2020 Nominees

The Case Against Adnan Syed

HBO, Instinct Productions, Sky Atlantic

UK, USA

Documentary & Factual - Crime & Investigative

In The Case Against Adnan Syed, Berg examines the credibility of the prosecution’s case. Not only does she interview witnesses who weren’t able to testify in the original trial, she shows that their accounts discredit key testimony. Berg also brings to light flaws in the evidence (or lack thereof) and questions the veracity of the State’s arguments. Some of the DNA evidence is tested for the first time. She pieces these elements together with re-enactments that visualize the convoluted and contradictory details upon which the case relied. With access to footage from inside the 1999 courtroom, illustrating the racist bias from one of the prosecutors, she is able to show how the justice system failed to ensure fairness and therefore, failed to deliver justice for Hae Min Lee. The Case Against Adnan Syed earned Amy Berg an Emmy Award nomination in the Non-Fiction Writing category for Episode 1: "Forbidden Love".