Syed is serving a life sentence since 2000.
AB Wire
Adnan Syed, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and has been serving a life sentence since 2000, has got a reprieve, with a Baltimore, Maryland judge ordering a new trial for him, on Thursday. The stunning new verdict comes on the heels of the popular podcast “Serial” which projected Syed as a victim, nit a murderer.
Syed, now 35, was convicted of killing Lee in 1999. The body of Lee, a classmate of his at Woodlawn High School, was found buried in Baltimore’s Leakin Park. Retired Judge Martin Welch, who had denied Syed’s previous request for a new trial, vacated Syed’s conviction Thursday and said questions about cellphone tower evidence should have been raised by his trial team, reported The Baltimore Sun.
The ruling came four months after a hearing that included testimony from an alibi witness who had been featured in “Serial.”
The podcast was downloaded millions of times, drawing legions of devoted fans who scrutinized the case online.
In 2000, a jury convicted Syed of kidnapping and strangling the 18-year-old Lee, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
No physical evidence tied Syed to the crime. The case relied heavily on the testimony of Jay Wilds, an acquaintance who said he helped Syed bury the body in Leakin Park.
Wilds cooperated with investigators in exchange for avoiding prison time. Phone records showed Syed’s cellphone hitting off towers in the area.
In February, Syed’s defense team put forward a fax cover sheet from AT&T, discovered by Simpson, in which the phone company raised questions about the reliability of technology at the time to pinpoint the location of a phone.
Other calls in Syed’s phone log showed calls made 27 minutes apart in Woodlawn and Washington’s Dupont Circle, more than 40 miles away.
A cellphone technician who testified for the state in the 2000 trial submitted an affidavit in which he said that he was unfamiliar with the fax cover sheet and that it could have changed his testimony.
Susan Simpson, an attorney and “Serial” blogger who produced an offshoot podcast called “Undisclosed,” is credited with tracking down the evidence that Welch cited in granting a new trial.
“If it weren’t for her eagle eye … we might not have won here,” said Rabia Chaudry, the Syed family friend who co-hosted “Undisclosed.”
Syed remains in prison in Western Maryland, where he has been fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. His attorney said he expects the state to appeal the ruling, but said the defense had cleared its biggest hurdle, reported the Baltimore Sun.
“We have been fighting for this day for, I think it’s been about eight years now, and it’s been a grueling fight, and there have been a lot of disappointments along the way, and there were times when it looked like we had lost,” attorney C. Justin Brown said. “But we made it. We got a new trial.”
The Maryland attorney general’s office, which argued against a new trial, said Welch ruled in its favor “on a number of issues, but there does appear to be at least one ground that will need to be resolved by the appellate courts.”
“It is the continued desire of the Attorney General to seek justice in the murder of Hae Min Lee,” the office said in a statement. “The state’s responsibility remains to pursue justice, and to defend what it believes is a valid conviction.”
At a five-day hearing in February, the attorney general’s office contended that Syed was a calculated killer whose conviction was the only possible outcome. Deputy Maryland Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah said Syed was convicted based on “overwhelming evidence.”
“He did it, and the state proved it,” Vignarajah said.
During the hearing, Lee’s family broke a long silence to say that “those who learn about the case on the internet” and were pushing for Syed’s release were “misinformed,” and that it was “more clear than ever” that justice was served the first time.
“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,” the family said in a statement released by the attorney general’s office.
Sarah Koenig, co-producer and host of “Serial,” said she was surprised by Welch’s action Thursday. She said she was still processing the complex ruling and the magnitude of the news and declined to comment further.
ABC News reported syed’s lawyer will now seek bail for his client.
“We are just starting to look into that and I think we have a very compelling case,” Justin Brown said on “Good Morning America.” “He’s not a flight risk and he is not a danger to the community and therefore he should be allowed out on bail.”
But whether they pursue a bail hearing is yet to be determined, Brown said, adding that he hadn’t been able to reach his client as of this morning.
He said he’s positive, however, that the news has reached Syed in a Maryland prison.
Time magazine reported the brother of Adnan Syed has spoken out after the new verdict.
“We are happy and in shock still,” Yusef Syed told People. “We have waited 20 years for justice.”