Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial departs the courthouse with his attorney Erica Sute
(Picture: REUTERS)Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who spent 22 years in prison after being convicted of killing his former girlfriend in a case made famous by a podcast.
Adnan Syed, 41, was jailed for life in 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee, 18, whose body was discovered partially buried in a park.
He has always maintained his innocence, and his case captured the attention of millions in 2014 when it was chronicled in Serial, a crime series created by radio producer Sarah Koenig.
Breaking news: After the latest round of DNA testing generated results that, like previous rounds of testing, excluded Adnan Syed, he has now been formally exonerated! https://t.co/RgdYCvgHFz
— Laura Nirider (@LauraNirider) October 11, 2022
Syed was released from prison last month as his conviction was overturned after a Baltimore court heard prosecutors found evidence of other suspects, flawed phone data and unreliable witnesses.
Lawyers affiliated with the high-profile murder case announced on Tuesday that all charges against Syed have now been dropped.
Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the US city of Baltimore's state's attorney's office, said in an email that her office had dropped its case against Syed and would release further details about its decision later on Tuesday.
Laura Nirider, a co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law who accompanied Syed when he walked out of prison last month, tweeted: “Breaking news: After the latest round of DNA testing generated results that, like previous rounds of testing, excluded Adnan Syed, he has now been formally exonerated!”
Erica Suter, a lawyer who has represented Syed in court, confirmed the news to The Baltimore Sun.
There were gasps among onlookers last month as Judge Melissa Phinn approved his move to home detention with GPS tracking.
“All right Mr Syed, you’re free to join your family,” Judge Phinn told him. He was greeted by cheering supporters as he left.
Syed has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of “Serial” focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence.
Prosecutors have previously said that a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternate suspects.
The two suspects may have been involved individually or together, the state’s attorney’s office said.
One of the suspects had threatened Lee, saying “he would make her (Ms. Lee) disappear. He would kill her,” according to a court filing.
The suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one of the suspects was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.
Prosecutors also noted unreliable cellphone data used during Syed’s court case to corroborate his whereabouts on the day of the crime. The notice on the records specifically advised that the billing locations for incoming calls “would not be considered reliable information for location.”
Syed served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of Lee, who was 18 at the time. Her body was found weeks later buried in a Baltimore park.
More than a decade later, the popular “Serial” podcast revealed little-known evidence and attracted millions of listeners, shattering podcast-streaming and downloading records.
