted] that he wouldn’t hesitate to turn me over for selling drugs.

Ritz:  I meant that’s, well I’m just trying to understand in my mind what your logic is and your way of thinking.

Jay:  Yeah I mean I wasn't just through the whole situation I, I don't deal with dead

bodies everyday man, I don't, you know what I mean that's not something I run around and look at, you know what I mean. If somebody pops a trunk and there's a blue body in there it's gonna upset me and I'm not gonna need. Like I didn’t, l don t, in my mind I don’t think to the presence of let's call the oops. It's never, that never crossed my mind. I could be getting shot at, and I wouldn't be let's call the cops.

Ritz:  In your mind and presence of your mind, does it ever occur to you to disassociate yourself and say, hey look, you know this is really serious shit here. Somebody dead in the trunk of the car, see you later?

Jay:  I tried, after I said that to him, you know fuck you I’m not helping you, but then that’s what he said to me.

Ritz:  At any point did [Adnan] ever threaten you with physically with any ah, type of weapons or anything like that?

Jay:  No weapon no (inaudible).

So a few takeaways from this exchange.  First, Jay is rattled by the question "who are you afraid of" and asks to stop the recording and then gives a nonsensical answer.  Second, he maintains that the fear was that Adnan would turn him in for selling drugs.  Third, he says Adnan didn't threaten him physically.  

Remember this is happening on March 15th, so over two weeks after the night Josh recounts.  At this point, Adnan has been arrested and is facing a murder charge.  Jay is fully cooperating with the police and testifying against Adnan.  He is giving a clean statement that the police can use against Adnan.  

So if Jay was deathly afraid of Adnan on February 28th, why isn't he taking the clear out that Adnan coerced his cooperation?  Instead, he talks about Adnan turning him in for selling drugs.  He denies that Adnan ever threatened physical harm.  It just does not add up that he was afraid that Adnan was going to get him.  

If Jay wasn't afraid of Adnan, who was he afraid of?  

Miscellaneous Items

• SK notes that their investigation suggests that an accidental butt dial lasting over 2 minutes would have been charged by AT&T in 1999.  So if the call had been made by accident and no one picked up on the other end, it would appear on the call log and on the bill.
• Makes sense.  This neuters one of the alleged "smoking guns."  Susan Simpson offers an alternate theory attaching more significance to the Nisha butt dial.
• SK notes that there were two anecdotal reports of a payphone being inside the vestibule area of the Best Buy.  And architectural plan from 1994 shows a plan for a payphone to be located there.
• This contradicts Laura's recollection from Episode 9.  And it doesn't matter for Jay's story because he says the payphone was outside.  Seeing as we're pretty sure the murder did not occur at the Best Buy, this probably isn't important.
• SK discusses the cell phone records and suggests the evidence seems to contradict both Jay's and Adnan's stories.  Maybe they're both lying.  She does note the discrepancy that the 3:21 call to Jenn's house conflicts Jay/Jenn's story that they were together until 3:45 at Jenn's house.  So SK suggests maybe Jay didn't have the phone at the time.  She also notes that it doesn't make sense Adnan would have called on a land line (to account for the lack of a 3:45 incoming call) because the whole point of Adnan giving Jay his cell phone was to call him on it to get him when the deed was done.  
• Good points, but doesn't really change anything.  It's clear the phone logs are a mess and do not corroborate Jay's story of the afternoon period.  It was interesting how SK strains to not make the most likely conclusion regarding the 3:21 call:  that Jay and Jenn are lying to give Jay an alibi.  Given how everyone agrees Jay had the phone at the time (with Jenn even saying she saw Jay with the phone at her house), it seems a stretch to suggest someone else had the phone at this time.  The simplest conclusion is that Jay was not at Jenn's house at 3:21 and that he and Jenn are lying to create an alibi.
• On the issue of motive, SK notes that Adnan was absent 2 of the first 4 days after the holidays, and Friday was a snow day.  So when Hae disappeared, this would have been the first time Adnan would see how fully Hae had moved on from him, which could have triggered the murderous response.  But SK mentions no one who knew them at the time suggested anything of the sort.  So this is merely speculation.
• It's an interesting thought but ultimately it doesn't change anything.  Motive is one of those things that shouldn't matter, but juries tend to latch on to because it's something easy to grasp and can complete the story.  There are still several steps that need to be connected to go from "Adnan was jealous of Hae's relationship with Don" to "Adnan murdered Hae."

A Series of Unfortunate Events 

SK recounts Dana's perspective on this.  She calls Dana their Spock in that she is viewing things from a logical perspective.  And her opinion is that if Adnan is innocent, he is extremely unlucky:

• It was Adnan's idea to lend his car and phone to Jay.
• Adnan asked Hae for a ride at school that day.
• The Nisha call -- even if a butt dial, that's bad luck.
• Jay's story and the cell phone records match up from 6pm on, which is also the time period in which Adnan can't account for.  

Variations of this idea have been popping up on reddit.  Often causing the poster to conclude that this means Adnan is guilty.  I disagree.

If these were all independent events, then perhaps you could attribute this more to bad luck.  But considering the situation where the prosecution of Adnan is based solely on Jay's testimony, Jay's involvement can change these occurrences from random misfortune to something else.  

First is lending the car and phone to Jay.  There was a reddit post discussing this and there was word from a former classmate who had borrowed Adnan's car and phone to run an errand.  Not sure if this was confirmed, but it suggests that Adnan was not shy about lending his car/phone out.  Also, considering this even occurred before Hae was killed, the time frame shifts.  If the decision to pin the murder on Adnan was made, one of the contributing factors for that decision could easily have been the fact Jay had Adnan's car and phone.  So if Adnan's lending the car/phone to Jay was a contributing cause of Jay's testimony then this isn't bad luck, it's taking advantage of the current situation.

Second is Adnan asking for a ride.  The witness testimony suggests that Adnan did not get a ride from Hae, so this is all moot.  If anything it goes to the idea of premeditation.  And that idea of premeditation comes from Jay's testimony.  It seems plausible that when Adnan lends his car to Jay, he could have told him to come get him after track and he can catch a quick ride with Hae if he needs to go somewhere before then.  It's plausible that by the time of the police interview, the detectives told Jay about this (based on the Officer Adcock conversation) and fed this information to play up the premeditation angle.  But in the end, the only sinister meaning behind this comes from Jay.  Besides, if Adnan's grand plan was to murder Hae by getting a ride from her, it would be dumb to be so public about asking for a ride.  The only reason we're giving this a second thought is because Jay says this was Adnan's plan.  

Third is the Nisha call.  Yes, if it's a random butt dial, it's bad luck.  Of course, if a butt dial were to happen, it is quite likely it would have been one of the pre-programmed numbers (if you remember, you simply had to press and hold one of the buttons for a few seconds to trigger the call) so the chance of it being an Adnan person is certain.  And there is the possibility that this was part of the frame job to try to draw a connection to Adnan and the phone at that time.  

And fourth is the time line of Jay's story... which is clearly tied to Jay.  Jay is the only link to the body.  It is not clear that Hae was actually buried in Leakin Park that night.  Her body was not found for weeks and it could have been left there at any point during that period.  Also Jay could control where they went in this time period.  They go to Cathy's house (his friend).  They go get weed from Patrick (Jay's connection).  They perhaps go to Leakin Park (who knows the reason, but could have been Jay's suggestion).  The idea being that if Jay is setting Adnan up, he could lead Adnan around that evening making sure to hit the spot where the body was buried, was being buried, or will be buried.  So it's not happenstance that Adnan's movements matched Jay's version of events.  Jay was there to control where they went.

So in the end, if you view these points from the perspective of Jay's influence on them, the real bad luck is Adnan having a friend like Jay who he lent his car/phone too.  Yes, that is bad luck, but it's not like a series of unrelated unfortunate events had to have happened to put Adnan in this situation.  And it certainly does not mean that Adnan must be guilty.  

Innocence Project update -SK also reports on a few developments in Adnan's case.  First, she notes that the Innocence Project filed a motion this past weekend to DNA test the samples that were collected but never tested.  In order to seek testing, they needed someone to test the sample against, and they found Ronald Lee Moore.  Moore was brought to their attention because his DNA was connected to another unsolved murder in the Baltimore area.  On Dec. 13, 1999 (exactly 11 months after Hae disappeared), a 27-year old woman named Analise (Hyoung Sook) Lee was found strangled in her apartment in Owings Mills.  Apparently Moore was a career criminal who had been released for a 14-month period starting January 1, 1999.  During that time he was connected to at least 2 rapes and 1 murder.  

SK thinks this is a long shot.  The samples may not even be viable, let along match Moore.  And where's the connection between Moore and Jay?  Enright tells her "big picture, big picture."

There was some criticism of Enright's waving off SK's legitimate concerns.  But SK really doesn't convey the point of Moore.  The point of finding Moore isn't that they necessarily think that Moore was the actual murderer (of course, it would be a tremendously fortunate coincidence if he was).  But rather they were able to find a viable alternate suspect whom they could name on their motion for testing.  This is one of those procedural hoops that they had to jump through to get the testing approved.  

And on the surface, there is a compelling case.  He was released from prison just 12 days before Hae disappeared.  He strangled a Korean woman in her apartment in Owings Mill.  Hae is Korean.  Hae may have been murdered in her car (i.e., her personal space).  Hae worked at a Lens Crafters in Owings Mills and may have been headed there to see Don/leave him a note.  And the other victim was murdered exactly 11 months after Hae disappeared.  So there's a lot of surface-level similarities to make him a viable testing candidate.  

Whether something comes of it is unknown.  I don't know the science enough to know what can happen if the match comes back negative.  Could there be ethnic indicators?  Could it be tested against others in the criminal database?  But it seems like it's a start, which may be what Enright was saying when she tells SK "big picture."

Post-Conviction Petition - SK briefly notes this is still alive and Adnan's attorney is trying to get Asia's letter back before the court.  But given that the State's time line is a mess, the alibi doesn't seem to be as major as it once was.

Stragglers - The official Serial blog posted something today with various sundries about dead ends they encountered.  Nothing really noteworthy, but the last item caught my eye.  Apparently the police had subpoenaed at least 15 other numbers.  The Serial crew has the subpoenas and some basic subscriber info, but the only detailed logs are for Yaser (Adnan's friend from the mosque) and Bilal (the youth group leader from the mosque).  Interesting how those were the only detailed logs from the police files.  It seems like the detectives were looking to turn this into some grand Muslim conspiracy.  

Adnan's departing words - Adnan only makes a brief appearance in the final episode.  He gave Enright the go ahead for the DNA testing motion because he is adamant he wants to know what happens.  

He understands that there will never be 100% evidence that proves him innocent.  But what he wanted was to take back the case and have a clean presentation, without all the "make-up" the prosecution put on it.  

He asks SK if she has an ending.  He thinks she should just go down the middle - present the story and the facts and not take a side.

SK's wrap-up - But SK declines Adnan's invitation to stay neutral.  She notes Dana is correct that Adnan was unlucky.  But she wants to focus on what actually is known.  If the phone log doesn't back up Jay's story and the Nisha call is a butt dial, the only thing that's left is Jay's story.  And that's not really a story but just the beginning of one, something not enough to send anyone, let alone a 17-year old kid, to prison for the rest of his life.  As a juror, she would acquit.  Even if she thought he had done it, she has to acquit because that is what the law requires of her.

But she is not a juror and this isn't a trial.  If asked if Adnan is innocent, she can't be sure.  But she leans towards feeling he is innocent.  She questions whether a guilty man would agree to all this.  She notes how Adnan's friends said they aren't sure he's innocent, but the Adnan they knew could never have done it.  

SK notes that when Rabia brought the case to her, she was optimistic that there would be definitive conclusion.  But she finds herself like a seasoned detective trying to shake people for just the facts.  "Because we didn't have them 15 years ago.  And we still don't have them now."  

And SK concludes the season the only way she really could.  It's clear there was not enough evidence to convict.  The jury did not consider the evidence.  They returned a guilty verdict in 2 hours after six weeks of trial.  They simply bought the State's story, felt that Jay would not lie and voluntarily admit to a crime, and didn't like that Adnan did not testify.  Juries do things like this.  That's to be expected.

For me, the worst part was the actions of the prosecutor, Kevin Urick, and his office.  To recap: 

• He offered a pro bono attorney to his star witness to "defend" him in his sweet plea deal.  
• He went out of his way to commend Jay for his cooperation to the court.  
• He interrupted a witness on the stand to prevent her from saying something damaging to his case.  
• He yelled at another witness for not lying to make the defendant sound creepy.  
• He advanced a theory of the case that was contradicted by his own star witness's testimony.  
• And he played up the spectre of religious fear mongering as the theme of his case to secure a conviction.  
• Not to mention his colleague who made up lies about a pattern of young Pakistani men murdering their girlfriends and fleeing to Pakistan.  

According to his bio on his website, it seems he left the prosecutor's office around 2002 and moved into private practice.  Good riddance.  

My Conclusion?

As to whether Adnan truly is innocent, it's impossible to tell.  I came into this thinking that he probably was guilty.  He was the only one who seemed to make sense.  But after poring over the materials and thinking through what's out there, that has changed.  So, then, what do we know?

1. We know that the murder did not happen according to the way the State told it.  Hae was not murdered in the Best Buy parking lot before 2:36pm.  
2. We know that Jay's story of what he and Adnan did after they met up does not add up.  Putting aside the 3:45pm starting point, it is riddled with inconsistencies and contradicted by the cell phone evidence.
3. We know Jay was involved somehow.  While there is the possibility he may have been fed some information about the crime by the detectives, it seems unlikely he was completely innocent and copped to something he didn't do.  
4. We know Jay wanted an alibi until 3:45, and Jenn provided the alibi for him.  
5. We know Hae was intercepted around 3:15pm.  That does not mean she was necessarily murdered by then, but something happened to her to prevent her from picking up her cousin.
6. We know Adnan and Jay were together from roughly 5-6pm for a few hours.  During this time we know they went to "Cathy's" apartment. 
7. We know that shortly after 7pm, Adnan's cell phone was in the vicinity of Leakin Park.  
8. We know either Jay or Jenn (or both) are lying about when they met up that evening.  Jay says Adnan dropped him off at home and Jenn picked him up from there.  Jenn says she met them at Westview Mall, that she saw and spoke with Adnan.
9. We know Jay was somehow compelled to help bury Hae's body.  Whether it was voluntary or out of fear, that's uncertain.  Perhaps Jay really feared for his life.  But something kept him in line and made him help.
10. We know that Jay and Adnan still hung out after January 13th.  It seems that Adnan put Jay on the phone with Nisha at some point during this time period.  

What are the possible outcomes? 

• It happened more or less like Jay said - it was Adnan, and Jay was forced into helping.  
• Based on the above factors, points 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10 seem to contradict this story in one form or another.  Whether Jay had no reason to lie about his story or the inconsistency between his and Jenn's story, or whatever, those points don't fit this scenario.  
• None of the points above seem particularly likely in this scenario either.  
• Adnan did it and Jay was more involved; essentially they did it together.  
• In this scenario, points 9 and 10 don't make sense.  I don't see why Jay would actively help in committing a murder.  And I don't see the two of them hanging out together so much after they had pulled off a murder.  
• In this scenario, points 1, 2, and 4 make a lot of sense.  He was lying to minimize his own involvement and wanted an alibi for the deed (since he knew when it occurred).
• Adnan was innocent, and Jay pointed the finger at Adnan to hide someone else's involvement.  
• Here, point 7 is the big red flag.  No reason for Adnan's phone to be near Leakin Park at this time.
• But this explains points 1, 2, and 4 (just like in scenario 2).  But it also explains 8, 9 and 10.  Adnan was not involved so Jenn and Jay couldn't get their story straight.  Jay was compelled to help because he was afraid of someone who was actually scary.  And Adnan didn't know anything was up while Jay was playing it cool.  

Ruling out scenario 1, it seems like the likely choices are Jay and Adnan did it together, or Jay and someone else did it.  Based on the fear that Josh told SK about, how Jay would get roped into this mess, I'm inclined to believe Adnan is innocent.  Yes there are some unfortunate coincidences for him that landed him in his predicament, but there are just so many holes and logical gaps there.  I just don't see it.  

What about another scenario, in which Jay and Adnan got some other person (the actual big bad) to do it.  That could also explain #9 if Jay got roped in as the go-between.  It could explain #10.  And also explain Jay's lies to minimize his own involvement...  But then what incentive does Adnan have to keep quiet to protect the other person?  Perhaps he was afraid of what this person would do to his family?  Not sure if that threat would still be present today, but if it were, I'm sure talking about this and being part of a nationwide investigation into the truth is not going to make this person happy.  

Maybe I'm being unfair to Jay.  But once you lie to the police in a murder investigation, do you have any credibility left?  There has to be a really good reason to do so, and minimizing your own involvement seems like a pretty clear reason to lie.  

While we never may know the truth about what happened, everyone can draw their own conclusions from the facts and information.  I've reached mine.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Serial Episode 11 - Rumors

This is going to be a controversial episode.  I found the last bit to be good storytelling, but on the whole, there wasn't much substance here (although I know some folks disagree with this).  For me, I've been trained to expect big things from the penultimate episode, so it was different to skip over to the coda stage of the story without having some kind of big climax in the story.  No, there will be no smoking gun reveal that sheds light on what really happened back then.  But after the fun ride, it seemed like the story was coming to an end prematurely.  

So this episode focused on three main things: (1) rumors from people from the mosque; (2) comments from forensic psychologist Charles Ewing; and (3) more from Adnan on the impact of his experience being the subject of the story.

Rumors from the Mosque

SK notes how since the story started, she was contacted by several people from Adnan's mosque with stories about Adnan.  SK discusses her process in chasing down some of the rumors that were ultimately unsubstantiated, but discusses one rumor: that Adnan stole money from the mosque.  

SK notes four people who told her this story.  Two people said they saw him do it.  One person said he saw Adnan do it several times.  And then there was one person on tape (name and voice changed) who said Adnan did it every Friday, stealing thousands of dollars each week.  And also the tipper said he himself stole money from the donation box too.

SK thought that amount this person alleged seemed far-fetched so she speaks with Mr. Patel (missed his first name), who was the President of the Islamic Society of Baltimore at the time.  Patel said that the donations amounted to about $2500, maybe $3000 on a big week, and was used to help pay for bills and such.  He said that if even $100 was missing, it would be noticed.  But he said it has happened and that the amount would have to be small to go unnoticed.  And he dismissed out of hand thousands of dollars could be stolen each week.

SK asked Adnan about it.  He was very upset about it and asked what it had to do with the case.  Interestingly, this was the most emotional he has ever sounded in any of the clips presented to date.  He later told SK the story:  this was probably the summer before 8th grade.  There would be an adult and about 4 to 5 kids who would collect the donations. One of the kids realized they could pocket like $40-60 to go to the movies or whatnot.  So 2-3 would pocket a little money while the others kept watch.  He was caught by his mother and confessed.  He said back then he didn't think it was that wrong - he spent so much time at the mosque helping out, so it was like taking a little spending money from the family till.  

So, what to make of this?  I think this is pretty irrelevant.  He was like 13 at the time?  Who didn't do dumb things like steal or shoplift or whatnot when they were that age?  I disagree that the fact he was stealing from a mosque makes a difference.  I think that assumes that he associated strongly with his religion at that age to elevate the crime to something different.  Maybe a kid would recognize it was more wrong than shoplifting or stealing from a cash register in a store, but I don't think this is an order of magnitude bigger so that this becomes an indicia of Adnan's ability to commit premeditated murder.  If you think evidence of stealing does not mean he is more prone to murder someone, I don't think the fact that he stole from a mosque changes that.  

But who are all these people who contacted SK and why?  She plays a few clips from the anonymous thieving tipper.  He seems to attach a very big significance to Adnan's crime of stealing from the mosque... yet he admits to doing it himself.  He puts a different spin on Adnan's ability to diffuse a situation as a sign of Adnan's ability to manipulate people... Yet he maintains that Adnan was genuinely a good person.  So what's the point?

It feels like this is a case of people coming out of the woodwork to get involved in the story.  Now that the podcast is receiving attention and it's clear that SK is responding to feedback and information from people involved, I think folks just want to be a part of the story.  Adnan stole money from the mosque.  He took my sweater once, although I think he did it unintentionally thinking it was his.  I saw him smoking weed one day.  Whatever trivial tidbit is an excuse to interject into the story.  Anonymous people casting stones?  I'm treating them like any anonymous person on the Internet posting rumors on reddit.  

So in the end, there's a 15 minute segment about some rumors SK heard that she can't tell us about, that ultimately don't matter.  I guess the one thing it shows is that Adnan was not the perfect golden child.  But we knew that already, didn't we?  He smoked weed.  He dated a girl and slept with her without telling his parents about it.  He drank alcohol.  And now he stole money when he was 13.  Does this matter?  We knew that he wasn't a perfect, goody-two shoes.  He did things that many, many, many teenagers do.  But this is not evidence that, on January 13, 1999, he murdered Hae Min Lee.  

Charles Ewing, Forensic Psychologist

The second main part of the episode centered around SK's discussion with Ewing, who has testified in numerous trials as an expert in forensic psychology.  Considering his context was listening to about "half" the episodes, he's not in any position to make any qualitative statements about this case.  Any value in this section comes from perhaps filling in some general knowledge information that the listening public may not be aware of: (1) in most cases, the murderer is an ordinary person who snap and are pushed over the edge when something happened to them -- i.e., not an evil, sociopathic person who premeditates a murder in cold blood; (2) about half the people he have seen displayed some level of dissociation of the event, blocking out some level of memory of the event; and (3) providing a definition of a "psychopath" - one who has little or no conscience and can't empathize with other people's feelings.  

After the discussion, SK offers her conclusion she does not think Adnan is a psychopath.  She feels that he does display true empathy and not just the superficial charm that some psychopaths can demonstrate.  But she understands this does not mean Adnan is innocent and a real possibility exists that Adnan snapped and killed Hae and blacked out parts of it.

I think the value of this portion depends on the person.  While Ewing's points are not necessary mainstream, general knowledge, these are concepts that are prevalent in crime fiction, police procedurals, and the numerous other treatment of crime investigation that the public is exposed to.  I didn't find any of these concepts to be new or groundbreaking.  And I think the rational, thinking person here understands that Adnan being a psychopath is not a necessary condition for him to be guilty or that his not being a psychopath necessarily means he's innocent.  

The takeaway will also depend on your feelings about the case.  Adnan's inability to account for his activities on that day could innocently be dismissed as the product of the unreliability of one's memory, or it could be construed as the result of cognitive dissociation whereby he is blocking out events confirming his guilt.  Again, we just can't know which is correct.

Adnan's Discussion of the Impact of Serial on Him

Finally, SK notes how commenters have been trying to assign significance to Adnan's unwillingness to speak out against certain people, particularly Jay.  SK points out that she has spoken with defense attorneys and it would be unwise for Adnan to say anything.  It could only cause harm.   Adnan says it's a trap to convince people.

SK talks about an 18-page letter from Adnan discussing his feeling and thoughts going through this experience.  He says that he had three goals when he was sentenced to prison: (1) stay close to his family; (2) prove his innocence; and (3) convince others that he is a person and not the monster the prosecution makes him out to be.  And he feels that he accomplished goal (3) in prison.  The people inside know him as a person and as a stand-up guy.  But now SK comes along (at Rabia's behest, not his) and opens the door on all this, bringing out all the painful memories and analyzing everything that was said and done.  

Adnan notes that in his conversations with SK, he has tried to keep it businesslike.  Rather than trying to befriend SK, to charm her and to win her over, he's been trying to keep it clinical.  Just say what he knows and remembers in case something comes of this.  In essence, it's not an accurate portrayal of who he is (which ties back to his mini-rant earlier that SK didn't really know him).  

To me, this was the only part that appealed to me.  Not that it revealed anything about the case.  But it did give some insight into Adnan and how this has affected him.  In spending hours dissecting the information and speculating on events, we tend to ignore the "human element" to it.  There are many reasons for it.  We don't really know these people, what they are like, how this affected them.  We don't want to let emotional considerations to alter the analysis of the facts/testimony.  We want to ignore the voyeuristic nature of the program.  Whatever the reason, it's easier to ignore that these are real people.  

And I think this was SK's point.  This has sparked so much interest, discussion, etc., and it has had an impact on the people involved.  This isn't a television series, building up tension to a cathartic climax, with a resolution period at the end.  SK reminds us that this is a tragedy that affected the lives of several people.  Along the way, she took the opportunity to highlight some problems with the justice system, which may have resulted in an innocent kid being put away.  Whether anything comes of this disruption remains to be seen.  One episode to go.