Adnan Syed, standing with his mother Shamim Rahman, talks to reporters outside the Maryland Supreme Court in Annapolis, Md., on Oct. 5, 2023.
Susan Walsh/AP
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Susan Walsh/AP
Less than two years after Adnan Syed was released from prison, Maryland’s top court has ordered another hearing on his release.
On Friday, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld a 2023 appeals court decision to overturn Syed’s conviction. The ruling was based on the argument that the families of the murder victims did not receive sufficient notice of the hearing that led to Syed’s release.
Now, the case will go to a new lower court judge, who will decide the fate of Syed’s conviction. The Maryland Supreme Court said Syed can remain free.
The 43-year-old man was jailed for 23 years for killing his former high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The case attracted national attention after becoming the main focus of the Serial the first season of the podcast. The episode cast doubt on some of the case’s evidence and prompted calls for a new trial. Syed initially faced life in prison until a Baltimore judge vacated his sentence in 2022.
Syed then worked at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. But the case is far from over. Here’s what you need to know.
Summary of the criminal case of Syed
In 1999, the body of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee was found in a city park, weeks after she went missing. Her autopsy determined she had been strangled to death.
Syed, who had previously dated Lee, was charged with her murder and in 2000, he was sentenced to life in prison. At that time, he was 18 years old.
Syed has long pleaded not guilty, but the case regained attention in 2014 after it was told in the film’s debut season. Serial podcast. Over the course of 12 episodes, Serial investigate the details of Syed’s case and reveal flaws in the legal system. An interesting question from the podcast is about the reliability of cell phone tower evidence.
Syed’s lawyers raised similar concerns and in 2016, Syed was granted a new trial. The state appealed the verdict and the case went through various courts. In 2019, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Things happened in 2022 after a year-long investigation yielded new information about two possible, alternative suspects. In September that year, Syed was released from prison and prosecutors later decided to drop all cases against him.
Why Syed’s murder sentence was reinstated
In 2023, Lee’s family asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to repeat the hearing that won Syed’s freedom. The family said Lee’s sister, who lives in California, received the news about three days ago about the hearing and therefore, cannot attend in person – a violation of the rights of victims of Maryland’, the Associated Press reported at the time.
“We are not in a campaign to put Adnan Syed back in jail,” attorney David Sanford, who represents Lee’s family, said in 2023. “This is about respecting the victims and their representatives.”
The appeals court ruled in favor of Lee’s family and reinstated Syed’s murder conviction. The court also ordered a new hearing in the case. The ruling was made by Maryland’s highest court on Friday.
“In an attempt to remedy what they perceived as an injustice to Mr. Syed, the prosecutor and the circuit court worked injustice to Mr. Lee,” the Maryland Supreme Court wrote in its opinion on Friday.
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The Baltimore state’s attorney’s office said it was reviewing the high court’s decision and did not have further details on its next steps.
In a statement, Lee’s family lawyer, Sanford, applauded the court for reaffirming the rights of crime victims and giving the family a chance to be heard properly in court.
“If there is strong evidence to support vacating Adnan Syed’s conviction, we will be the first to agree,” said Sanford.
Syed’s attorney, Erica Suter, said she disagreed with the court’s decision, adding that it would be emotionally draining for Lee and Syed’s families.
“Although this final sentence is a roadblock to Adnan’s deportation, we are confident that justice will be served, and will work hard to clear his name once and for all,” Suter said in a statement.
