Source
r/serialpodcastorigins•
Justwonderinif

Post Conviction

Timeline

<< The Trials

Friday, February 25, 2000 / Trial 2 / Day 21

  • Closing Arguments start on Page 47

  • 1:35PM: Jury deliberations begin

  • Verdict Sheet

  • 4:25PM Verdict Read; Syed convicted of:

  • First Degree Murder (Life)

  • Kidnapping (30 years, consecutive to life)

  • False imprisonment and robbery (10 years, concurrent with kidnapping)

Saturday, February 26, 2000

Monday, March 6, 2000

  • Cristina Gutierrez files Motion for new trial

Saturday, March 25, 2000

  • Rabia tracks down Asia and gets her to sign an "affidavit" at a check cashing place. This document narrowed the alibi to 2:40PM due to Rabia's misunderstanding the verdict.

Thursday, March 30, 2000

  • Adnan and his parents write letters to Gutierrez, asking her to use Asia's affidavit.

Monday, April 3, 2000

  • Adnan's parents write a letter to Judge Heard asking to postpone sentencing (and motion for a new trial) because Gutierrez had just been fired. (Letter received Tuesday, April 4?)

Wednesday, April 5, 2000

  • Sentencing scheduled, but postponed, so public defender Charles Dorsey could prepare.

Sunday, May 21, 2000

  • Adnan's 19th Birthday

May 29, 2000

  • Photo from Jet Magazine. Adnan thinks the girl in the photo looks like Hae.

Tuesday, June 6, 2000

  • Sentencing hearing w/Judge Heard, Adnan represented by Charles Dorsey. Adnan maintains his innocence, despite Dorsey asking for leniency for a "crime of passion."

  • Adnan sentenced to:

  • Life in prison for 1st Degree Murder

  • 30 years for kidnapping (consecutive to murder)

  • 10 years for robbery (concurrent with kidnapping)

  • Motion for new trial denied. This motion was filed March 6 by Gutierrez. Dorsey didn't argue in support of this motion, and it seems like he may not have been aware of it. Even Heard was surprised by the lack of response from Dorsey as to the motion for new trial.

  • Adnan Syed's Appeal filed in Court of Special Appeals (CoSA) MD. Issues raised:

  • a) Prosecutorial misconduct & Brady rule

  • b) Did court prevent Adnan from presenting evidence

  • c) Hearsay based on prejudicial nature of Hae's letter

  • d) Admission of Hae's diary

  • Maryland law allows only 10 years from the date of sentencing to file the PCR motion.

  • The state has a strong argument against federal habeas corpus on the Asia claim, because Asia's affidavit was obtained in 2000, so there is no justification for waiting another decade to start the PCR action about that issue.

Wednesday, June 7, 2000

Thursday, July 6, 2000

  • Jay's Sentencing Hearing

  • According to Adnan's appeal, at Jay's sentencing, Urick recommended leniency because Jay showed remorse for his actions. Jay received a suspended sentence, instead of the two years prison per the plea agreement.

  • Adnan's appeal argues that Adnan's jury believed Jay because they thought he was getting two years; and if they'd known he was getting a suspended sentence, they might have thought this motivated him to lie. The appeal implies that Jay knew he wasn't going to prison. He didn't know.

Friday, July 28, 2000

  • Missing: Charles Dorsey files motion for modification of sentence. You only get to file for sentence modification once, and, according to the IAC claim, Dorsey blew it by filing so early. With very long sentences, it's better for the defendant to wait a few years. The IAC brief claims that Dorsey wasted Adnan's one and only chance for getting a sentence modification and "of course it was denied right away."

Wednesday, August 2, 2000

  • Missing: Judge Heard denies motion for sentence modification

Sunday, October 15, 2000

  • Hae Min Lee 20th Birthday

Monday, May 21, 2001

  • Adnan's 20th Birthday

Thursday, May 24, 2001

  • Cristina Gutierrez disbarred

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

  • Unrelated: Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by 19 members of al-Qaeda. In total 2,996 people are killed.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Monday, October 15, 2001

  • Hae Min Lee 21st Birthday

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

  • Adnan's 21st Birthday

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

  • Hae Min Lee 22nd Birthday

Monday, Mar 19, 2003

  • Adnan's Appeal Denied

  • The PCR should have been filed within one year of this date. But Adnan waited 7 years between the appeal decision and filing for PCR. (Maryland law allows no more than 10 years from sentencing to file for PCR.

  • Asia's affidavit was obtained in 2000, so that is not justification for waiting another decade to file for PCR.

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

  • Adnan's 22nd Birthday

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

  • Hae Min Lee 23rdBirthday

Thursday, January 29, 2004

Friday, May 21, 2004

  • Adnan's 23rd Birthday

Friday, October 15, 2004

  • Hae Min Lee 24th birthday

Saturday, May 21, 2005

  • Adnan's 24th Birthday

Saturday, October 15, 2005

  • Hae Min Lee 25th birthday

Sunday, May 21, 2006

  • Adnan's 25th Birthday

Sunday, October 15, 2006

  • Hae Min Lee 26th birthday

Monday, May 21, 2007

  • Adnan's 26th Birthday

Monday, October 15, 2007

  • Hae Min Lee 27th birthday

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

  • Adnan's 27th Birthday

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

  • Baltimore Police Officer Lee emails Justin Brown:

  • An item in evidence has probably been destroyed.

  • Is this the DNA?

Saturday, October 15, 2008

  • Hae Min Lee 28th birthday

Thursday, May 21, 2009

  • Adnan's 28th Birthday

Thursday, October 15, 2009

  • Hae Min Lee 29th birthday

Friday, May 21, 2010

  • Adnan's 29th Birthday

End of May, 2010

  • The 10 year deadline to file the PCR is rapidly approaching

  • Asia: In the late spring of 2010, I learned that members of the Syed defense team were attempting to contact me. I was initially caught off guard by this and I did not talk to them.

  • Serial, Episode 1: Asia's fiancé comes to the door, opens it part way, tells the investigator that she cannot speak to Asia, but that from what he knows of Adnan's case, Adnan is guilty and deserved the punishment he got.

  • Rabia: Adnan’s lawyer had Asia’s letters and affidavit and set out to find her. His private investigator locates her but returns with terrible news. She won’t testify. The PI never spoke to her but her fiance made it very clear, in a very nasty way that suggested an anti-Muslim prejudice, that Asia would not be involved and to leave them alone . . . Faced with a tough decision, [Justin Brown] decides to submit [Asia's] letters but not subpeona [sic] her for the appeal hearing.

Friday, May 28, 2010

  • 7 Years After Appeal Denied

  • Asia has already decided not to testify. She would later say that Urick is the reason she decided not to testify. But Urick says that he did not find out about the PCR until Asia called him.

  • Attoney Justin Brown files for Post Conviction Relief (IAC) Syed asks for new trial because Trial counsel (Cristina Gutierrez), Sentencing counsel (Charles Dorsey), and Appellate counsel (Warren Brown) ineffective for:

    1. Failing to establish a timeline disproving State's case
    1. Failure to investigate alibi witness
    1. Failing to move for new trial based Asia exonerating Adnan
    1. Failure to cross-examine Debbie (deficient)
    1. Failing to approach state for plea deal sought by Syed;
    1. Failing to advise Syed of option to request change of venue
    1. Failing to investigate Jay
    1. Warren Brown failure to raise prejudicial nature of cell tower evidence upon appeal
    1. Charles Dorsey's failure (at sentencing) to to request that the motion for sentence modification be held in abeyance.

  • Four years later, on October 18, and November 18, 2014, Rabia would lie to the readers of her blog. She wrote that Adnan had to wait 10 years to file the PCR. The defendant has 10 years to file the PCR and cannot file it AFTER 10 years.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

  • Missing: Syed files Supplement to PCR

Friday, October 15, 2010

  • Hae Min Lee 30th birthday

Friday, December 20, 2010

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. First postponement.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

  • Adnan's 30th Birthday

Monday, August 8, 2011

  • At some point after filing the PCR (exact date unknown), Justin Brown attempts to subpoena Asia and she evades. This could be the reason for one of the subsequent postponements, if not the first one.

  • Justin Brown: Your Honor, we tried -- and I submit, as an officer of the court, Your Honor, has granted a certification in which we attempted to get her here. For whatever reason, she evaded service in Oregon. We could not produce her.

  • Undated: At some point in 2011, at least or about a year before the PCR hearing, Asia telephoned Urick. Date unknown. Urick says Asia’s call alerted him to the fact that Adnan had filed for post conviction relief, and before Asia called him, he did not know about the PCR.

  • This is after Adnan’s PI had been unable to meet with Asia and told by the fiance to “go away.” So it wasn’t Urick who convinced Asia not to testify for Adnan. Her affidavit is incorrect, if not a lie.

  • Urick: She was concerned if she had to come out here. I explained to her, I was not her attorney. But I told her that she would have to be served. And if she was served, and if they made the proper arrangements, she would have to show up.

  • Urick’s testimony clarifies that Asia’s primary motivation for calling him was her fear of being forced to testify. Asia called Urick because she had already made up her mind not to testify, and was looking to avoid doing so.

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Second postponement.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

  • Adnan moves to disqualify Kathleen Murphy as counsel for the state.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

  • Hae Min Lee 31st birthday

Thursday, October 20, 2011

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Third postponement.

Monday, February 6, 2012

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Fourth postponement.

  • Adnan's motion to disqualify Kathleen Murphy is denied.

  • Murphy says she first spoke to Urick about testifying at the PCR in February 2012

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Fifth postponement.

March 21, 2012

  • Supreme Court Decisions [Lafler & Frye] re; Defense Attorney's obligation to seek plea deal

Monday, May 21, 2012

  • Adnan's 31st Birthday

Friday, June 15, 2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Sixth postponement.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

  • PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Seventh postponement.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

  • PCR: Evidentiary Hearing in Post-Conviction Appeal

  • Kevin Urick testifies:

(a) Cristina Gutierrez never approached him seeking a plea bargain.

(b) He never made an offer, and

(c) If he had been approached, there would have been a possibility of a negotiated disposition.

  • Rabia Chaudry

  • Shamim Rahman

  • Asia McClain is a no show. (Asia blames Urick for her failure to show: Urick convinced me into believing that I should not participate in any ongoing proceedings. Based on my conversation with Kevin Urick, the comments made by him and what he conveyed to me during that conversation, I determined that I wished to have no further involvement with the Syed defense team, at that time. But the phone call she’s referencing happened after she refused to talk to defense counsel and after her fiance told Adnan’s PI that Adnan got what he deserved.)

  • Rabia would later upload Kevin Urick's testimony only and claim she didn't have copies of her own testimony and Mrs. Rahman's testimony. Rabia and Mrs. Rahman's testimony courtesy of u/stop_saying_right

Monday, October 15, 2012

  • Hae Min Lee 32nd birthday

Thursday, October 25, 2012

  • PCR: Evidentiary Hearing in Post-Conviction Appeal

  • Adnan Syed

  • Margaret Meady

  • Rabia claimed she did not have this day when she posted Urick's testimony only.

  • Adnan Syed and Margaret Meady testimony courtesy of u/stop_saying_right

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

  • Adnan's 32nd Birthday

August 29, 2013

  • Rabia sets up offices in MD.

September, 2013

  • Rabia watches the documentary "West of Memphis." She looks up reporters who covered Gutierrez's disbarment, and finds Sarah Koenig. It would be another four months before a decision was announced. Rabia's original intent was that media attention could influence the judge's decision in the PCR.

October 15, 2013

  • Hae Min Lee 33rd birthday

Monday, December 30, 2013

  • Post Conviction Decision written by Justice Martin P. Welch.

Tuesday, January 6, 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

July 25, 2014

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Wedneday, October 15, 2014

  • Hae Min Lee 34th birthday

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Friday, November 14, 2014

  • State misses deadline to respond to Leave to Appeal

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

  • Asia contacts Adnan's defense team, after listening to the podcast

Wednesday, December 18, 2014

  • Final episode of Serial podcast drops

Thursday, December 19, 2014

  • Rabia launches the Adnan Syed Legal Defense fund on Launchgood.com

Undated between December 19, 2014 and January 2, 2015

Sunday, December 29, 2014

  • Susan Simpson posts the "previously unpublished" 2003 COSA Denial of Adnan's appeal. She tells her readers that she filed the paperwork necessary to obtain this document and that it just got water stained in her mail box while she was out of town. However, this looks "obtained" from Rabia's trunk full of water damaged documents.

Friday, January 3, 2015

  • Sarah Koenig emails Rabia back about returning Rabia's documents and tapes. Sarah doesn't respond to Rabia asking for the MPIA documents. Was she trying not to hand those over?

Tuesday, January 7, 2015

Saturday, January 10, 2015

  • Susan Simpson begins posting snippets of police files obtained via Sarah Koenig's MPIA request. Sarah Koenig never expected the documents from her MPIA request (and year long investigation) to be used by this blogger.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

  • Asia signs 2nd affidavit re; 2000 affidavit & 2012 conversation with Urick

  • 16th anniversary of Hae Min Lee's death

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

  • Asia’s Jan 13, 2015 statement is released to the press. Asia blames Urick for her failure to testify in the 2012 PCR hearing: Urick convinced me into believing that I should not participate in any ongoing proceedings. Based on my conversation with Kevin Urick, the comments made by him and what he conveyed to me during that conversation, I determined that I wished to have no further involvement with the Syed defense team, at that time. Asia’s lying. The phone call she’s referencing happened after she turned the defense team away, not before.

  • Adnan files Supplementary submission to post-conviction appeal, based on new Asia statement. Adnan claims that Urick discouraged Asia from testifying and that her testimony would have changed the outcome of the PCR.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Friday, February 6, 2015

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Thursday, March 19, 2015

  • Susan Simpson finds Don's 17 year old performance reviews in Sarah Koenig's MPIA request files. Susan uploads Don's private information, and posts it on her blog.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Sunday, March 28, 2015

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

  • Rabia announces that the funds raised from the launchgood web site will pay for the podcast she is doing with Susan Simpson and Colin Miller using Sarah Koenig’s MPIA as their source material. Is the "Adnan Syed Legal Defense Fund" paying Rabia, Colin and Susan in addition to the recording studios, and producing/editorial costs?

Monday, April 13, 2015

  • The first episode of the Podcast Undisclosed is available for download. This is the podcast uses Sarah Koenig's work and research to advocate for Adnan.

Thursday, Apr 30, 2015

  • Deadline for State of MD to respond to Adnan's appeal re; denial of PCR

  • The state misses this deadline

Monday, May 4, 2015

  • State misses deadline to respond to PCR for the second time

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

  • COSA remands to trial court to allow defense to move to re-open PCR.

  • COSA says that it has reviewed Adnan's March 23 brief, and the State's May 6 brief.

  • Instead of deferring the Asia alibi issue to the panel of judges set to hear arguments, Adnan is now allowed to request that the PCR be re-opened so Asia can testify.

  • The court wants Asia's 2015 affidavit to become part of the record, so they can consider it.

  • June 9 oral arguments postponed indefinitely.

  • Adnan has 45 days to file his motion to re-open the PCR.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

  • Adnan's 34th Birthday

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

  • Oral arguments scheduled. Postponed indefinitely, as of May 18.

  • The lawyers were meant to argue their side of the case, before a panel of 3 judges. There would have been no witnesses testifying -- only lawyers arguing based on what happened at the October 2012 PCR hearing.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Thursday, August 6, 2015

  • Judge Martin P. Welch is assigned to decide if the PCR should be reopened.

  • Welch was the judge at the October 2012 PCR hearing.

  • Welch originally denied the PCR motion in January of 2014, over a year after the hearings.

  • Even though Judge Welch is currently retired, assigning the previous judge is in accordance with court rules and practice.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Monday, August 24, 2015

  • Justin Brown files supplement re: Cell Tower evidence

  • Exhibit 1

  • per u/WritOfHabeasCorpus: This supplement is almost wholly devoid of substantive legal arguments and citations to controlling legal authority. It points to a long-disclosed document--to which both the defense and the prosecution had access--and claims that this document, which on its face is inadmissible hearsay to begin with, is the basis on which the original trial judge would've excluded all cell tower location evidence, without hearing experts on the matter. There are a lot of words here, but almost no substance, and only general citations to tangentially-relevant controlling precedent.

  • State may respond by moving to strike the supplement. Even the labeling of the document as a "supplement" is improper, because it is no way related to the grounds raised on the "motion" to reopen.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

  • State's original deadline for filing a response to the motion to re-open.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

  • State's new deadline for filing a response to the motion to re-open.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Thursday, October 16, 2015

  • Hae's 35th birthday

Saturday, October 18, 2015

Friday, November 6, 2015

  • Adnan is granted permission to reopen the PCR.

  • Decision by Judge Martin P. Welch. Motion granted is limited to:

  • Asia McClain’s January 13, 2015 affidavit, potential live testimony & relevant materials concerning Gutierrez’s failure to contact Asia.

  • Prosecutorial misconduct during post-condviction proceedings

  • Gutierrez’s failure to cross examine Waranowitz on the reliability of cell towers used to locate the cell phone.

  • Prosecutorial misconduct during trial.

Friday, November 20, 2015

  • Justin Brown and the State's Attorney's office deadline to contact the court to schedule a hearing

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

  • Judge Welch holds a status conference with attorneys in advance of his December 15 decision.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

  • Defense’s deadline to provide names of expert witnesses and areas of expertise.

Monday, December 28, 2015

  • Hearing dates changed to Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

  • Defense’s deadline to provide names of fact witnesses and related statements

  • State’s deadline to provide names of expert witnesses and areas of expertise

  • State's deadline to provide names of fact witnesses and related statements

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Friday, January 15, 2016

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Friday, February 5, 2016

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Saturday, February 7, 2016

Monday, February 8, 2016

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Monday, February 29, 2016

Saturday, March 5, 2016

  • Gala event for Susan, Rabia, Colin and Bob to meet fans. Flohr and Colbert will attend. Tickets are upwards of $125.00. To sit with Susan or Bob, you have to pay twice that.

Next Steps

  • Adnan's case goes back to COSA.

  • A ruling favorable to Adnan means the state becomes the appellant when the case goes back to COSA.

  • A ruling against Adnan means the case goes back to COSA, with Welch's new rulings as part of the record.

  • Per u/Baltlawyer: Whoever loses the PCR will appeal to COSA. Whoever loses before COSA can then petition for cert to the COA, which can grant or deny the petition. The COA is Maryland's highest appellate court (equivalent of Supreme Court for the USA).

Posted Feb 8, 2016, 7:42 AM UTC · edited

106
Loading comments…