captioning sponsored by newshour productions llc >> on your face! >> woodruff: outrage and questions after video captures a police officer pulling his gun on unarmed teens in texas. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. also ahead this monday: political uncertainty after elections in turkey, voters reject president erdogan's attempt to consolidate power. plus, a new day in court for adnan syed, after the hit podcast "serial" chronicles his case a maryland court of appeals gives the convicted murderer another chance at a new trial.

>> what's been useful about "serial" and often happens in cases where public attention is focused on a possible miscarriage of justice, is that all kinds of people begin to look at the record and go, "oh well, this should have been done or that should have been done." >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer.

>> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the national debate over police conduct toward minorities was renewed today, in a series of cases. in north charleston, south carolina, a grand jury indicted former policeman michael slager for murder. he was fired after this video surfaced of him shooting a black suspect, walter scott, in april, as scott ran away. prosecutor scarlett wilson said

the video will be crucial. >> if we can have a case that depicts the crime in which we aren't having to rely just on people's perceptions then the jury will be able to make up their own mind after seeing the video and hearing other testimony. >> woodruff: meanwhile, in boston, police and the f.b.i. released surveillance video of last week's fatal shooting of usaama rahim, a suspect in a terror investigation. the blurry footage shows rahim being approached by police and federal agents as he crosses a parking lot. officials say he lunged at them with a knife, so they fired. all of this, as social media heated up today with talk of a texas policeman, and a confrontation with teenagers. we'll have that story, after the news summary. president obama today acknowledged setbacks in iraq in the fight against islamic state forces. and, he conceded there's still no fully developed plan in place to train the iraqis. he met with iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi at the group of

seven summit in germany, and held a news conference afterward. >> we don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place; how that training takes place. and so the details of that are not yet worked out. >> woodruff: separately, the leaders of the major industrial democracies, and others, agreed at the summit to keep sanctions on russia over its actions in ukraine. mr. obama said russian president vladimir putin has to give up a "wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the soviet empire." the president also criticized the u.s. supreme court today. he said the justices should never have agreed to hear a challenge to subsidies under the affordable care act. still, he predicted the justices

will "play it straight" and leave the law intact. a decision is expected this month. the high court did give the white house a win today in a legal dispute with congress. a six to three decision struck down a 2002 law that allowed americans born in jerusalem to list israel as their birthplace on passports. israel and the palestinians have long seen the city's status differently, and the state department has declined to take sides. in mexico, the ruling party and its allies are close to holding on to the lower house of congress, as vote-counting continues in sunday's election. that's despite drug violence corruption and lackluster growth that continue to be a drag on the country. protesters in some southern states burned ballots and boycotted the vote. but president enrique pena nieto declared most mexicans had rejected violence. >> ( translated ): by voting on this day, the citizens have expressed our political will for the path of institutions. there were those who tried to affect these elections.

in the last few days, they even participated in violent acts looking to dishearten the population. however, despite them, this sunday millions of mexicans went to vote, convinced that democracy is the best path for mexico. >> woodruff: even so, for the first time, an independent jaime rodriguez, was elected governor of a state. he campaigned on an anti- corruption platform. the flood of migrants across the mediterranean sea surged again over the weekend. european navies plucked nearly 6,000 people from rickety smuggler boats as they attempted to cross from north african nations, mainly to italy. some political leaders there have vowed to stop providing shelter to the new arrivals. on wall street today, stocks were down again amid lingering worries over potential interest rate hikes and the deadlock over greek debt. the dow jones industrial average lost 83 points to close below 17,770.

the nasdaq fell 47 points and the s&p 500 slipped 13. and, broadway may seem a little brighter tonight for the winners of this year's tonys. two shows led the way sunday with five awards apiece. the lesbian coming-of-age story "fun home" won for best musical. it's based on alison bechdel's graphic novel memoir. best new play went to "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" from the novel about a teenage math whiz with asperger's syndrome. and helen mirren won her first tony for portraying queen elizabeth the second in "the audience." still to come on the newshour: police response to a pool party in texas raises tensions. what surprise election results in turkey mean for the region. two inmates on the run after a dramatic prison break in new york. our weekly kickoff of all things politics. how the hit podcast "serial"

opens the door for a convicted murder to appeal. and, a band of russian hackers cause chaos offline. >> woodruff: tension and frustration remain high in a texas town tonight, three days after a police officer threw down an unarmed girl. the incident happened after a phone call complaining about a pool party, but gained national attention because of video showing the police response. william brangham picks up the story. >> brangham: it's the video sending ripples of outrage across this dallas suburb, and the wider world. the footage of a white policeman pushing down a black girl in a swimsuit, and pointing his gun at other black teens in a multi- racial crowd. it happened friday evening after a disturbance at a neighborhood pool party. someone called the police, and 12 officers showed up. police chief greg conley.

>> upon arrival officers were confronted by a large group of people. private security and homeowners were pointing out juveniles who were creating the disturbance, fighting and refusing to leave. >> brangham: conley says the youths do not live in the area and did not have permission to be there. protest leaders say they did have permission. the policeman highlighted in the video, identified as corporal eric casebolt, is now on administrative leave. some in the neighborhood, like sean toon, say they support his actions. toon even brought a sign to the pool on sunday, to make his point. >> watching 30 seconds or seven minutes of a clip, it doesn't tell the whole story. i think he did what he thought he had to do to control the situation. >> brangham: but one of the girls who organized the party says the use of force was over the top. >> he was just aggressive for no reason at all. it was horrible. everything could have been solved entirely way better than what it was. i mean, there were other officers that were actually nice to people.

>> brangham: today, community leaders and parents of some of the kids who attended the party called for casebolt to be fired. >> the fact of the matter: this officer recklessly attacked this young lady who was following his instruction to leave. that wasn't acceptable enough for him. >> brangham: and mckinney's mayor, brian loughmiller, issued a statement saying he's "disturbed and concerned" by what the video shows. a protest rally is planned this evening. to discuss this in greater context, i'm joined now by leona allen, deputy managing editor of the "dallas morning news," who has covered the area around mckinney. leona allen, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> branham: i wonder if you could tell me what is mckinney? what is the community like where all this took place? >> sure. mckinney is a suburb north of dallas. it has, you know majority white, 75%, and the population

is about 10% black but a superb in colin county which is a high growth area of the dallas area. >> branham: it's not necessarily clear the police officer's actions were driven by race, but is this something you found surprising that happened in this community? >> not totally surprised. i have been in this business about 30 years now and nothing surprises me anymore burks mckinney had, in 2004 an incident in which there was a shooting where four people were killed and the police actions were called into question by the department of justice, the way they handled the case and the community afterwards. so it wasn't a total surprise. there have been some history of racial tensions there but that was about 11 years ago. >> branham: that was not a police shoot something one, was

it? >> no, that was a shooting in an baltimore complex on the east side. but how police handled the arrest and the community afterwards is what was being questioned by the justice department. >> branham: also, there were some people who watched this video said this to them was evidence the police had done the right thing. then you had police saying the act -- exact opposite. how do you explain the chasm? >> we don't know what preceded the police arrival. anyone watching the video, i think in general folks agree that the actions of the one officer were over the top. some of the police officers, folks who have seen the video, are seeing deescalating the situation. so there are people who support the police in that community and think overall they did the right thing. the chief acted quickly which hasn't been the case in some of the other incidents around the

country, which people supported and appreciated. then it's hard to watch that video and not to be disturbed you know, as mom parent, community member watching how the girl was treated. >> branham: you're a parent i'm a parent of a young teenager, what is the conversation parents are having about how they'd like their kids to interact when they confront the police? >> sure. i think that for most of us parents we certainly are having conversations with our kids about being respectful. i think that was what the major concern was from folks who had seen the video is the officer was acting very disrespectful in his language and treatment of the crowd. several of the officers as you saw, could be seeing trying to deescalate it. so you teach your children to be respectful of authority and you hope they do that but you also hope the grownups are being

grownups as well as they are treating kids. so it's a conversation we have often with our kids now, too often because of these incidents happening around the country. >> branham: leona allen, "dallas morning news," thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the ants for president are criss-crossing the country by plane, truck and motorcycle. no better time to catch up with the campaign than poll six monday, and our guests susan page alan and tamera keith, welcome to you both. it was a brittle weekend in iowa tamara. we had republicans gathering. joni ernst called it worst in

ride? they were on their cycles including governor scott war r rwalk -- walker and former governor rick perry. are they differentiating themselves on national security? >> i think two people have well differentiated. lindsey graham on one side said he would send 10,000 troops in and rand paul takes more of an isolationist tack. you could say graham lindsey graham, the senator from south carolina, got into the race to force the conversation and offset what rand paul is talk about. then you have the mushy middle where lots of people lots of candidates and they are mostly saying barack obama is wrong and we should get i.s.i.s. but they're not being quite as specific about what they'd do because, turns out, this is a tough one. >> woodruff: susan, talk about it. why are they doing this?

>> we are seeing the first serious split on national security issues in the republican party since the vietnam war. a week before we had candidates like rand paul who would talk about withdrawing, having a more reserved attitude toward the world. but rand paul was never a credible nominee for president. rand paul is a credible nominee for president. we're seeing the tradition in the republican party having a hawkishness for assertiveness with i.s.i.s. around the world. >> woodruff: are they doing this because they have nothing else to talk about or because they think they can help themselves with the republican electorate? >> we're in a situation where the world is in turmoil and this is not just against barack obama but his former secretary of state hillary clinton who will have to distance herself from some of the things that happened in the world during the obama

administration. >> woodruff: tamara, we should also point out scott walker is talking social issues and made headlines when it said if the supreme court says states cannot ban same-sex marriage, he would support a constitutional amendment. what is he saying to conservative voters, to republican voters? >> the audience is social conservatives in iowa. scott walker needs to win iowa. iowa is everything for scott walker because it would give him a ticket out and momentum. social conservatives evangelicals in iowa have picked other people in the past and there are people running right now. so he's working to win those people. he's finding out among social conservatives, it is a popular opinion and they would support a

constitutional amendment. if you look more broadly the vast majority, 57% of americans now support gay marriage and 72% believe it will be legally recognized, including republicans who think it's inevitable. >> woodruff: big shift on this issue. >> i see scott walker following the iowa strategy. here are the last two winners of the iowa caucus on the republican side were the most socially conservative candidates. but what risk in a general election. in that same pew poll, 6 and 10 of reps under 35 support recognizing same-sex marriage. there's a trend of democrats and also younger republicans supporting it. >> woodruff: democrats, susan, hillary clinton she's got a few days before she launches her official campaign, having a big

event this weekend in new york. but she's already talking. we heard her talking in the last few days about voting rights. what kind of strategy is that? >> two-prong. talking about voting rights energizes african-american voters who feel like their voting rights are in peril. we know hillary clinton will do well among african-american voters to f she's going to replicate the vote barack obama tutput together. what if we hand election like in 2000 and a state like we had in florida at that time even if voter i.d. laws affected only a very few vote, it could swing things. >> woodruff: this is a tactic -- i mean, they think they can't lose on. >> this they don't want to lose on. this. >> and what did she say? who could be against democracy? something along those lines, so she's definitely doing this and it's all about the obama coalition and not just about getting them to vote for her,

but getting lots of voters to vote for her. she needs attorney jiz the voters barack obama energized and there is this big outstanding question are they barack obama voters or democratic voters. >> woodruff: whichs the interesting question susan, about what does she need to do this weekend when shea announces. meanwhile, bernie sanders son the campaign trail we hearing drawing surprisingly large crowds. but in terms of secretary clinton u what is it she needs to say at this point about the rationale for her candidacy? >> i think she needs to articulate one. the rationale that says this is my vision, where i want to lead the country and why i want to be president. we haven't heard that message from her. somebody like bernie sanders 73-year-old democratic socialist bernie sanders is not going to wrest the nomination from hillary clinton but has exposed weaknesses on her part both in

connection he is' made with audiences and on the very specific and very liberal agenda he's outlining. >> woodruff: what do you say? this campaign speech will be a launching point for a detailed conversation tability very policies bernie sanders has been talking about. so she will start getting into the details. also important for her to get people excited. small chats in coffee shops with pre-selected guests don't necessarily get people out and excited and wanting to volunteer, and she needs people to volunteer for this campaign. it's going to be an organizing-based campaign and she needs organizers, people who will be excited about her and this is about concreting excitement. bernie sanders as a counterpoint makes it more interesting. >> mm-hmm. >> woodruff: tamera keith, susan page, thank you both. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: now, a political earthquake in turkey. the man who has dominated that country's politics for more than a decade, president recep tayyip erdogan, was counting on his party securing enough votes in sunday's election to help pave the way for an expansion of his powers. instead, an unlikely coalition helped lead a stunning rebuke to the leader's ambitions. the headlines at turkish newsstands this morning said it all: "downfall," next to a photo of erdogan. and across the country, some said it's about time for a change. >> ( translated ): i believe this is a good result for democracy. i am in favor of a colorful, multi-cultural parliament in turkey and anywhere in world. >> ( translated ): the votes were distributed equally. so people can express themselves as they want. i think the process went democratically. >> woodruff: erdogan has not shown up in public since he cast his own ballot yesterday. but as the ballots were counted it became clear his islamic- rooted a.k.p. party had failed

to hold its majority in parliament, much less expand it to give him more power. outside a.k.p. headquarters last night, party leaders put on a brave face. >> ( translated ): the a.k.p. is the winner and finished first in this election. there is no doubt about that. nobody should make a victory out of an election loss. >> woodruff: nevertheless, that's exactly what supporters of the rival h.d.p. were doing. many secular turks, environmentalists and women joined the pro-kurdish party to help it win 13% of the vote. >> ( translated ): this is a joint victory of all the oppressed people: turks, kurds arabs, caucasians, armenians and bosniaks; of all ethnic identities who live in this country. it is the joint victory of all beliefs, all of the discriminated that want to live free with their beliefs. >> woodruff: still, turkey's deputy prime minister said today the a.k.p. will try to form a coalition government.

>> ( translated ): i believe our prime minister will be able to form the government within the allotted time that will satisfy everyone. >> woodruff: in turn, all the other parties said they would not join in a coalition with a.k.p. that opened the prospect of weeks of turmoil in a crucial u.s. ally in the region. and it was all being closely watched in washington. >> turkey is a nato ally, us has a strong relatoinship. continue working closely with turkey and with the next government that is formed. >> woodruff: the u.s. wants that next government whenever it is formed, to continue as a key part of the coalition working to fight the islamic state in syria. and joining me now to look at what the election means for turkey, the region and the united states are: david ignatius, foreign affairs columnist for the "washington post." and gonul tol, the founding director for the middle east institute's center for turkish

studies. welcome to you both. >> thank you. so gonul tol, let me start with you. how much of a surprise with you this outcome? >> the election results are in line with the most recent public polls but i think people expected another person and the atp lost much more than it was expected. >> woodruff: this was the ruling party. >> the ruling party. so according to, the public opinion polls atp hovered around 44%, so this was a big failure for the ruling party. >> woodruff: what's the thinking about why did the kurdish party do as well as it did? >> well the ruling party alienated liberals, especially president erdogan, who became

increasingly leader. the party ran on the campaign and carried out important reforms for turkey and the reform agenda gained momentum starting from 2011 and that's when erdogan and the ruling party more to totalitarian course and lost the liberal vote, and also the ruling party lost the kurdish vote as well and that was the problem for the party and they managed to capture the vote. >> woodruff: was this equally a surprise for the west and the u.s. and others watching? >> what haired was great uncertainty over the last week as people looked toward this election. it was really crucial. president erdogan's party had won, the majority seeking would have seen very significant changes in turkey.

erdogan wanted a presidential executive system which would have given him much more power and continued the consolidation authoritarianism under his rule as was said. this is a huge affirmation of turkish democracy. no evidence of corruption. the kurdish party, it was not so long ago that kurdish expression was almost illegal in turkey so there was a moment which turks took their democracy and pushed it forward and generally a lot of salvation in turkey, the affirmation of how things should work. >> woodruff: what do people expect president erdogan to do? i gather he was not seen in public today. >> he was not. according to the constitution the turkish president will ask for the formation of a coalition government and the most likely

capt. with the pro kurdish and the pro internationalist party and h.p. and if it doesn't happen the president will call for earlier elections. what would that mean if he did? >> instability because the kurdish government and political and economic instability of the 1990s, those images are fresh in the turkish mind, and i think that will create a lot of instability in turkey. >> woodruff: you're nodding your head. how do people see the option? >> the financial markets fell sharply today as they looked at this result as exciting as it is an affirmation of democracy, it's unclear where turkey is headed the next few months. if there is a grand coalition if the ak party is 41% can form a coalition party, sthats

stability. that's the coalition that could lead to restoration of confidence in narcotics. if there is another quick set of elections, if everything sun clear for the next few months, at time when there's war on turkey's southern borders that would worry people. >> woodruff: david, staying with you, what does it mean turkey is in the middle of this incredibly volatile part of the world, what do people think this could mean for syria, iraq and the rest of the area? >> president order erdogan has been very strongly anti-ba shad in syria, it's a personal passion for him. he's urging the u.s. to make this a war to topple basser. there have been talks in turkey to create a safe haven around the turkish bored tore allow the

opposition to train and mobilize. will this make it less or more likely? that's hard to predict. >> woodruff: i was reading, it was part erdogan's reaction to syria part of what was driving the vote in the way he handled the crisis along the border. >> that's right. syria occupies turkish and domestic policy. the government's policy has been unpopular. we have 2 million refugees in turkey and turkey does not have the institutional and legal framework to handle those refugees and i think turkey's social fabric halls changed changed forever. people don't vote on foreign policy. it has become a matter of dmes:00 policy. in the border towns you will see a huge decline in the support for the a.t.p. >> woodruff: you said social

fabric changed forever. what did you mean by that? >> there are 2 million refugees and we have the only minority turkey had is the kurdish minority and has not dealt with the kurdish minority properly so now we have another ethnic group and turkey has to deal with that. >> david, what about the united states? all of this is in the context of the u.s. looking at the region but what are you hearing? >> the u.s. wants a stable turkey. the u.s. will be glad president erdogan's effort to get this unprecedented executive power in the presidency has been turned back by the people but will be glad to see a n.a.t.o. ally a long-time friend of the united states affirming its democracy. this is now a very dangerous part of the world and it's a time in which instability in the turkish government, uncertainty about the future, is going to be dangerous for turkey and it's neighbors and worrying to the

united states so i'm sure there will be a lot of discussions about policy in the next several weeks. the first decisions have to be made by the turks and the elections. >> woodruff: so the rest of the world is waiting to see what happens in turkey. >> yes, but i think they're happy with the results. europe has been critical of the turn. the financial matters and the traditional lack of freedom of expression and media freedom so i think this is a result you would be happy with. >> woodruff: i was struck what you said about such a significant gesture for democracy. >> it's a wonderful moment for turkish democracy. everybody i talk to today expressed that. the only worry is it's also a period of uncertainty about the future, and then that concerns people. >> woodruff: david sweat, gonul tol, we thank you both. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: an intensive manhunt continued in upstate new york today, after two prisoners were discovered missing saturday from the state's largest maximum security prison, following a remarkable escape that stunned the authorities. william is back with that story. >> brangham: police continue to sweep the town and countryside surrounding dannemora prison, searching for two convicted murders who cut through cement walls and steel pipes, then eventually emerged through a manhole outside the prison's walls, about a block away. richard matt kidnapped, killed and dismembered a man in 1997, david sweat killed a sheriff's deputy in 2002, shooting him more than a dozen times. over the weekend, new york governor andrew cuomo toured the prison and talked about the breakout. is is the first escape from the maximum security portion of the institution ever since 1865,

so by definition, it was an extraordinary act. when you look at how it was done, it was extraordinary. they went through the tunnels. you look at the precision of the operation, it was truly extraordinary. >> branham: we're joined by jesse mckinley who has been reporting ton break from the "new york times" and joins me from dannemora, new york. jesse, thank you for being here. tell us where the han manhunt stands now. given how long ago these men broke out, this has to be a huge search area. >> yes, according to the state of florida, there are about 300 officers involved and, according to the governor of the state of new york, andrew cuomo, this could be a nationwide search. initially they were interested in the area around us, which is just to my right, but at this point it's expanded beyond the borders in the state,

potentially to canada, mexican authorities and officials in the southwest have been alerted. one of the suspects richard matt was believed to have taken refuge at one point. >> branham: for wheel who haven't been following the ins and outs of this can you describe how remarkable the breakout was? >> they obtained power tools cut holes in the walls of their cells, they clamored down into the bowels of the prison and cut their way into a drain pipe of some sort and crawl 300 or 400 feet underground and emerge out of a manhole. the amount of coordination, the cutting steel on steel in a confined space of a prison to go undetected or, if they were detected, to either have cooperation of other inmates inside or even some sort of

prison official to hide their whereabouts and hide their activities is pretty remarkable. >> branham: have officials give an sense of how long it must have taken them? you're describing a very byzantine route through prison. how would have it have taken them? >> we really don't know. it could have been days or weeks. people are certain this wasn't hatched overnight. this is not something they came up with on a whim. the level of coordination, once again, the amount of time it took to get through the walls into the tunnels, through steam pipe and out of the manhole, they've only taken an hour in practice, but in terms of preparation it would have taken days, maybe weeks. >> branham: governor cuomo says it seems like an inside job. is that because it seems impossible the two men could have pulled this off by themselves? >> that, in addition there is a sense of the noise it would have created would have been intense.

there is a report out today that they may have had some sort of associate, a female associate inside of the prison who may have been involved romantically or otherwise with one of the suspects. i think, though, at this point authorities have basically cast a very wide net. right now the main source of their search is to get these two guys and get them back into prison. >> branham: i wonder if you could describe what it's like in the community itself. having two convicted murderers loose in your neighborhood has to be alarming to say the least. have you seen evidence from that? have you heard that from people? >> i mean it's interesting. this is very much a prison town. this is a place where generation after generation has worked in the prison, corrections officers are very common in the town, and they are peace officers so there's a sense that, with all of the intensity all of the law enforcement officials here, this is actually one of the safest

places in the country. at the same time, the act of the breakout, the fact they were able to penetrate the walls and get loose in a community that is a supposedly secure, i think that was unset thing for a lot of people. >> branham: the traditional ways we track criminals, cell phones, credit cards, is there any sense of how they're going about trying to track these men who may not have access to any of those things that point is this. >> that's right. there's a suggestion they may have an accomplice outside and a car burks beyond that they certainly don't have cell phones and credited cards m of the tracking devices law enforcement would use to track them simply don't apply in this case. that being said, if they hooked up with someone outside, they may be scanning videotapes of gas stations checking out eyewitness of reports who may have seen these people traveling along interstates or what have you burks there is very little

electronic surveillance at the prison and on the street corner where they emerged, there is certainly no cameras there. >> branham: jesse mckinley of the "new york times," thank you very much for joining us. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: next, the impact of a podcast that became a phenomenon. "serial's" investigation of a murder case and a defendant who may have been wrongly convicted. the podcast's season wrapped up during the winter, but there's still major interest and new developments in the case. an appeal is forthcoming, one that could lead to a new trial, a plea deal, or perhaps a decision by the state to drop it entirely. at the same time, larger conversations about the justice system are being stoked anew by this true crime investigation and others. and back to william, who has been following the story.

this is a story told week by week. >> "serial" is the most popular podcast in the world. throughout 12 episodes, sara and her team investigate a case from the '90s that put a teenager in case for life. but "serial" discovered a key alibi witness that could help overturn the conviction. advocates for criminal justice says "serial" has been a welcome reminder of the problems with our system. >> what's useful about "serial" and often happens in case where is public attention is focused on a possible miscarriage of justice is that all kinds of people came to look at the record and go oh, well, this or that should have been done. >> the story began in 1999 in a suburb outside baltimore where a 17-year-old girl named hae min lee went missing.

>> i played lacrosse two years. >> branham: two years later, her body was found buried in a local park, strangled to death. two weeks after, adnan syed, her boyfriend, was arrested and charged with the murder. >> 17-year-old woodlawn student, adnan syed. >> branham: syed always said he was innocent but found guilty and sent to prison. listeners of "serial" went through the investigation and whether syed had an effective defense. justin george is a crime reporter of the baltimore sun. he took me to some to have the key locations in the case explaining how "serial" raised questions about syed's conviction. we began in linken park in baltimore, where hae min lee's body was discovered. >> the body was found on the

other side of the log, in a shallow grave. >> branham: there was no dna evidence at the scene linking syed to the murder -- no blood, no hairs, nothing. this best buy parking lot is where prosecutors say hae min lee was murdered. >> we're at the best buy which is 4 minutes away from woodlawn high school where, again, the prosecution says adnan and hae arrived after school and he possibly killed her. >> questions were raised by the government'sed with, jay wild, his time line, as well as cell phone records prosecutors used to prove the guilt. asia mcclain was tracked down, a fellow student who says she saw adnan syed in this library at the same time the prosecution said he was out committing the murder. >> this is where asia mcclain, class maid of adnan and hae

said she saw him here and she wrote two letters after his arrest saying i saw you here. i can't believe you did this because i saw you during that day. >> branham: so she provides a pretty strong alibi for adnan. why is he in prison? >> his trial attorney didn't call or speak with her. that's the basis of his appeal that he had ineffective trial council. why wouldn't he? >> branham: in the first episode of "serial," -- >> even now, it would be nice if there was a technicality or something that would brave it's innocent. >> asia, i think you must might be

the technicality. if you you're saying you saw him on this day at that time that means the state's timeline for their theory doesn't make sense. >> did asia appreciate how central she might be to subsequent appeals? >> i don't think she did. i don't think she fully understood. i think after "serial" aired and she had the opportunity to listen to it all, i think she understood how important she was in this. >> branham: spoiler alert, for those who didn't listen to the podcast, "serial" never answered the question did syed kill hae min lee or not? but the legal days case is not over. six months ago asia mcclain signed a new affidavit reaffirming she saw syed at the library and formed the basis for syed's last best appeal that he's arguing he got what's called "ineffective counsel" and last month the maryland court of special appeals ruled asia

mcclain's testimony needs to be heard in person. "serial" eels pop," conspiracy theories are floated alternate suspects are suggested and full tv shows devoted to it. >> this is a very special edition of the docket devoted to the case underlying the popular "serial" podcast. >> it tawrnd kara into a roughing star packing in big crowds who want to hear more about the case and the podcast like this saturday at the amphitheater in northern virginia. people have their own theories. >> i feel they're creating a case. >> they'd broken up, she was moving on. >> i think he's guilty. just keep going back to the time. it has to be adnan or jay. >> i think it was jay. 'm pulling for his innocence. >> i wonder how many people in this situation don't have the

media interest to allow people to come forward and say i was there and never interviewed. >> press campaigns around miscarriages of justice and calling public attention to it has a long and rich history. >> barry scheck is the co-founder of the innocence project a national organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals, they have been assisted on syed's case. checklist, "serial" is a -- is one in a long line of things. like the jinx or west memphis. or the 1988 documentary the thin, blue line. in each case the course of justice was changed in part by these investigations. >> these cases when they capture the public imagination and people get involved and investigate often come to good outcomes just because attention is paid. >> there are only a few eril

morrises and sarah kings out there. what does that tell you about the justice system? >> it tells us that the justice system is riddled with errors. that's what we've learned from the innocence movement we date toll 1989 because that was the beginning of dna testing in the criminal justice system. it exposed all the problems with eyewitness identifications, false confessions and invalid or fraudulent forensic science ifn effective assistance of counsel, police and prosecutorial misconduct and you get those things operating at the same time against a particular defendant. >> all arguments for adnan syed's appeal are supposed to begin soon. a second season of "serial," one detailing a completely different story will begin this fall.

for the pbs "newshour", william. >> >> woodruff: we've been following the process online where you can also watch a video tour featuring key locations in the murder investigation. >> woodruff: we turn now to the blurring borders of the internet in the battle for hearts and minds around the world, that sometimes involves massive deception. tonight, jeffrey brown looks at a secret organization that's working overtime to sell fiction as reality. >> brown: september 11, 2014 there is an explosion at a chemical factor in st. mary's' parish in louisiana. video on youtube twitter flooded with chatter including screen shots of news web sites a local tv station and appears cnn's. a video surfaces of i.s.i.s. taking responsibility and

warning of toxic fumes in the area. big news except there was no explosion. the video was a fake as were the news web sites that reported it and the footage of the islamic state group taking credit. the social media posts were not what they seemed. as reported in a cover story in the "new york times" magazine, it was all the work to have the internet research agency, the shadowy russian organizationed based in st. petersburg. adrian, this is a bizarre tale. what is the internet research agency? how much do we foe about it? >> we know the bare outlines of what it is they do. it's a group in st. petersburg, russia, that hires hundreds of russians to spread pro russian propaganda on the internet and one of the tactics is to pretend to be people, americans and russians on social media like

facebook and twitter. >> brown: the roll of so-called trolls at, as you say an industrialized level. what is trolls and trolling? >> trolls and trolling are old-school internet slang and they mean people who come in and just try to do whatever they can to be disruptive and derail the conversation. >> brown: so it looks well-organized, well-targeted. how is it organized and who's behind it? there's a suggestion of an oligarch at least funding it. >> russian opposition newspapers have linked the internet research agency to amman named benny gabosian (phonetic) and his name in the press is the kremlin's chef because he has a lot of connections and contracts with the kremlin especially the the department of defense. >> brown: you talked with people who worked there. give us a feel for inside the

organization. what is it like to work there? how much do they do? how much do they know about what they're doing? >> everything is kept pretty secretive even to the workers. what they describe is a fairly normal if kind of rigorous work schedule where they did 12-hour shifts. they would come in and post so many hundreds of comments under different persona, you know pretending to be normal russians or normal americans. > brown: and i described one case of this louisiana explosion -- supposed explosion. what other kinds of cases have there been? what other kinds of hoaxes? what is the sort of routine stuff that gets sent out from this place? >> one is this kind of propaganda of pretending to be normal people, praising putin, slam bing obama, and then there are more serious things with the hoaxes, and it's unclear exactly what the relationship is between those types of work.

but in the second case, with the hoaxes, there was one where they tried to spread the story that there was an ebola outbreak in atlanta when there wasn't and also, in atlanta, there was a woman who had been shot by police, and this was right in the middle of all the protests over ferguson and michael brown and seems like a case of trying to jump on this cause and kind of cause some panic. >> brown: you're right. this became very personal for you. you're savvy enough technologically to kind of unspool this to figure out who's doing it burks turned out they kind of turned the tables on you and made you part of the story. >> when i went the st. petersburg to try to interview some workers, i spoke to one woman who said she would only meet me with her brother because she was scared and wanted protection. i show up and he's this really scary looking skinhead with a big swastika tattoo. but she and i had a pretty

normal interview and i get back to the states and see people had been secretly surveilling our meeting, and they spun this whole tale that i had actually been meeting the person she said was her brother basically to recruit neo-nazis or something on behalf of the united states. >> brown: adrian, what do we know about the larger goals? we get the way it works and the targets but what's the big picture? how much do you know about that? >> i think the big picture is you have to go back to 2011 where there were huge anti-putin protests in russia and those are all organized on facebook social media led by tech-savvy bloggers and readers who came up through the internet, and after that, it became a real priority for the kremlin to basically crack down on the internet, make sure nothing like that happened again. and these trolls, this kind of work, from what i've gathered from talking to activists it's

really kind of to pollute the internet to make it an unreliable source for people so russians who might want to know about opposition leaders or other things from the kremlin narrative will not be able to trust it. >> adrian chen, quite a tale. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, sensors in your car keep tabs on the health of your vehicle. now, a group of nano-engineers (who work with miniature tools) have taken steps toward doing the same in humans. scientists have developed an ultra-skinny electronic mesh that can be injected into the brain to monitor its biological activity. it's still in development stages, but you can read how it would work, and see a diagram of the process, on our home page. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. tune in later tonight, on

charlie rose, more reaction and analysis of the surprising results of the turkish elections. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll look at the fight for iraq, with that country's ambassador to the u.s. i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and...

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report. >> warning signs why a century old trading strategy has some investors biting their nails and betding on a fall. >> apple reveals a new music app but is it too late to compete in an already crowded field. >> high-tech medicine. what cancer doctors are doing to improve the course of treatment for some of their patients. all that and more on nightly business report for monday june 8th. >> welcome. glad you could be with us. the world's most recognizable stock market index is now in the red for 2015 as the broader market came under pressure