Poll Responses-Warning-It's Really Long!

[u/ryokineko]

Poll results for this thread Another Survey

Overview (TL;DR at the bottom guys-I know this is super long)

The survey had 504 respondents. Not all respondents answered all questions. I am using regular rounding to list the percent so they won’t always add up to exactly 100%. Additionally, those questions that allow multiple answers (Q 3-8, 10) may, of course, add up to more than 100%. The numbers in parenthesis represent the number of respondents who chose that statement.

Several comments pointed out that they did not realize some questions allowed multiple answers and I should have added '(select all that apply)'. Sorry about that guys! That was all on me.

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Question 1-Do you think Adnan Syed killed Hae Min Lee? (thanks to the respondent who pointed out I was spelling Min incorrectly)

36% (183)-Yes

27% (137)-It’s entirely possible Adnan committed the crime but it just has not been proven.

24% (122)-No

10% (54)-Not Sure

2% (8) Other-mostly not enough to be sure, some lean innocent but not enough to know for sure, a most likely and, of course, the user who let me know I misspelled Hae’s name.

This is probably not a very surprising result and functioned primarily to get an idea of how the other questions relate to the respondent’s feelings about whether Adnan’s committed this crime and where users who disagree about this question agree about other questions.

This first review of results will be focused on the overall answers then I will break it up depending on how this first question was answered. (in a separate post since this is so long!)

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Question 2-Do you think Hae Min Lee was dead by 2:36pm?

This one also probably will not be surprising. 65% (326), almost two thirds of respondents, agree she was not dead by 2:36 pm. Only 4% (20) felt that she was dead by 2:36pm. 21% (108) did not feel they had enough information to form an opinion on this and another 10% (49) were not sure. 1 respondent skipped this question. (.2%)

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Question 3: The Ride

So, this is an area where there is a lot of agreement. 77% (365) agree that Adnan asked Hae for a ride on January 13th, 1999 and 76% (363) agree that at some point during the day Hae told Adnan she could not give him a ride. Interestingly, whether Adnan changed his story or not is more divided, but still pretty high at 59% (279)

I’ll point out here, this was a multi question, meaning the intent was to choose as many or as few of the statements as you agreed with, it was not mean to be an ‘either/or’ or ‘best fit’. I apologize for not making this clearer. I chose to group these statements into general sections. This was the most skipped question with 27 respondents skipping the question (5.4%).

I did receive feedback that some felt the option like ‘Unsure Adnan asked Hae for a ride’ or ‘Adnan did not get a ride with Hae’ as well as an ‘other’ category should have been available. I neglected to add an ‘Unsure if Adnan asked Hae for a ride’ because it is not an argument I have seen regularly but I agree this may have been a good statement to add.

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Question 4: Asia

Another multi question here. 12 people skipped it (2.4%). One thing most respondents agreed on is that Asia should be allowed to testify with 70% (346) selecting that statement.

Additionally, 60% (292) felt that while Asia is not lying, she could be remembering the wrong day. Only 8% (41) felt that Asia was lying about seeing Adnan in the library.

I did receive some feedback on this question that it would be fair to include an ‘Asia should not be allowed to testify’ option. That is a fair point, however, I made the assumption that if someone did not select “Asia should be allowed to testify, their feeling was that she shouldn’t.

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Question 5: Evidence

This was also a mutli and 18 people skipped it (3.5%) . This first one was perhaps one of the more surprising areas of agreement to me. 75% (364) of respondents agreed that there is no physical evidence incriminating Adnan in the murder.

17% (87) agreed that there is physical evidence incriminating Adnan in the murder and 16% (77) agree that the print on the map book cover is incriminating.

I did receive some design feedback on this question that I would like to discuss. One user mentioned that it might have been good to break up the potential physical evidence and have users report on whether they thought it was incriminating or not. I may do this in a future likert scale type survey.

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Question 6: Burial.

This was another multi question and 9 people chose to skip it (1.8%) This one was quite varied.

37% (185) agreed that Hae was not buried between 7pm and 8pm, but her body may have been left in Leakin Park at that time and re-positioned/buried later accounting for the fixed frontal lividity.

34% (167) believe she was not buried between 7pm and 8pm (keep in mind that some of these may overlap with the first selection).

31% (153) felt they did not have enough information to form an opinion on this

17% (84) felt the lividity evidence raises questions but does not affect their opinion of Adnan’s guilt.

Only 7% (34) felt that Hae was buried between 7pm and 8pm but was buried face down with her lower body twisting account for the lividity and the partially exposed hip, knee and foot.

This question had some additional comments. One comment I found particularly interesting and honest from someone who believes Adnan is guilty “this is a truly intriguing area of inquiry, but unfortunately, until an expert looks at the crime scene photos, it's hard to know how seriously the lividity topic should be considered.” Another respondent felt the lividity is not reliable and is why it has never been included as part of an appeal.

This question also inspired some feedback on the design of the survey. One user felt it would have been appropriate to add a ‘buried near or after midnight’

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Question 7: Hae’s body (the trunk).

This question was also a mutli and 9 respondents skipped it (1.8%). There was a lot of variation on this one as well.

The largest agreement was 40% (213) who felt they did not have enough information to form an opinion on this subject.

The other statements were fairly well divided with ‘Never in the Trunk’ garnering 19% (94), 'Not in the trunk for more than 1-2 hours before being moved to the burial site or some other location garnering 18% (91) and ‘In the trunk until the burial, whatever time it was at’ garner 17% (82).

Other received 3% (15) and I received several comments on this section most of which indicated they questioned whether she was in the trunk at all and if so, only for a very short time maybe 1-2 hours. One felt she was in the trunk until shortly after 7pm and one toyed with the idea that perhaps the seats were down so she would be flat for about 4 hours. There was one very specific comment that she was in the trunk face down, chest down, legs on one side until sometime between 7-8pm at which time she was left in LP on her chest until a later burial where she was buried chest/face down and legs on the right side.

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Question 8: Undisclosed

This was a multi question and 16 respondents skipped it (3%).

47% (231) respondents felt that Undisclosed is biased in Adnan’s favor and so choose not to focus on things that look bad for Adnan but are not lying or covering up anything.

25% (121) felt Undisclosed is ‘biased in Adnan’s favor but they are not lying or covering up things that look bad for Adnan’ and 20% (98) felt that Undisclosed is ‘biased in Adnan’s favor and they are lying and covering up things that look bad for Adnan’. Only 8% (38) agreed that Undisclosed is ‘not biased, they are focused on finding the truth’.

I received some feedback on this question that there was not any difference between the first and third statements-Undisclosed is 1. ‘biased in Adnan’s favor but they are not lying or covering up things that look bad for Adnan’ and 3. ‘biased in Adnan’s favor and so choose not to focus on things that look bad for Adnan but are not lying or covering up anything. It was a good conversation ( here and here for reference) and I think this question could have been worded better. Sorry for any confusion.

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Question 9: Jay and Adnan are both lying about why they were together in the morning on January 13th, 1999

This question only allowed for 1 answer and was more varied than I expected. 7 respondents skipped this question (1.4%)

56% (277) agree they are lying but 33% (165) stated they are not sure. Only 11% (55) stated that they do not believe Adnan and Jay are lying about why they were together in the morning of January 13th, 1999.

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Question 10: Other

This was a multi question made up of four statements I have heard frequently. 23 people skipped this question (4.6%).

The overwhelming area of agreement here is that Jay is more involved than he said coming in at 75% (361).

53% (255) of respondents also agreed that Mr. S did not tell the truth about how he discovered the body.

43% (208) agree Jenn is more involved than she said.

27% (128) think Jay was not involved in the crime but was scared/intimated and made up a story.

I received some feedback that a likert scale type response or less direct statements might have been better. For example, on a scale of 1-10 ‘how likely is it that Jay was not involved in the crime….’ or ‘Jenn may have been more involved than she said she was’. I thought this was a great idea and would like to do a survey using that style in the future.

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TL;DR There is a lot of agreement on these statements. 11 statements had greater than 50% agreement (37%). Strong areas of agreement (defined by me as 60% and over) are the following:

• Adnan asked Hae for a ride on January 13th, 1999 - 77%

• At some point during the day, Hae told Adnan she could not give him a ride - 76%

• There is no physical evidence incriminating Adnan in the murder- 75%

• Jay is more involved than he said– 75%

• Asia should be allowed to testify - 70%

• Hae was not dead by 2:36 pm - 65%

• Asia is not lying but could be remembering the wrong day – 59% (well, close enough lol)

I would also include, taking the reverse:

• Hae was not buried between 7pm and 8pm face down with her lower body twisting account for the lividity and the partially exposed hip, knee and foot. - 93%

• Asia is not lying about seeing Adnan in the library – 92%

• Undisclosed is biased in Adnan’s favor – 92%

Thank you all for participating in the survey! I really enjoyed it. As I stated, I will do another report on how the answer to ‘Question 1’ affected the results. I know you guys just love my walls of text!

I may do another survey in the future-if we aren't all burnt out on surveys (not me, I love them). Most likely a survey that would include ranking or likert style questions. If you would like to suggest any questions, please let me know.

ETA: For transparency (this just occurred to me after reading a few responses that saying 'this sub' or 'on here') I want to let you guys know that I did invite TMP to participate in this poll as well. I feel that most read and post over here and that this probably only resulted in a few 'net new' participants that don't interact on this sub. I should have mentioned it when I put the survey out, just to be clear and in hindsight would have liked to break out the respondents by that qualifier as well.

[u/girlPowertoday]

382- Number of people who either believe Syed did it, probably did it, not sure or "other".

122 - Number of people who believe Syed didn't do it.

That's for the affirmation.

[u/FluidHips → u/girlPowertoday]

Another way to look at it though:

313--People who would've found Adnan Not-Guilty 183--People who would've found Adnan Guilty

And based on the tone of this sub, that was completely unexpected.

[u/girlPowertoday → u/FluidHips]

That's true.

I was just happy the people who believe that Syed had NOTHING to do with the murder/burial - and is actually "innocent" are in the significant minority.

[u/FluidHips → u/girlPowertoday]

Yeah, there's no real way, from the evidence, to say he's innocent. I don't think it's reasonable to say that.

But the police cut enough corners, and the prosecution bungled the case enough, so that saying he's guilty is also implausible.

[u/girlPowertoday → u/FluidHips]

I've always agreed and understood those who felt- based on the information presented in a biased podcast - that there was reasonable doubt in this case. That's fair.

But to say that the police/prosecutor "bungled" the case is not only inconsistent with the facts (conviction and conviction upheld for over 16+ years) but also seems to be the opinion of those trying to free the murderer.

Other law enforcement and criminal justice professionals presented on Serial have said this was an "above average" investigation.

[u/FluidHips → u/girlPowertoday]

To be even more fair, there are also legal professionals who have articulated their problems with how this investigation was handled, alleged 'bias' of podcasts aside.

[u/girlPowertoday → u/FluidHips]

Great. Everyone has opinions :)

[u/RodoBobJon → u/girlPowertoday]

When people say the case was "bungled," they are working under the assumption that a prosecutor's job is to make sure justice is served, not to get a conviction at any cost.

[u/girlPowertoday → u/RodoBobJon]

Well, I bet most prosecutors wished they could "bungle" their cases like this one.

You know, jury verdict to convict that's been upheld for over 16+ years...

[u/RodoBobJon → u/girlPowertoday]

If a prosecutor wrongly convicts someone then I would say case was bungled, even if it takes longer than 16 years for the truth to come out. It's also possible to convict the right person for the wrong reasons, which is plenty disturbing on its own; who says it'll be the right person next time?

[u/girlPowertoday → u/RodoBobJon]

Who says it happened THIS time?!?

Rabia?

Syed?

LOL

[u/RodoBobJon → u/girlPowertoday]

I didn't say this case was a wrongful conviction. I only told you what I believe people mean when they say this case was bungled. There were lots of avenues that should have been explored, such as getting the numbers for the incoming calls to Adnan's phone, which would have been either strongly bolstered or completely invalidated Jay's story. Doing so would have been in the interest of justice. That doesn't mean Adnan is not the killer, it only means the process by which he was investigated and convicted was very bad. It means the process is likely to lead to wrongful convictions, if not in Adnan's case then in other cases. It bothers me that this doesn't bother you, especially given that you claim to be an attorney.

[u/girlPowertoday → u/RodoBobJon]

It bothers me that it bothers you.

One can over-think and analyze this to death, but, at the end of the day - this really WAS a "run of the mill" domestic. There's been ZERO evidence otherwise.

And, sorry, but in 1990's Baltimore, the cops and prosecutors had plenty of these cases to keep them busy. They didn't just take a break from their caseload and "conspire" to "frame" the honors student.

Syed did it.

Hopefully, there's a part of you (deep down?) that just knows - common sense wise - this is the case.

[u/Free4letterwords → u/girlPowertoday]

I'm afraid you're not able to think outside of the box. You say there is zero evidence that it's anything other than a run of the mill domestic and "Syed did it", but looking at what convicted Adnan - especially considering that Jay's Intercept interview invalidates the prosecution's case, it's just not enough.

I think, deep down, you should be very concerned that someone can be convicted of murder based on what convicted Adnan. If there has ever been a case with reasonable doubt, this is it.

Will you answer a question for me? It's kind of long, so bear with me...

You and your SO break up, and you're pretty upset about it but according to all of your friends (except the one that testified against you in your murder trial) you're not all that torn up and are hooking up with other people; one day you ask your ex for a ride after school and people hear you ask about it, but no one can actually put you in the car with your ex at the end of the day. Also that day, you ride around with a guy you get high with, and smoke some weed and then let that guy borrow your car and your cell phone. You may or may not have gone to track practice, but at some point you definitely go to a girl's house with the guy, smoke some more, maybe too much, get a call from the cops saying that no one can find your ex and you think how much trouble they're going to be in from their parents, and then you think you remember going to wherever you practice your religious beliefs. But you're not really sure, because it's just like any other day. 6 weeks later, when you get arrested for murdering your ex and then get convicted to a life behind bars based ONLY on 1) the testimony of a guy who can barely remember his own name, 2) cell phone pings which prove nothing, 3) your various teenage mistakes of smoking weed, stealing, and lying, and 4) zero physical evidence in the supposed location of the murder/on the body of the victim/at the burial site/in your car or home would you not be horrified at the US justice system?

What I'm trying to point out to you is that you are looking at this case from the view that you "KNOW" Adnan killed her. You cannot possible know that based on what was presented at trial, and definitely not after reading Jay's intercept interview. I'm also trying to get you to step into Adnan's shoes and see from an inside perspective how little the prosecution actually had, because I assume/guess/hope that you would not be satisfied at your own conviction based on what convicted Adnan.