'Serial' prosecutor defends conviction of Adnan Syed, calls case 'run-of-the-mill domestic violence murder'

Kevin Urick, the Maryland prosecutor who got Adnan Syed convicted of the murder of Hae Min Lee, is now defending his case after it was called into question during the wildly popular Serial podcast.

The podcast centered on host Sarah Koenig’s investigation into the 1999 murder of Lee, who was 18. Syed, who was 17 at the time, was convicted in 2000 and received a life sentence. The prosecutors’ case crested mostly on the testimony of Jay Wilds, who was inconsistent in statements to police.

Wilds was not interviewed during Serial, which ran on iTunes this past fall. However, Koenig spent time on the podcast investigating his testimony. Wilds later spoke out to explain his side of the story and why his testimony was inconsistent with what he told police.

Wilds said that he helped Syed bury Lee’s body because Syed threatened to tell police about Wilds’ past as a weed dealer.

This week, Urick added his voice to the discussion in an interview with The Intercept, the same site Wilds spoke with. He said he considered the case “pretty much a run-of-the-mill domestic violence murder.”

Urick explained that he understood why Wilds’ stories were inconsistent, but they had cell phone records that corroborated his story about what Syed was doing on the night of the murder. Alone, they would not have gotten a conviction, but together, “they corroborate and feed off each other–it’s a very strong evidentiary case,” Urick said.

He also suggested that it was the defense’s fault for only challenging “collateral facts” in Wilds’ testimony and not “material facts” that could have proven Syed innocent or guilty.

Urick also told the Intercept that he wouldn’t have spoken with Koenig, even if he was asked. He was very critical of the way Koenig covered the case, since she dismissed the jury’s decision and didn’t find any new evidence that could have exonerated Syed.

Lastly, Urick claims that Koenig only tried to reach him once, via email just before the series was about to end. However, Serial executive producer Julie Snyder told The Intercept that they did try to get Urick several times before the podcast started, but he never answered.