Syed, the main focus of the podcast's wildly in style first season, was beforehand convicted for the 1999 homicide of Hae Min Lee.
A Baltimore decide on Monday ordered the discharge of Adnan Syed after overturning Syed’s conviction for the 1999 homicide of Hae Min Lee — a case that was chronicled within the hit podcast Serial.
On the behest of prosecutors, Circuit Court docket Decide Melissa Phinn ordered that Syed’s conviction be vacated and she or he accredited the discharge of the now-41-year-old who has spent greater than 20 years behind bars.
Phinn dominated that the state violated its authorized obligation to share exculpatory proof with Syed’s protection. She ordered him launched from custody and positioned on dwelling detention with GPS location monitoring. She additionally ordered the state to determine whether or not to hunt a brand new trial date or dismiss the case inside 30 days.
Syed, who has all the time maintained his innocence, obtained widespread consideration in 2014 when the debut season of Serial centered on Lee’s killing and raised doubts about a number of the proof prosecutors had used, inspiring numerous dinner desk debates about Syed’s innocence or guilt.
Final week, prosecutors filed a movement saying that a prolonged investigation carried out with the protection had uncovered new proof that would undermine the 2000 conviction of Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend.
Syed was serving a life sentence after he was convicted of strangling 18-year-old Lee, whose physique was discovered buried in a Baltimore park.
The investigation “revealed undisclosed and newly-developed info concerning two different suspects, in addition to unreliable cellular phone tower information,” State’s Legal professional Marilyn Mosby’s workplace stated in a information launch final week. The suspects had been recognized individuals on the time of the unique investigation, however weren’t correctly dominated out nor disclosed to the protection, stated prosecutors, who declined to launch details about the suspects, because of the ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors stated they weren’t asserting that Syed is harmless, however they lacked confidence “within the integrity of the conviction” and really helpful he be launched on his personal recognizance or bail. The state’s lawyer’s workplace had stated if the movement had been granted it could successfully put Syed in a brand new trial standing, vacating his convictions, whereas the case remained energetic.
Syed was led into the crowded courtroom in handcuffs Monday. Sporting a white shirt with a tie, he sat subsequent to his lawyer. His mom and different household representatives had been within the room, as was Mosby.
In 2016, a decrease courtroom ordered a retrial for Syed on grounds that his lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, who died in 2004, didn’t contact an alibi witness and offered ineffective counsel.
However after a collection of appeals, Maryland’s highest courtroom in 2019 denied a brand new trial in a 4-3 opinion. The Court docket of Appeals agreed with a decrease courtroom that Syed’s authorized counsel was poor in failing to analyze an alibi witness, nevertheless it disagreed that the deficiency prejudiced the case. The courtroom stated Syed waived his ineffective counsel declare.
The U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to overview Syed’s case in 2019.
The true-crime collection was the brainchild of longtime radio producer and former Baltimore Solar reporter Sarah Koenig, who spent greater than a 12 months digging into Syed’s case and reporting her findings in nearly real-time in hour-long segments. The 12-episode podcast gained a Peabody Award and was transformative in popularizing podcasts for a large viewers.