Everyday Law with Robert Clark, had the good fortune to host three different guests each of whom played significantly different roles in the "Serial" Adnan Syed saga.
The guests included Maryland Attorney General, Brian Frosh. Maryland Court of Appeals Judge, Michele Hotten and Mr. Syed's attorney, C. Justin Brown.
General Frosh made the decision to oppose Mr. Syed's appeal for a new trial. Mr. Brown pursued that appeal on Mr. Syed's behalf and when that appeal finally was resolved it was Judge Hotten, who wrote a strong dissent from the Court's majority opinion that Mr. Syed was not entitled to a new trial under Maryland law.
The Court of Appeals decision split that court 4 to 3 in denying Mr. Syed his day in court. Judge Hotten told Everyday Law listeners that she felt Mr. Syed was deprived of effective assistance of counsel, when his attorney failed to interview and call to trial a highly exculpatory witness.
Mr. Brown obviously felt that Judge Hotten was absolutely correct. Attorney General Frosh pushed back strongly on the idea that the witness would have made any difference in the trial result noting that Mr. Syed purportedly told multiple conflicting stories of his activities on the day of the murder.
The multiple perspectives on the Syed case featured in HBO's The Case Against Adnan Syed, were not planned by Robert Clark or Everyday Law but felicitously all fell during the fall 2019 season of Everyday Law. take a listen wherever you get your podcasts or link to : https://everydaylaw.podbean.com/
