The Alibi (3)
Yes, he hung out with Jay on the 13th, both during and after school. But he doesn't remember exactly where they went, or what they did, or what time it was. Here's what he's got.
January 13 unfolded like any other day, a normal, mostly uneventful day. He says there are a couple of things that do stand out, though. That day was Stephanie's birthday. Stephanie was one of Adnan's best friends and also Jay's girlfriend.
Adnan had gotten Stephanie a birthday present, a stuffed reindeer, which he'd given to her in second period, Miss Efron's English class.
Adnan Syed And it occurred to me that day that I was going to ask her boyfriend, Jay, did he get her a gift? So sometime during the day before noon--
Sarah Koenig Wait, Adnan, just hold up for a second. Why did you care whether Jay got Stephanie a present? What's it to you?
Adnan Syed Well, Stephanie was a very close friend of mine, as I mentioned. And I just kind of wanted to make sure that she also got a gift from him, you know? She had mentioned to me that she was looking forward to getting a gift from him. She mentioned that she was really happy to get the gift that I gave her.
So as I would with any friend, I just kind of went to check on that. I kind of had a feeling that maybe he didn't get her a gift. And I had free periods during school. So it was not abnormal for me to leave school to go do something and then come back.
So I went to his house. And I asked him, did you happen to get a present for Stephanie? He said no. So I said, if you want to, you can drop me back off to school. You can borrow my car. And you can go to the mall and get her a gift or whatever. Then just come pick me up after track practice that day.
Sarah Koenig So then what happened?
Adnan Syed Well, then when school was over, I would have went to the library. I know that I usually check-- well, I didn't usually check. But if I was going to check my email, it would be using the library computer. You know, sometimes I would go there because track practice didn't start until around maybe 3 o'clock or 3:30-ish.
So it didn't start right after school. So there was a period of time of almost like an hour, an hour and some change, that was kind of free time.
Sarah Koenig This hour and change after school, this is the crucial window. This is the time when the state says Hae was killed. School got out at 2:15. People remember seeing her after her last class heading to her car.
According to Jay's story and the cellphone records, she was dead by 2:36 PM. So sometime in those 21 minutes, between 2:15 and 2:36, she was strangled. So that's obviously the same window Adnan needed to account for. To quote Adnan, "My case lived and died in those 21 minutes." So where does Adnan say he was? Well, maybe the library, but nobody testified to that at trial. Then to track practice-- he does remember being at track one day when it was snowing, which might have been that day. The coach testified that Adnan probably was there, but he can't be 100% sure because, as a rule, he didn't take attendance. After school is when his memories become nonspecific. Usually we did this, or we probably would have done that.
Adnan Syed Probably track practice would have ended like, I'd say, 4:30.
Sarah Koenig Jay did come to pick up Adnan after track. That part Adnan seems to more or less remember. It was Ramadan, so Adnan would have been fasting all day and hungry.
Adnan Syed It probably would've been close to time for me to break fast. He would have came to pick me up, and we would have went to go get something to eat. And then we would have smoked some weed after, right? And then I would have had to have been home around 7, 8 o'clock, right?
Or usually like the last 10 nights of Ramadan, my father would spend the night at the mosque. So a lot of times I would take him food. I think my mother would make food for him, and I would take it usually before 8 o'clock. Because that's the last evening prayer.
Sarah Koenig Did you ever leave the campus before the end of track practice? Did you ever--
Adnan Syed No.
Sarah Koenig OK.
Adnan Syed No.
Sarah Koenig You're sure?
Adnan Syed I want to say that I'm 99% sure.
Sarah Koenig OK.
Adnan Syed The reason why I can't say 100 is because-- I mean, I do kind of understand that it comes across as-- I don't know if it does or doesn't. But it seems like I remember things that are beneficial to me, but things that aren't beneficial to me I can't remember. It's just that I don't really know what to say beyond the fact that a lot of the day that I do remember, it's bits and pieces that comes from what other people have said that they remember, right? And it kind of jogs my memory.
Yeah. I don't really know what to say. And I completely understand how that comes across. I mean, the only thing I can say is, man, it was just a normal day to me. There was absolutely nothing abnormal about that day.
Sarah Koenig Adnan knows better than anyone how unhelpful this all is, how problematic. Because it plays both ways. If he's innocent, right, it's any other day. Of course he doesn't remember.
But you can also read it as, how convenient. He doesn't remember the day. So no one can fact check him, or poke holes in his story. Because he has no story.
Adnan Syed I definitely understand that someone could look at this and say, oh, man, he must be lying. It's so coincidental that he doesn't remember what he did this particular time. I mean, I completely understand that, and I get that. Like I said, that's the hardest thing I've dealt with for these past 15 years.
There's nothing tangible I can do to remember that day. There's nothing I can do to make me remember. I've pored through the transcripts. I've looked through the telephone records. What else can I do?
There's nothing I can do. So perhaps I'll never be able to explain it. And it is what it is. If someone believes me or not, you know, I have no control over it.
Sarah Koenig Adnan's trial was a long ordeal. Jay was on the stand for something like five days. A cellphone expert testified for two days, a lifetime when you're discussing cell tower technology. There were absences, and some bad weather closed the courts. So it was six weeks before both sides rested.
But the jury? They moved like lightning. After just a few hours, including a lunch break, they convicted Adnan of first-degree murder. Rabia Chaudry was there in the courtroom when it happened. She says his mother was crying. She was crying.
Rabia hadn't sat through the whole trial. So the first time she fully understood that the case came down to those 21 minutes was during closing arguments, when the prosecutor brought out a dummy's head and strangled it in front of the jury. That evening, after the verdict, Rabia went to see Adnan in lockup.
Rabia And so I went to go see him. So this is the same day he's been convicted. And this is the first time I actually had a conversation with him about, what's going on? And I was like, you know, Adnan, the whole thing's turning on these 20, 25 minutes. Where were you?
And he's like, she disappeared in January, you know? In March, you're asking me, where were you after school for 20 minutes on a specific day? All the days are the same to me, you know?
Sarah Koenig But then he mentions that there was this one girl, an alibi girl.
Rabia He's like, the only thing I could offer is I remember there's a girl I go to school with. Her name's Asia McClain. He's like, right after I got arrested, she wrote me a couple of letters. And she said she also went to see my family. And she said she specifically remembers me being at the library, at the public library, right after school.
Sarah Koenig The Woodlawn public library is just across the parking lot from Woodlawn High School. It's not technically part of the campus, but it might as well be.
Rabia He said, I gave those letters to Christina Gutierrez, to my attorney. He's like, but apparently it didn't really check out. So he's like, I don't know. So they're not helpful to us. So this was the first time I heard of this girl Asia McClain. I had never heard of her before. Nobody had mentioned her before.
Sarah Koenig Were you floored, like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? I mean, like--
Rabia I wasn't floored at the time. Because I thought, if this girl wrote and the attorney-- what criminal defense attorney's not going to check out a potential alibi? So I asked him, I said, do you have a copy of those letters? He said, yeah, I have a copy. I said, send me a copy.
Sarah Koenig Adnan sends the letters to Rabia, and here's what she reads. The first letter, the first of two, is dated March 1, 1999. That is one day after Adnan was arrested. At the top of the letter, she notes, "I just came from your house an hour ago. Dear Adnan-- I hope I spelled it right. I'm not sure if you remember talking to me in the library on January 13, but I remember chatting with you." She says, quote, "we aren't really close friends, but I want you to look into my eyes and tell me of your innocence. If I ever find otherwise, I will hunt you down and whip your ass. OK, friend? At the bottom she added a little note.
My boyfriend and his best friend remember seeing you there, too. That's letter number one. Then the next day, on March 2, she writes Adnan another letter. This one's typed. It's chattier. She talks about the gossip at school, the bits and pieces of evidence about the crime that are circulating, what the students are saying, what the teachers are saying, about her visit to his house.
Quote,
Your brothers are nice. I don't think I met your mother. I think I met your dad. Does he have a big gray beard? They gave me and Justin soda and cake. There was a whole bunch of people at your house. I didn't know who they were.
I also didn't know that Muslims take their shoes off in the house. Thank God they didn't make me take mine off. My stinky feet probably would have knocked everyone out cold. Why haven't you told anyone about talking to me in the library? she asks him.
Did you think it was unimportant? You didn't think that I would remember? Or did you just totally forget yourself? Adnan says now that he does in fact remember seeing Asia in the library. The thing he remembers about it is so high school. Asia used to go out with Adnan's friend Justin. And Justin had confided that Asia was a "proper young lady." In other words, Justin wasn't getting any.
So Adnan remembers thinking he would now get to tease Justin about seeing Asia with her new boyfriend. Maybe the new guy was getting lucky, ha, ha.
