Sarah Koenig

But at that point, he says he was thinking of his sentencing as a procedure he needed to get through so he could immediately start the appeals process.

So in a way, it was a step toward the thing he wanted.

Second, it's not like they transport you from your cell right to the courtroom door and you're just outside straightening your tie before your big moment.

It's kind of the opposite.

There's an enormous quotient of utter boredom and exhaustion built in.

So you do other things.

Read, write letters, whatever you can.

The third thing is that Krista was the only person he was in regular touch with who knew Hay, and Krista didn't think that Adnan had killed her.

Eight days later, post-sentencing, he writes Krista another letter.

And he's so changed.

By this time, he'd fired Cristina Gutierrez over the Asia letters, and he's being represented by a public defender he doesn't really know.

Adnan tells the guy he wants to tell the court he did not kill Hay and that he's going to continue to fight this to the end.

That's what he says in his letter to Krista.

And the guy says, no, no, no, terrible idea.

Don't say you're innocent.

It'll anger the judge.

Adnan argues with him.

And according to Adnan, the lawyer says, well, you can do it if you want, but you're just going to fuck yourself over.

So now Adnan is worried, and then another thing he hadn't anticipated, that Hay's mother was going to speak.

She'd been to the trial every day, I think.