By Faras Aamir
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Convicted murderer Adnan Syed smiled and waved to his family and friends as he left Baltimore Circuit Court Friday after the third day of hearings to determine if he will get a retrial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend.
The hearing’s big moment came when an expert witness for the defense testified that Syed’s 2000 murder trial may have had a different outcome had his attorney used a key alibi witness who claimed to have seen Syed at a library at the time that 18-year-old Hae Min Lee was murdered in January 1999.
David B. Irwin, a top Baltimore criminal lawyer, testified that the alibi witness, Asia McClain, could have provided testimony for Syed’s defense that “would have changed the ballgame” and possibly led to a “not guilty” verdict for the 35-year-old Baltimore man.
During his testimony, Irwin said he could not figure out why Syed’s 2000 defense lawyer, Christina Gutierrez, failed to use the alibi witness. Current defense attorney Justin Brown said it could have been because of Gutierrez’s declining health, adding that Gutierrez died a few years after the trial.
Irwin also refuted the prosecutor’s claim that McClain’s story was not believable because it was inconsistent. He said a highly consistent story is more likely to be fabricated.
Irwin noted that another reason to trust McClain is because she was aware of surveillance cameras in the library.
Prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah did not cross examine Irwin.
Syed is currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years for the murder of Lee, who was found strangled to death in February 1999 in Baltimore’s Leakin Park. The court agreed to Syed’s request for a retrial hearing after the “Serial” podcast in 2014 raised questions about the investigation and subsequent conviction.
Syed’s family was in the courtroom Friday along with “Serial” podcast host Sarah Koenig and “Truth & Justice” host Bob Ruff.
“There is a lot of momentum in our favor,” said Syed’s younger brother, Yusuf. “The witnesses are genuine and if this was in front of a jury it would be more than OK.”
Michelle Hamiel, a librarian from the Woodlawn Public Library who testified for the defense at the hearing Friday, said there would have been surveillance cameras inside the library in 1999 where McClain claimed to have seen Syed. However, she said because the footage is erased every 30 days, there was no way to retrieve recordings from the day Syed was allegedly at the library.
Hamiel was brought out as a witness based on her making that original claim of the surveillance cameras in the “Serial” podcast.
In addition to the possible alibi witness, Brown argued that the state’s use of Syed’s cell phone records during the 2000 trial was flawed and should not have been considered evidence that Syed was in Leakin Park during the time of his ex-girlfriend’s murder.
The defense pointed out that Syed’s phone carrier, AT&T, said in a fax cover sheet that “incoming calls will not be considered reliable information for location.”
Brown also said the phone records were not reliable because it was his understanding that incoming calls could be off by as much as an hour.
Brown argument was designed to counter the prosecutor’s expert source for cellular telephone tower analysis, FBI Special Agent Chad Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald testified Friday that the original analysis of Syed’s cell phone transmission – which was conducted by then-AT&T radio frequency engineer Abraham Waranowitz – was done well and accurately placed Syed in the park at the time of the murder.
During cross examination, however, Brown got Fitzgerald to admit that there was an error in Waranowitz’s call record sheet. Waranowitz may have failed to read the instructions on the fax cover sheet since he mixed up an incoming call for a voicemail, Brown said.
Brown also suggested that Vignarajah had formed Fitzgerald’s opinion in his testimony before Fitzgerald had even looked at the call records.
Brown’s cross-examination of Fitzgerald lasted longer than Vignarajah’s direct examination.
The judge had to ultimately pause the case for the day during that segment to further proceed the following week.