Sarah Koenig

But there's another factor I haven't mentioned.

And that is, as a defense attorney has explained to me, no good can come, and in fact, only harm can come, from a non-attempting to contact or influence people on the outside who are connected to his case.

That's kind of inmate behavior 101.

Because let's say Kathy changed her story, suddenly remembered something exculpatory for Adnan.

And then the state found out that Adnan had been writing to Kathy, or threatening Kathy somehow, or talking smack about Kathy on a podcast.

Then that could be used by the state to challenge the validity of Kathy's new information.

Anand is a smart guy.

He's been an inmate for 15 years.

He knows the deal.

And he also knows there's nothing he can do to change other people's minds about him.

I know, but I think actually, I think that's right, but I think also what people do is they put themselves immediately in your position and think, what would I do?

How would I be feeling?

How would I act if I thought someone had done me wrong and put me here, and I would be screaming to the rooftops, and they're not hearing you do that?

A few weeks ago, after these rumors started surfacing, I got a letter in the mail from Adnan.

It was 18 typed single-spaced pages.

He gave me his reluctant permission to talk about it.

He wrote about lots of things, his religion, his case, how he's managed over the past 15 years.

It's a good letter.

He's a good writer.

But it swung from pole to pole, from distrust to gratitude to confusion.