The Intercept scored a win when they did what Serial couldn’t — they got giant rat-eating frog enthusiast Jay Wilds, the accomplice with a thousand timelines, to talk. Now they’ve done it again, premiering an exclusive interview with Kevin Urick, the case’s prosecutor.
According to Sarah Koenig and her producer Julie Snyder, attempts were made to contact Urick to participate in the podcast. But Urick says only one email was sent just before the podcast concluded to ask about Don’s (victim Hae Min Lee’s boyfriend from LensCrafters) allegation that Urick lashed out at him for not making Adnan seem “creepy” enough on the stand (Urick denies the claim).
Here are some other interesting tidbits from Urick’s interview:
- Urick says it’s not uncommon for accomplices to changes their stories, as Wilds did, and that it would be more suspicious and “rehearsed” if his story never changed. He says to focus on the shifting testimonies is missing the point. “We did not pick Jay to be Adnan’s accomplice,” he said. “Adnan picked Jay.”
- He calls the case against Syed “pretty much a run-of-the-mill domestic violence murder.”
- He calls Koenig’s focus on doubting the cellphone records “sleight of hand,” saying technology today is different from technology in 1999.
He goes on to talk about how he would have questioned Syed if he’d taken the stand, and addresses Asia McClain’s redacted statement (she was the one who said she saw Syed in the library, then redacted her statement saying she’d been forced to provide it and finally told Koenig she stands by her original statement).
The first part of The Intercept’s interview with Kevin Urick can be found here. They will post the second part tomorrow.