Adnan Syed has had murder charges against him dropped after spending 23 years in jail. Last month, he was released from prison after the conviction was overturned.
The 41-year-old was found guilty of the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee but has always maintained his innocence, and was the subject of the podcast Serial's hit first season, reports the Mirror.
Syed will now be able to live as a free man as after the conviction was overturned in September, prosecutors had just 30 days to charge him again or let him walk. Serial raised serious questions over the evidence used during the trial in 2000, which saw Syed sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn quashed the conviction "in the interest of justice" last month. The conviction was overturned after it was determined prosecutors in the original trial did not correctly provide Syed's defence team with information that could have helped them point the finger at another suspect.
They admitted "the state no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction". The vindicated Syed will no longer be under house arrest as authorities look for the person who did murder his ex-girlfriend.
Last month, it was confirmed two more suspects were in the frame. The pair are believed to have been known to police in 1999. Ahead of confirmation that Syed would go free, lawyer and friend Rabia Chaudry said: "Hold on to your hats everyone, it’s gonna be an amazing day."
Hae Min Lee was just 18 when she was murdered in 1999 and found buried in Baltimore's Leakin Park. Before the dropped charges were confirmed, Hae Min Lee's brother Young Lee asked the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to stall proceedings, hoping the deadline for when prosecutors would decide if they would renew charges would be suspended.
