Adnan Syed will get court hearing today where his murder conviction is expected to be vacated after 30 years following hit podcast Serial chronicling his case
- Baltimore prosecutors filed motion to vacate Syed’s conviction on Wednesday
- Following a hearing in the city this afternoon, Syed could be set free as early as today
- Syed, now 41, was convicted in 2000 of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee
- His case was the subject of hit podcast ‘Serial,’ which led to renewed court proceedings
- Prosecutors are not saying that Syed is innocent but rather that they no longer had confidence in the ‘integrity of the conviction’
- State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said: ‘In the interest of fairness and justice, he is entitled to a new trial
- Prosecutors have turned their attentions to two alternative suspects in the case
Adnan Syed could be released from prison today.
A court hearing has been set for Monday afternoon in Baltimore to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast ‘Serial.’
Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m.
The development comes after Baltimore prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday saying a lengthy investigation conducted with the defense had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the conviction of Syed.
Syed has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was killed in 1999. Her body was found buried in a Baltimore park.
According to a motion filed in the case, Maryland law says prosecutors generally have 30 days after a conviction is vacated to decide whether to drop the charges or to retry the case.
A court hearing has been set for Monday afternoon in Baltimore to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Syed
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said of the motion: ‘We do not have confidence in results of the first trial’
Should prosecutors bring new charges, Syed would be arraigned again and would need to enter a new plea.
Syed, 42, has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of the ‘Serial’ podcast focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data.
Prosecutors said in their motion that they weren´t asserting that Syed is innocent but they lacked confidence ‘in the integrity of the conviction’ and recommended he be released on his own recognizance or bail.
‘We believe that keeping Mr. Syed detained as we continue to investigate the case with everything that we know now, when we do not have confidence in results of the first trial, would be unjust,’ State´s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said.
Mosby also said: ‘In the interest of fairness and justice, he is entitled to a new trial.’
In an interview with ABC News Mosby said of the murder of Hae Min Lee: ‘One of the suspects were improperly cleared by investigators based on faulty polygraph tests.’
Though he was 17 at the time of the murder, Syed was tried as an adult. He has perpetually maintained his innocence
Prosecutors in Baltimore are asking for Adnan Syed (above) to be re-tried for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee
Adnan Syed has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee
Rabia Chaudry (right), an attorney and friend of Syed’s family, celebrated the news of the motion being filed
Syed’s brother, Yusuf, told WJZ following Monday’s developments: ‘The policy, they didn’t do their job. They were just fixated on Adnan, so they wanted to point everyone towards him.’
Following the publicity generated for the case after the release of Serial, Lee’s family said in a statement: ‘It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae.’
It went on: ‘She stood up for what was right, regardless of popular opinion.’
Ronald Lee Moore was put forward as a potential suspect in the Serial podcast
Prosecutors have now reportedly turned their attentions to two alternative suspects.
Though it’s unclear who the alternate suspects are, one named floated by the Serial podcast was Ronald Lee Moore, who had left prison days before Lee’s death and committed other crimes similar to her killing.
Moore committed suicide in 2008 while jailed for unrelated crimes, and police said he was a suspect in a series of burglaries, unsolved sexual assaults and homicide cases in Maryland in 1999.
The filing also says that prosecutors at trial failed to hand over key information to the defense team as required, in what is known as a Brady violation.
Syed is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of strangling Lee (with him above at prom). The two were high school classmates who had dated
The withheld information included a witness statement about threats against Lee uttered by one of the other suspects, including the threat to kill her.
Prosecutors also called into doubt the validity of cell phone records and data that were presented in the original trial as key evidence for the state.
‘Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand,’ said Syed’s attorney Erica Suter in a statement.
‘Mr. Syed is grateful that this information has finally seen the light of day and looks forward to his day in court,’ added Suter, who is also Director of the Innocence Project Clinic.
Sarah Koenig, producer and host of the podcast Serial, is seen in 2015
In its debut 2014 season, the ‘Serial’ podcast broke podcast-streaming records and shined a spotlight on the case that led to renewed court proceedings.
In March of this year, a judge order that evidence from the case, including the victim’s rape kit, be tested for DNA using technology that was not available at the time of the murder.
It’s unclear whether the results of that testing played into the motion filed on Wednesday.
It follows a series of legal twists and turns in the case.
Two courts previously rejected Syed’s requests for a new trial based on claims of ineffective counsel.
His lawyer during his first trial, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to contact an alibi witness, Asia McClain, who said she saw Syed at a library at the time prosecutors say he strangled Lee in 1999. Gutierrez has since died.
But in 2018, the Maryland Court of Appeals denied Syed a new trial in a 4-3 ruling, even though it agreed his trial lawyer’s work was lacking.
The state high court said there was little chance the outcome would have been different had Gutierrez done what she should have.
Then in 2019, the US Supreme Court rejected Syed’s bid for a new trial.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh in a statement at the time said the evidence against Syed ‘was overwhelming.’
‘We remain confident in the verdict that was delivered by the jury and are pleased that justice for Hae Min Lee has been done,’ he said.
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