Top Ten Tuesday – Audio freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish blog.

Today’s topic:  All About Audio freebie —  aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio,10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with.

I don’t listen to audiobooks so I’m going with:

Podcasts you should be listening to

Undisclosed: The State vs. Joey Watkins.  Undisclosed is hosted by Rabia Chaudry, the woman who brought Adnan Syed’s story to Sarah Koenig.  The team has taken on a new case, the case of Joey Watkins, who was convicted on murder on very little evidence.  It’s a very interesting case.

Truth & Justice.  Another podcast that spawned after the first season of Serial, and hosted by Bob Ruff, T&J is now tackling two cases in the incredibly corrupt Tyler, Texas area.  Bob also gives us updates on Adnan’s case as they arise.  Bob is an incredibly compassionate man and is a good storyteller.

Crime Writers On.  A Serial spin-off.  Notice a trend??  CWO covers Serial, other podcasts, pop culture, fiction, true crime, you name it.  Very entertaining podcast.  They spent a majority of a recent episode talking about Stranger Things, so I love them even more now.

Serial.  Obviously, my love of podcasts started from Serial.  While I didn’t love season 2 as much as season 1, I still love Sarah’s storytelling style.

Real Crime Profile.  Hosted by Jim Clemente, former FBI Profiler, Laura Richards, former Scotland Yard profiler and advocate for domestic abuse victims, RCP is a deep dive into crimes.  They have discussed cases like OJ Simpson, Oscar Pistorius and now JonBenet Ramsey.  Incredibly interesting.

Breakdown.  This podcast is a little different in that it only airs when there is new details about the cases they are covering.  They covered the case of Justin Chapman, who was accused of murdering his neighbor in a fire and Justin Harris, who is being tried for murder, after leaving his young son in a hot car all day, where he later died.  Not as polished as other podcasts, but the content is very interesting.

Criminal.  Hosted by Phoebe Judge, who has a Sarah Koenig type voice, Criminal is short stories told about more obscure crimes (stealing wood from protected trees, blackmarket bourbon).  They are all short stories but incredibly interesting.

Actual Innocence.  Stories of people convicted then released from jail after being proven innocent.  A newer podcast, but it’s told by the person who did the jail time, with occasional narration by the host.

Limetown.  The only non-crime podcast I listen to.  This is so outside my normal realm, but I love this podcast.  In fact, at first, I didn’t know if it was real or fiction.  Told beautifully by it’s fictional host, it’s a great mystery.  Can’t wait for the next season.

Which podcasts do you like?  Always looking for true crime recs (though Sword & Scale is too dark for me).

Happy listening.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Top 10 Bombshells from Undisclosed

My Top Ten Tuesday this week is going to focus on the Undisclosed Podcast and is titled “The Top Ten Bombshells revealed on Undisclosed”.  As you know, Undisclosed is a podcast introducing new information on the State vs. Adnan Syed case introduced to us in the Serial Podcast.  It is hosted by Rabia Chaudry (the attorney who brought the case to Sarah Koenig and author of Split the Moon blog), Colin Miller (law professor and author of Evidence Prof blog) and Susan Simpson (law associate and author of View from LL2 blog).

Here is my Top Ten Bombshells from Undisclosed in reverse order.

10.  Kristy (not her real name Cathy) claiming her school conference was on January 13, 1999 from 9 am – 4 pm, the day Adnan and Jay were at her house and Adnan was acting weird, when the actual day of the seminar was January 22, 1999.

9.  The January 13, 1999 wrestling match Hae was supposed to attend was not actually held on January 13, 1999; it was January 5, 1999.  It was also noted that Hae’s interview with the local news was taped on January 13, 1999, which also took place on January 5.  I always found it odd that Hae would ask Don to call her off school on the day she is scheduled to be on the news.

8.  The fact that on February 4, 1999, 2 separate Baltimore County police officers ran plate checks on Hae’s car in a different location from where the car was ultimately found.  Didn’t Jay say that he and Adnan dumped Hae’s car at the 1-70 park and ride?  Points again to police corruption.   Don’t forget the fact that Hae’s car seem clean, the grass under her car was green and there was green grass in her wheel wells.

7.  The revelation that Adnan was questioned by detectives for 6 hours without being offered food and water, and that his parents and the attorneys his parents hired were denied access to him.  I would side note the manner in which Adnan was arrested, in the early morning hours, in front of his family.  Storming into his house, yelling at his parents, laughing at him, threatening sexual assault in prison.  Disgusting.

6.  The bombshell that Jay and his friend Phil tried to interrupt Stephanie’s interview with the private investigator.  More of Jay the bullshit artist working his magic and getting people to change their story for him.  I don’t believe Stephanie knows anything more than the utter bullshit that Jay spewed.  Which is pretty much every word out of his mouth.

5.  The Anti-Islam report.  Created by the Enehey Group, this crock of bullshit was used to portray Muslim men in a light completely unbecoming and false.  Let’s also remember Adnan wasn’t technically a man at the time he was arrested; he was only 17.  You can read the pile of shit here.  I personally found this racist and disgusting, and was highly offended.

4.  The news that the attorney assigned to Jenn Pusateri’s was Detective Ritz’s neighbor.  What I also find convenient is that Jenn magically had this attorney appointed to her the day after her initial interview with police.  That can’t be a coincidence.

I have three bombshells tied for 1st place.  I’m going to put them in order of explosiveness (pardon the pun).

1.  The changing of Adnan’s birthdate by detectives to make him appear to be 18 and intimidate him with the news that he could be eligible for a capital murder charge.  This is pure police misconduct.  The fact that this mistake wasn’t changed after the 6 hours of questioning where Adnan gave NOTHING to the detectives makes this even more sickening.  This piece of information is the reason Adnan was denied bail as well.

1.  The lividity bombshell.  According to bullshit artist Jay, Hae was stuffed in the trunk of her car by Adnan and driven around town for a while before her body was dumped later that evening; remember, Jay said Hae’s body was in the trunk in a “pretzel shape”.  According to Dr. Leigh Hlavaty, a medical examiner in Michigan who investigated the case, there is NO WAY Hae was in that position.  In fact, Hae was laying face down for 8-10 hours before she was buried/dumped.  This is really damning evidence, because it completely contradicts Jay’s testimony.

And the number 1 bombshell dropped:

1.  Tap, tap, tap.  As you will recall from Addendum 3, Susan uncovered what turned out to be the biggest bombshell in this entire case – tap, tap, tap.  During Jay’s police interviews, Jay would lose his train of thought and then tap, tap, tap – he would suddenly and inexplicably remember the right answer.  Not only did the detectives tap to lead Jay to the answers, they also did so verbally.  I would recommend that you read the transcript  from the addendum (or listen to the episode again) to refresh your memory.

Do you agree with my list?  I’d love to hear your bombshell moments as well.

To Rabia, Colin and Susan – keep up the amazing work.