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  Colbert had also contacted the legal advisor from the State Department, Harry Marshall, whom Wash had cited in making the argument that there was a “pattern” of Pakistani men killing their partners and then fleeing the country. Marshall reached out to Wash to correct her, and she subsequently wrote a letter of apology to the judge, stating that there was no such pattern. In fact, there was exactly one case in Chicago in which a Pakistani man was charged with murder. The victim was known to the defendant and an element of “treachery/deceit” was involved. Even Wash’s apology was deeply insulting. In essence she explained to the judge that because, in a murder case in another state a Pakistani defendant had used treachery and deceit, she assumed Adnan would as well. This is textbook biased or bigoted behavior.

  In any case, Wash’s correction and apology didn’t matter anymore. Adnan wasn’t getting bail, and no matter how many times the issue was raised in the future, it was denied. Ritz was right, Adnan wasn’t going home.

  * * *

  After the bail kerfuffle Colbert and Flohr realized that this case was going to require some major fire power, an aggressive attorney with much greater experience than they had. They advised Bilal Ahmed, who was acting as a liaison between the community, family, and attorneys, and then began searching for another attorney. One came to mind immediately, a legend in the criminal defense world—Cristina Gutierrez.

  Gutierrez was already involved peripherally in the case. She had been hired to represent two witnesses from the community who were called to testify at the grand jury proceedings: my brother Saad Chaudry and Bilal Ahmed.

  My parents were terrified, like many parents of Adnan’s friends. After hearing Wash’s arguments at the bail hearing, they were convinced the State was going to try to rope in as many of their young boys as possible.

  “Don’t go, just don’t go,” my mother said when Saad’s subpoena came.

  “He can’t do that, it’s against the law. He has to go, he has to have a lawyer, and then he’ll be just fine,” I said, trying to reassure both my parents and myself.

  Both Saad and Bilal testified between March 22 and April 7 but did so only after Gutierrez had attempted to quash the State’s subpoena calling them—a routine move by defense counsel. When that didn’t fly, she advised them that while they would have to testify, they should, between every question, reaffirm their privileges and confer with Gutierrez before answering. It resulted in testimony that, though lacking in substance, was high in drama and difficult to follow. It wouldn’t be the last time Gutierrez left a jury with a bad taste in their mouth.

  * * *

  Bilal Ahmed and Saad were both asked whether Adnan had confided in them about the murder.

  The prosecutor asked Bilal, “Did you ever have a conversation with Adnan Syed prior to January 13th about murdering Hay [sic] Min Lee, about his intentions to murder Hay Min Lee?”

  Bilal answered, “No, I didn’t.”

  Likewise, Saad was asked whether Adnan ever denied involvement in the crime, and Saad responded that Adnan indicated he had no idea who did it. The prosecutor challenged him, “So you’re saying that his response to your question of I have no idea who did this is the same as saying he denied any involvement in the crime?”

  Saad, who recalled being confused, said, “Yes.”

  Both not only maintained that Adnan had never indicated that he was in any way involved with Hae’s disappearance or murder, they also testified to how Adnan reacted to the news of her death and his arrest.

  “He was crying and he informed me … that she had died … he was upset and crying,” testified Ahmed.

  Ahmed’s testimony was much more substantive than Saad’s. He was questioned for days about his role at the mosque, his relationship as a mentor to Adnan, what Islam had to say about dating, sex, and marriage, and repeatedly, Adnan’s relationship with Hae and his involvement, if any, with the murder.

  While Ahmed didn’t provide anything that could be used against Adnan, he did mention something very important: on the evening of January 13, 1999, he specifically recalled seeing Adnan at the mosque. In fact, he looked over Adnan’s notes to help him prepare to lead prayers the following day.

  Suddenly, Ahmed posed a potential problem for the State—he could derail Jay’s story about where Adnan was the night Hae disappeared. The suspicion of the State extended to Adnan’s Muslim friends, though.

  This explains why, shortly thereafter, on April 13, 1999, the Baltimore City Police subpoenaed Bilal’s phone records. They were looking for some way to shut this guy down.

  Not all the grand jury testimony was made available to the defense. Other than the detectives, the only witness for the State, at least the only one disclosed, was Jennifer Pusateri. Jay Wilds was not called.

  On April 14, 1999, Adnan was indicted for the murder of Hae Min Lee.

  Adnan:

  We had visits once a week, and that’s what I looked forward to the most. Only two adults were allowed, so my mother would always come accompanied by either my father or older brother. The visiting room contained a u-shaped table, with clear plexiglass separating the inmates from the visitors. It was a non-contact visit, and we had to speak through a mesh grill. In the beginning of our first visit, my parents seemed very tense and upset. As we talked, however, they began to calm down. I told them about the things I had eaten, and about something funny I had read.

  As I saw their change in demeanor, I felt relieved. The thing that worried me the most was thinking about how hard this was on my family. How they must have been hurting, and the helplessness they were feeling. I came to understand that they were very concerned about my well-being; scared that perhaps I was experiencing some emotional and/or physical harm. I made a decision at that point, determining that no matter what happened regarding my case, I would do my best to remain positive when it came to my family. I would exercise and stay in good shape, so they would see me healthy when they would visit. And during every phone conversation, I would always try to have something positive to talk about. I realized that if I could not affect anything else, I would try to ensure that my parents had no reason to worry about my physical and mental health, because they would always see me in a good state of mind.

  It would require a good deal of effort, though. Some days were harder than others. During one attorney visit, my lawyer handed me an envelope, telling me it had arrived at my parent’s home the previous day. It was an acceptance letter from one of the colleges I had applied to. There was also my 18th birthday, which occurred about two and half months after my arrest. There was our high school commencement day, where I was scheduled to have graduated. And at the end of that summer, there was what would have been the first day of college. Every few weeks, it seemed that a moment would come where I would realize I had planned to be somewhere else.

  There was one day in particular. Several weeks after I was arrested, there was the Eid festival. It would normally be a time of joy & celebration in our household, but now it was a moment of incredible sadness. It was particularly difficult for Yusuf, as we would always make it especially fun for him, with presents, candy, cake, etc … I worried a great deal about how all of this was affecting him, as he was so young. My parents would refrain from telling me, but I constantly questioned my older brother about how Yusuf was doing. Finally, one day Tanveer broke down during a phone conversation and admitted to me that Yusuf was no longer attending school. He was being bullied by his classmates to the point where he would come home crying, begging not to be sent back to school the next day … To learn of what my little brother was experiencing brought about an immeasurable amount of sadness. It made the hardships of what I was experiencing pale in comparison, and there was a great deal of frustration as I felt helpless to do anything about it.

  * * *

  As Adnan waited in jail, his family and mosque friends would often visit him, but he hadn’t heard much from his classmates. He had no idea why or what was going on but thought it best, at the advice of co
unsel, not to initiate contact; for all he knew, that might make people uncomfortable. In addition, he could only make collect calls, expensive calls, and he didn’t want to burden or pressure people to take them. But he did hear from one student, someone he wasn’t even close friends with.

  Asia McClain.

  Asia was a beautiful girl who used to date one of Adnan’s friends, Justin Adger. Adnan knew her casually through Justin, but she wasn’t part of the Magnet Program so they weren’t close. Plus, she and Justin had broken up and she was dating someone else now, someone who didn’t go to Woodlawn.

  Sometime in the first few weeks of being locked up Adnan received two letters from Asia, back-to-back. The letters are dated March 1 and March 2, right after his arrest, but there is no record of when he actually received them. It might have taken up to a month or more, according to Flohr, for Adnan to receive them since he was moved a few times.

  Asia’s first letter describes visiting Adnan’s family on the night he was arrested, and details her recollection of seeing Adnan on the afternoon that Hae disappeared.

  The second letter reiterates her having seen him and discusses some of the school gossip about Adnan.

  Asia’s letters jogged Adnan’s memory. Until then he had simply recalled that Jay had his car that day and he had hung out at school until track practice at 3:30 p.m. But now he remembered seeing Asia, and the conversation they had had, and later teasing Justin about seeing her new boyfriend with her.

  These letters were vital. Adnan thought about contacting Asia but then decided it would be better if his attorney did so—he didn’t want to do anything that could be misconstrued, like talking to an important witness.

  At that point they were still trying to choose an attorney.

  Cristina Gutierrez came highly recommended by both Colbert and Flohr. After asking around, and then being represented by her at the grand jury, Bilal Ahmed agreed—Gutierrez would be an effective, aggressive, take-no-prisoners advocate.

  Gutierrez went to visit Adnan in prison on April 16, and on April 18 she was hired by his parents for the legal fee of $50,000.

  * * *

  Having overcome a relatively minor 1971 shoplifting conviction that created major issues in her admission to the bar, Cristina Gutierrez was licensed to practice law on October 26, 1982, three years after graduating from law school. By this time she was already a well-known Baltimore activist. In 1973 she had traveled to Cuba and joined the Venceremos Brigade, a group of young American activists who challenged U.S. policy toward Cuba by showing solidarity with Cuban laborers. Her fighting spirit clearly spilled over into her legal work.

  A Baltimore Sun article notes that she was considered one of the best attorneys in her office, trying more cases than anyone else and rarely taking a plea for clients. A colleague called her the most tenacious lawyer he’d ever seen and said, “You push her, you better be ready to kill.”

  After leaving the Public Defender’s office in 1986, she joined forces with a nationally known criminal defense attorney, Billy Murphy. Together they commandeered the most feared and aggressive criminal defense firm in Baltimore.

  Gutierrez litigated fiercely for her clients, getting acquittals in numerous high-profile cases, including a 1991 murder case in which the client had made incriminating remarks to the police. Her tenacity led to a victory before the Supreme Court in a 1990 landmark case, in which she became the first Hispanic American woman of record to argue a case before the highest court in the land. Her victory in this case, Maryland v. Craig, is still cited in evidence textbooks as setting the precedent for a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him.

  In January 1995 she parted ways with Murphy in a move that left the Baltimore legal community a bit stunned.

  A January 17, 1995 Baltimore Sun piece reported that “Flamboyant criminal defense lawyers William H. ‘Billy’ Murphy Jr. and M. Cristina Gutierrez have parted ways after years of sharing controversy and high-profile clients. The long-rumored professional split became official yesterday, when receptionists began answering the phone ‘Murphy and Associates’ at the partners’ Calvert Street office, and Ms. Gutierrez completed the task of moving into the downtown firm of Redmond, Burgin & Cruz, where she will have a limited affiliation. Ms. Gutierrez, a divorced mother of two, called the breakup ‘amicable’ and said that she was hoping to better control her workload and spend more time with her family.”

  The split was anything but planned, however, and Gutierrez later admits this to the court in an appeal case for her client John Merzbacher. Explaining why she failed to convey a plea deal to him, Gutierrez states “On January 15, without planning whatsoever, I was forced to move my law office, literally overnight. And that created a great burden on me. Also in January I was in the middle of hearings in front of Judge Ferris, an administrative law judge in Anne Arundel County in the case against Laurie Cook. Those hearings took well over 200 hours and had been started about the second week of December.”

  Looking back now, Murphy recalls that shortly after the split Gutierrez’s personality began to change “dramatically.”

  “She became really hostile towards people she had known for years,” says Murphy. She alienated colleagues and friends over the next few years, losing many of her allies. Many of them were aware that these changes were probably due to her failing health.

  “She was going through evidently very, very serious mental decline as a result of her numerous other illnesses. She was on dialysis, she had kidney problems, I think she had problems with diabetes, so these things evidently changed her mental state to such a degree that her ability to attend to her practice sharply declined … this was not the Cristina of old,” Murphy said in an interview with journalist and attorney Seema Iyer.

  In 1999, by the time she was hired to defend Adnan, the effects of her multiple illnesses had long impaired her work in ways that in many cases would not be discovered for a few more years. Unaware of this, the community placed Adnan’s life in her hands.

  * * *

  In the next two months, both the police and defense conducted a flurry of interviews.

  The day after the arrest, and the day of the first bail hearing, my brother Saad and Krista Meyers, both friends of Adnan’s, were interviewed by the BCPD. According to Saad, he was harassed and threatened by the detectives to tell them what he knew about the crime, or face being charged too. Saad wasn’t intimidated, he says; he was on the verge of telling them to “get the fuck out of here.”

  Krista was interviewed about Adnan and Hae’s relationship but little was gleaned by the police that could be used against Adnan, except for one thing: “Krista Myers stated that on 13 January 1999, 1st period Photography Adnan had a conversation with Hae Min Lee. Adnan was requesting a ride home from Lee.”

  This wasn’t the first time in the investigation that the police heard that Adnan had asked for a ride. In Officer Adcock’s very first interview with Adnan, the day Hae disappeared, Adnan told him he was supposed to get a ride from her but she got tired of waiting and left. But when Adnan was questioned by the police at home in front of his father, he said no, he did not ask for a ride at all.

  The ride issue cropped up yet again, though, when the police interviewed Becky Walker, a friend and classmate of both Hae and Adnan. Becky was interviewed by the State’s Attorney and detectives in April, when she also recalls that she had heard, but not witnessed, that Adnan had asked Hae for a ride after school to his car, but then at the end of the day she told him she wouldn’t be able to take him.

  Police notes from Becky’s April 9, 1999, interview state, “Heard about it at lunch. Hae said she could—there would be no problem. At end of school—I saw them. She said ‘Oh no, I can’t take you, I have something else to do.’ She didn’t say what else.”

  The problem was that Adnan completely denied the ride. But then, if a ride was part of his plan to kill Hae, it would be utterly nonsensical of him to ask for it repeatedly in front of others.


  The notes from the same April 9 interview say that Becky also said that “defendant always in victim’s car. Almost every day he would go to back (parking lot) and she would drive him around front so he could go to track practice.”

  Earlier, on March 26, Debbie had said to the police, “Um he would either be in the car after school when she went to bring the car around the front and go with her to bring the car around front. Sometimes he would go and he wouldn’t come back um, that’s only when er, after school at that time he would be in the car with her.”

  Whether or not he asked for a ride, at the end of the day, if Becky is to be believed, Hae told him no. And Aisha also told Krista Meyers that later in the day Hae had told Adnan that something came up, and she couldn’t give him the ride anyway.

  If a ride was part of Adnan’s premeditated plan to murder Hae, Jay Wilds and Jenn Pusateri certainly didn’t know about it during their initial interviews. Jay point-blank told the police “no” when asked if Adnan mentioned how he got in Hae’s car, and Jenn likewise said in her February 27 interview that Jay “didn’t know where her car was or how Adnar [sic] got to Best Buy or how um he got into Hae’s car, if he did it in Hae’s car or whether he did it in Hae’s car.”

  Between the time Adnan was arrested and April 29, detectives conducted nearly fifty interviews with Adnan’s friends and teachers at Woodlawn, friends outside of school (mosque friends and Nisha Tanna), and friends of Jay Wilds. They visited the school repeatedly, and assured the students and staff that they had the right guy, that there was solid evidence against Adnan.

  From Becky Walker’s journal after Adnan was arrested

  Asia mentions this in her second letter when she recalls Hope Schab interrupting a student conversation to say, “Don’t you think the police have considered everything, they wouldn’t just lock him up unless they had ‘REAL’ evidence.”

  The substance of nearly all the police interviews was to establish what kind of relationship Adnan and Hae had, what challenges with family and religion they faced, how he reacted when they broke up, and how he reacted when she was found dead.