Adnan Syed gets a new trial
Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit podcast series Serial, walked out of court to applause after a Maryland judge overturned his murder conviction and ordered his release after more than 23 years behind bars.
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated the 41-year-old’s conviction and granted him a new trial Monday.
The overturning of his conviction came after prosecutors said a nearly year-long investigation had called into question the validity of cell tower data and uncovered new information about the possible involvement of two unnamed alternate suspects.
Officials now have 30 days to decide whether to drop the charges against Syed entirely. There is reason to believe they will.
In the meantime, Syed will remain under house arrest with a GPS bracelet that monitors his movements.
Syed was convicted in 2000 of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and imprisonment of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
Lee, 18, disappeared after dropping out of her high school on January 13, 1999. Her strangled body was found in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park about a month later. Syed has always maintained his innocence.
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What happened to Hae Min Lee?
Hae Min Lee, 18, was a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland.
On January 13, 1999, he disappeared without a trace after leaving high school.
His body was found about a month after his disappearance buried in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park. She had been strangled.
Adnan Syed, who was 17 at the time, had Lee with him, but not long before she was killed, she had broken up with him and started dating someone else.
In February 1999, Syed was arrested and charged with her murder.
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 6:20 p.m
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Murder lawyer Brendan Dassey speaks out
A lawyer representing Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey has spoken out about Adnan Syed’s case as he vowed not to let his client spend 23 years behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit.
Dassey, then 17, was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Teresa Halbach alongside her uncle Steven Avery in 2007.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Now 32, he is fighting for his release, saying he was forced to make a false confession.
Just as Syed’s case gained international attention through the hit podcast Serial, Dassey and Avery’s case was chronicled in the popular Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, with both series leading the wave of true crime drama.
Dassey’s attorney, Laura Nirider, tweeted about the cases after Syed’s conviction was overturned.
“Adnan Syed had to wait 23 years, even though the world fought for him. He was locked up at 17, not free until 41,” he tweeted.
“Brendan is almost 33 years old. Closed at 16. And I know the world is fighting for him too. Because we’re not going to wait 23 years to free Brendan Dassey.”
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 5:50 pm
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Hae Min Lee’s family releases a statement
Hae Min Lee’s family has spoken out after the man convicted of murdering her 22 years ago walked out of a Baltimore courthouse on Monday.
Steve Kelly, a lawyer representing the Lee family, issued a statement saying “no one has wanted to know the truth about who killed Hae Min Lee more than her family.”
The family also criticized prosecutors for their lack of notice that they planned to overturn Adnan Syed’s conviction.
“For more than 20 years, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office has told Hae Min Lee’s family that their beloved daughter and sister were murdered by Adnan Syed,” the statement said.
“A week ago, for the first time, the family was informed that, through a year-long investigation that appears to be still ongoing, the state had discovered new facts and would file a motion to quash the conviction of Mr. Syed.
“For over 20 years, no one wants to know the truth about who killed Hae Min Lee more than her family.
“The Lee family is deeply disappointed that today’s hearing took place so quickly and that they were denied reasonable notice that would have allowed them to have a meaningful voice in the proceedings.”
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 5:20 pm
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Who is Jay Wilds?
Adnan Syed’s conviction in 2000 was based largely on the testimony of his friend Jay Wilds, who claimed that Syed confessed to killing Lee and asked for his help in digging a hole to bury his body in Leakin Park, Baltimore.
Wilds said he followed through because Syed threatened to tell police he was running a drug operation, which he feared would lead to a large prison sentence.
The Serial podcast raised questions about the reliability of his testimony, saying he had changed his story several times, particularly about where he was when he saw Lee’s body.
In 2019, Wilds spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with The Intercept where he continued to maintain that he saw Lee’s body and helped Syed dispose of it.
However, she again changed parts of her story, saying she first saw Lee’s body in the trunk of a car outside her grandmother’s house, and not in the parking lot of a Best Buy local, as he said at trial.
He claimed he lied to the police to protect his grandmother, who was dealing drugs out of her home at the time.
“I didn’t tell the cops it was in front of my house because I didn’t want to involve my grandmother,” he said.
“I think I told them it was in front of Cathy [a psuedonym] house, but it was in front of my grandmother’s house. I know it happened nowhere but at my grandmother’s house.
“I remember freeway traffic to my right, and I remember being there on the sidewalk. I remember Adnan standing next to me.
He added: “I was convinced at the time that he was going to prison for a long time if he [Adnan] he turned me in for drug dealing, especially to high school kids. I was running too [drug] operations from my grandmother’s house. So that would ruin his life too. I was also around a lot of people earlier in the day [at Cathy’s]and I didn’t want them to screw up a homicide.”
Syed has accused Wilds of lying throughout the trial.
In filing to dismiss Syed’s conviction, Baltimore prosecutors raised questions about Wilds’ reliability as a witness.
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 4:50 pm
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What we know about two alternative suspects in the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee
Adnan Syed walked out of court a free man Monday, after a nearly year-long investigation turned up new evidence implicating two alternative suspects in the 1999 murder of student Hae Min Lee.
On Monday, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated the 41-year-old’s conviction “in the interest of justice,” granted him a new trial and ordered him released on house arrest while The investigation into Lee’s murder continues.
His release came days after Maryland prosecutors made a major motion to overturn his conviction.
On Wednesday, after more than two decades behind bars where Syed has continued to maintain his innocence of any involvement, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby filed a motion to throw out his conviction.
He said “the state no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction” based on doubts about the validity of cellphone records and new information about two unnamed suspects.
Wednesday’s court filing did not name the two alternate suspects in the case, citing an ongoing investigation.
However, prosecutors said the two alternative suspects were known to the initial 1999 murder investigation and were not ruled out or disclosed to the defense.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Adnan Syed Freed: What We Know About Two Alternative ‘Serial’ Murder Suspects.
The series podcast named Ronald Lee Moore, a career criminal and accused murderer from Baltimore, as a suspect in Hae Min Lee’s murder.
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 4:19 p.m
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Adnan Syed was photographed enjoying the new freedom
Adnan Syed has been photographed enjoying his newfound freedom at home with his family and supporters.
The 41-year-old, who was 17 when he was arrested and charged with murder, was released on Monday after 23 years behind bars.
His freedom comes after family friend and lawyer Rabia Chaudry fought for his release for years, and his case finally gained attention after she contacted journalist Sarah Koenig.
Afterward, Ms. Koenig hosted the Serial podcast series about the case.
Ms Chaudry shared a photo of herself and Syed smiling together at their family home, following the judge’s decision on Monday.
“I rise full of joy #WeFreedAdnan,” he tweeted Tuesday morning.
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 3:48 p.m
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Maryland’s new Juvenile Reduction Act resulted in the case landing on the DA’s desk
It all started when the Maryland Youth Restoration Act went into effect on October 1, 2021.
The law allows offenders who were minors at the time of the offense to apply for a reduced sentence.
According to the law, the crime must have taken place when the person was a minor and must have served at least 20 years of the sentence.
Syed was 17 when he was arrested and charged with strangling Lee to death in 1999.
In 2022, he had spent 23 years behind bars.
As soon as the law went into effect, his lawyers applied for a reduced sentence.
His case landed on the desk of Becky Feldman, head of the Sentencing Review Unit of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, to review the application and she was ” on the case,” according to the new episode of Serial released Tuesday.
Rachel Sharp September 20, 2022 3:15 p.m
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Adnan Syed was losing “hope” for freedom before the shock release
Adnan Syed had been ‘trying to destroy hope’ that he would ever regain his freedom, before his crash…