My First Take on the Decision to Withdraw the Motion to Vacate in the Adnan Syed Case

Yesterday, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates moved to withdraw the Motion to Vacate in the Adnan Syed case. There are two parts of the motion to withdraw: (1) the question of whether there was a Brady violation; and (2) the question of the overall sufficiency of the evidence. I’m sure there will be a lot of litigation and new revelations on the Brady violation and other possible Constitutional issues, so I’m going to let that process play out a bit more before commenting on that front. On the other hand, there are two pretty serious questions I have about the sufficiency section, and I hope that Ivan Bates reconsiders his decision on this side of the equation as the appeals process plays out (albeit not in the way we initially expected).

In 2018, while initially running for Baltimore City State’s Attorney, Ivan Bates spoke with Amelia McDonnell-Parry for Rolling Stone. At the time, it was noted that Bates “didn’t listen to Serial, but he’s familiar with the state’s case against Syed as well as the evidence that’s been contested and introduced during the post-conviction process.” This was then followed by Bates’s feelings about Jay Wilds:

Thereafter, Bates addressed the relative credibility of Jay Wilds and alibi witness Asia McClain:

Now, fast forward to the motion to withdraw the Motion to Vacate. In this motion, Bates now says, “[i]n contrast with the many and varied ways that the State corroborated Mr. Wilds’ account, the [Syed Review Team] failed to identify any actual evidence that Mr. Wilds testified falsely – although it is true, and was well known to the parties at trial, that Mr. Wilds told various lies to the police during the murder investigation.”

But wait, back in 2018, Bates said he was familiar with the evidence introduced in the post-conviction process, including the Intercept interview, and found that the State had “nonexistent” evidence because its star witness “pretty much…admitted that he lied” and “is absolutely terrible and has a number of credibility issues.” Specifically, Bates said that Jay Wilds has “been impeached,” a legal term of art relating to the undermining of the credibility of his testimony at trial. How does that then morph into concluding the the Review Team “failed to identify any actual evidence that Mr. Wilds testified falsely”? That doesn’t track given what Bates himself said about believing that Wilds had been impeached and basically admitted to lying on the witness stand.

On the other hand, the only reference to alibi witness Asia McClain in the motion to withdraw the Motion to Vacate is a brief mention in connection with whether trial prosecutor Kevin Urick committed misconduct in connection with her. How is there no mention of Asia McClain in the sufficiency section? In the Rolling Stone piece, Bates called Asia McClain’s alibi testimony “huge” and found her to be “very believable” because she doesn’t have the same credibility issues as the State’s star witness. How does an alibi witness go from being “huge” and “very believable” to not even being mentioned in assessing the sufficiency of the evidence?

Today, Ivan Bates supported commuting Adnan’s sentence to time served under the Juvenile Restoration Act, which is a solid start. Now, I hope he will reflect back on what he said to Baltimore voters back in 2018. While being “familiar with the state’s case against Syed as well as the evidence that’s been contested and introduced during the post-conviction process,” Bates concluded that (1) there was “nonexistent” evidence against Adnan; (2) the State’s key witness had beed impeached and pretty much admitted to lying at trial; and (3) Adnan’s alibi witness was “huge,” “very believable,” and didn’t have the credibility issues of the State’s key witness. All three of these conclusions are fully supported by the record, as Bates himself recognized. As the appeals in this case continue, Bates will have many more chances to restate his position on the sufficiency of the evidence. I sincerely hope he avails himself of them.  

-CM