Under federal law, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The court listens to both sides and allows witnesses to give their testimony. The thing that determines if the accused person will be proven guilty or innocent is their defense. Lawyers defend the accused in court and fight for their justice.
They can help interpret the law or simply it to language an ordinary person can understand. Sometimes someone might be declared guilty even with the best lawyers to defend them. This is what happened in the case of Adnan Syed.
What lawyers do
The work of a lawyer is very important in society. They have studied law and understand the law better than any ordinary citizen. In college, a lawyer spends 4 years learning an undergraduate degree and another 3 years in law school. They are required to study government, economics, history, and public speaking skills. Practicing lawyers are critical in cases that need a strong defense.
They make sure their clients get their legal rights during the trial and advise them on the next steps to take. Lawyers investigate cases based on existing law. They draw legal documents such as contracts, wills, and deeds. Without lawyers, it would be hard for many people to get justice. They defend any person in any type of case, no matter how complicated or simple it might seem to be.
An accused person remains innocent until proven guilty. However, the defense lawyer may lack enough evidence, and the judge gives the person a prison sentence. This is what happened with the Adnan Syed case in 2000. The Serial podcast of 2014 put doubts about the ruling. All the evidence gathered proved Adnan Syed was innocent. A lot of essays about Syed are available online. You can read the essay about why Adnan Syed is innocent on WritingBros free service. This free online service provides essay examples on different topics to help students get writing ideas and inspiration.
The example of Adnan Syed’s case
Adnan Syed was in high school when his ex-girlfriend went missing on January 13, 1999. A month later, her body was found half buried in a park. Investigations showed she was strangled before she died. The prime suspect was her boyfriend, Adnan Syed.
One year later, he was convicted of first-degree murder in February 2000. His sentence was life imprisonment plus another 30 years. To date, Adnan Syed has insisted he was innocent and never murdered Hae Min Lee.
His case ignited global attention in 2014 after Sarah Koenig, a journalist, investigated the case. Her investigations raised doubts about the case, and it was revived. A junior court vacated the case in 2016, but the higher court upheld the ruling made in 2000. The court denied him a retrial in 2019.
The court relied on witness testimony and not evidence
The court based its trial on the testimony of Wilds, who said he helped Syed bury Lee. Another witness was Jennifer Pusateri, who said Wilds had told him Syed had confessed to him about the murder. Wilds said Syed was angry that Lee had broken up their relationship.
Syed maintained innocence, but the court sentenced him. Since then, Wilds has given conflicting stories several times. According to evidence, Wilds must have been coached by the police.
Attorney Cristina Gutierrez failed to conduct a cross-examination
Syed’s lawyer in 2000 was Cristina Gutierrez. When his case was revived in 2016, his new lawyer was Justin Brown. He told the court that attorney Cristina didn’t cross-examine whether the location data for telephone calls received by the prosecution were reliable.
The lawyer claimed that the decision could have been different had the testimony of a third witness been listened to. Asia McClain had witnessed that he saw Syed at a library the same time he was accused of murdering Lee. New evidence was brought to court by journalists collecting new evidence in the “Serial” podcast.
Syed’s defense won in 2016, and the Baltimore judge vacated the conviction. This opened a new door for fresh trials, but special appeals by the prosecution made the case drag. The highest court in Maryland rejected the decision by the lower court in 2019. This denied Syed a fresh trial, but lawyers are still finding other viable options.
Conclusion
Lawyers play an important role in society. Their main work is to defend accused persons in court and ensure they get justice. They conduct investigations on cases touching their clients to gather concrete evidence. Lawyers prepare and certify legal documents such as deeds, wills, contracts, and agreements. If lawyers fail to conduct thorough investigations, their clients may lose a case. An example is the case of Adnan Syed, who was accused of murdering Hae Min Lee in 1999.
Author’s Bio
Helen Birk believes that the only way to enhance knowledge is through books and pursuing good educational courses. Her approach helps her experiment with her academic writing and come up with great essays and research papers that students fall in love with. She has a good fan following on social media and a high rating on freelance platforms.