美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Serial' Subject Adnan Syed Deserves A New Trial, Appeals Court Rules

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

OK. If you listen to the hit podcast "Serial¹," you know the name Adnan Syed. The podcast was about his murder conviction in 2000. But an appeals court in Maryland has backed a decision that vacated his conviction, and Syed might be getting a new trial. NPR's Colin Dwyer has the story.

COLIN DWYER, BYLINE²: Adnan Syed has spent the better part of two decades behind bars for killing³ his high school ex-girlfriend in 1999. He's there serving a life sentence for the crime. But even as he stayed put in custody⁴, he has followed a long and winding⁵ road through Maryland's legal system. And as the court hearings piled up, so did some apparent loose threads in his case, some of which concerned the performance of his lawyer at the time. For one thing, that lawyer did not bring forth⁶ a key witness who claimed to have seen Syed at the school's library at the time of the killing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SARAH KOENIG: All I can say is I think something went wrong with this case, and I think that's worth reporting.

DWYER: That's podcast host Sarah Koenig talking to NPR back in 2014, right around the time that she and her investigative team devoted⁷ the entire first season of "Serial" to Syed's story. The show won a Peabody Award and became one of the most-popular podcasts of all time. And within two years, a Baltimore judge decided⁸ Syed's story was also worth reconsidering in court. He found that Syed had been poorly served by his original counsel - so poorly, in fact, that Syed deserved another hearing. Now, after a 2-1 ruling, Maryland's second-highest court has backed that decision. And Syed's new lawyer, C. Justin Brown, says they are ready for a new trial.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

C. JUSTIN BROWN: Let's take it to a jury in Baltimore City and let them decide whether Adnan Syed is guilty or innocent.

DWYER: He says "Serial" helped boost the intensity⁹ of Syed's legal campaign. The show's widespread popularity even shook the trees, in Brown's words, so that they could get in contact with that alibi¹⁰ witness, Asia McClain Chapman, and get her testimony¹¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BROWN: But, you know, this process has taken so long already. It's time to make some final resolution. And we hope that the state will see it the same way that we do.

DWYER: And that is still an open question. State prosecutors¹² still have time to decide whether to appeal this ruling to Maryland's highest court. For now, the state attorney general's office says it is reviewing the ruling to determine its next steps. Colin Dwyer, NPR News.

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1 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

10 alibi   

n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口

参考例句：

• Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
• The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。

11 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

12 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。