Trevor Noah

On Tuesdays Daily Show Trevor Noah reflected on the surprise release of Adnan Syed the subject of the hit true crime podcast Serial after 22 years in prison. Syed had been sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee on Monday a Baltimore judge ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share exculpatory evidence with Syeds defense and overturned his conviction.

I know people are celebrating this and I understand why but Im going to be honest with you I find it weird that America confuses fixing a mistake with a happy ending said Noah on Tuesday evening. You know what I mean? Like good news we got out of Afghanistan – well why were you there in the first place? Good news we got emergency water to Jackson Mississippi – why do you need emergency water?What does it say about America that it takes a podcast to help free a man from prison? Noah added. Because what I think it says is that either America needs to reform its justice system or podcasts need to become part of the justice system.

Think about it everyone hates jury duty but everyone loves podcasts he continued. So maybe we get rid of juries and just have everyone in America listen to the podcast. And then they all vote it just becomes a nationwide jury.

Its a foolproof idea he mused because if you add entertainment Americans are always interested.

Noah then explained that it wasnt Serial or subsequent investigations into his case by the Undisclosed podcast or the 2019 documentary The Case Against Adnan Syed that changed Syeds fate. His case had come up for review to a prosecutor who used to be a public defender. That prosecutor dug deeper into the case file than she had to and found issues with the conviction then asked the judge to vacate it. The prosecutor didnt have to do any of that Noah said. She couldve just said ah yeah maybe it wasnt a completely fair trial but tough shit.

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But she said no if were going to put somebody in prison it has to be without any doubt he concluded. And that shows you the difference between a justice system that wants justice versus a system that just wants to put people in prison.