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True crime is booming, and sometimes we look at that genre as a harmless distraction, just fun. That’s a mistake. The judicial system is the core of our democracy, and our faith in it is essential to its functioning. If people believe that all prosecutors are corrupt, those police are always conspiring to frame us people, and courts are in pockets state, crimes will not be solved, and justice will not be served. As 2025 dawns, we can hope to look back on 2024 as a year where justice prevailed over drama in true crime. There is reason for optimism.
The year began with a hearing in the infamous South Carolina murder case, where Alex Murdaugh sought a new trial for alleged jury tampering. Many feared that Murdaugh, whose history of corruption and financial malfeasance stretched back decades before he killed his family, would again evade justice. But not this time. Murdaugh’s request was denied and he now sits in prison for life, where he belongs. He filed an appeal, which should be decided later this year.
January 13 marked the 25th anniversary of Hae Min Lee’s murder by Adnan Syed. Unfortunately, Syed, star of the hit podcast “Serial”, his conviction was overturned by then-Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby — before she herself was convicted on federal charges related to COVID-19 fraud.
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But in September, the Maryland Supreme Court stepped in with a scathing opinion that overturned the injustice of Mosby’s incompetence. Syed is a convicted murderer again, and the new state attorney seems unwilling to ignore the evidence of Syed’s guilt. The issue will likely be decided this year, but there’s a good chance that justice for Lee is now more important than Syed’s PR campaign.
Alex Murdaugh is brought into the courtroom during a jury tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, SC (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
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Syed remains free pending the state attorney’s decision on how to proceed.
In Delphi, Indiana, the search for justice for 14-year-old Libby German and her best friend, 13-year-old Abby Williams, who were killed by Richard Allen in 2017, ended this year. Ahead of the trial, Allen and his team did everything they could to turn the case into a circus.
Allen’s lawyers and their media allies have drawn on the satanic panic of the 1980s to suggest that a pagan cult, not Richard Allen, killed the girls as part of a sacrifice performed in the woods of a public park. But when the jury was seated and the trial began, it was more about the evidence and less about the show.
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Eyewitnesses, video, forensics and Allen’s own statements proved his guilt. These statements included more than 61 confessions, containing details known only to the killer. Now the families of the girls, who were so adamant that their killer would be caught despite the years that have passed, have finally received justice. Although Allen was sentenced to 130 years for the murders, he is likely to appeal.
At a time when people’s faith in our most important institutions is declining, it is more important than ever that the justice system lives up to its promises. This year we have seen how the courts can provide that justice, impartially and without prejudice. Let’s hope for more in 2025.
