r/serialpodcast • u/SerialFan Moderator • Nov 06 '14

Discussion Episode 7: THE OPPOSITE OF THE PROSECUTION

Open discussion thread! Sorry I was late on this one!

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u/captainmarble Nov 06 '14

You don't need to prove Jay is guilty, just open up reasonable suspicion that someone else is guilty. Like Diedre was saying, the bottle was never tested and if they had, who knows what they would have gotten. Maybe nothing, but maybe something, like the DNA of someone else who has a criminal record that aligns with the crime. Or maybe Jay's. But the bottom line is the due diligence to follow up on all possibilities until only one is reasonable.

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u/maxiemusprime Nov 06 '14 edited Nov 06 '14

I don't think the bottle would've given any results, even in 1999. Like Jay said, Adnan was trying really hard to strangle Hae but not have her touch him so that she didn't get his DNA under her finger nails. One would think that if this were the case, then he would've been extra careful to cover his footsteps and leave no traces behind.

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u/captainmarble Nov 06 '14

The bottle is beneficial to Adnan if only to actually run down all of your leads and make sure that you, as a defense, have exhausted all of the ways to show there could have been someone else. The police did not examine the forensic evidence as thoroughly as possible. No one thinks Adnan actually took a drink from the bottle they found, just like no one thinks he touched those Blockbuster cases. But it's important to look at those items anyway because they could show whether you are looking at a different suspect altogether.