The family of Hae Min Lee will appeal a Baltimore judge’s decision to overturn the conviction of Adnan Syed – the man at the centre of the Serial podcast case who spent more than two decades behind bars for her murder.
Lee’s brother Young Lee filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday, claiming that the family’s right to meaningfully participate in the court hearing which resulted in Mr Syed’s release was violated.
On 19 September, Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn overturned the 41-year-old’s conviction for Lee’s brutal 1999 murder and ordered his immediate release.
The ruling came after State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby asked for his conviction to be vacated, saying that newly-discovered information about two other potential suspects had raised serious doubts about the case.
Mr Syed, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, walked out of court a free man for the first time in 23 years.
Lee’s family members were not present in person at the hearing and have condemned prosecutors over their handling of the matter.
Before the judge issued the ruling, Mr Lee gave a statement to the court via Zoom from the West Coast where he said that he felt “betrayed” by the prosecution for blindsiding the family by casting doubt on Syed’s guilt – after spending more than two decades insisting he was the killer.
“I’ve been living with this for like 20 plus years. Every day when I think it’s over... or it’s ended, it always comes back,” he said. “It’s killing me. It’s really tough.”
He added: “This is not a podcast for me. This is real life.”
Steve Kelly, an attorney for the family, asked the judge to postpone the hearing for seven days so that Mr Lee could attend in person.
He branded the prosecution’s failure to give the victim’s family enough noticve about the development and about the court hearing “inexcusable”.
The judge scheduled the court hearing on Friday 16 September for the next working day that Monday.
Prosecutor Becky Feldman told the judge that she had contacted Lee’s family on the afternoon of 16 September to inform them.
On the day before the hearing, she said Mr Lee responded to say he planned to attend the hearing virtually.
But, that night, the family hired Mr Kelly to represent them.
Judge Phinn denied the request to postpone the hearing saying the family was given enough time. But she did delay proceedings for around 30 minutes so that Mr Lee, who was at work at the time, would be able to join the call.
Mr Kelly said on Wednesday that the notice to appeal the ruling is the first step in seeking the Maryland Court of Special Appeals’ review of the potential violations of victim’s rights statutes.
The family is expected to appeal on the grounds that they were not given enough notice to attend and participate in the court hearing.
Under Maryland law, the victim’s family should be given “reasonable” notice of a court hearing.
The law does not specify what timeframe is deemed to be “reasonable”.
Ms Mosby’s office has insisted that it kept the Lee family informed and considered them each step of the way.
“We truly empathise with Hae Min Lee’s family, who believed they had resolution and are now being re-traumatized by the misdeeds of the prior prosecutors,” spokesperson Zy Richardson told The Baltimore Sun.
“As administrators of the criminal justice system, our responsibility is to ensure that justice is done, and the right person is held accountable. We refuse to be distracted from this fundamental obligation and will never give up in our fight with the Lee family.”
The family’s appeal comes as sources told the local outlet that the Maryland Attorney General’s Office is also planning to file a brief arguing the judge erred in vacating Mr Syed’s conviction.
The AG’s office repeatedly insisted that Mr Syed was guilty of murdering Lee during his appeals and has been accused of hiding evidence pointing to other potential suspects from his legal team.
Attorney General Brian Frosh denied the allegation.
Ms Mosby’s office has until 19 October to decide whether to set a date for a new trial or to drop all charges against Mr Syed.
Prosecutors are waiting for the results of new DNA testing which they hope could advance the investigation.
Mr Syed’s release came after an almost years-long investigation raised serious doubts about the case.
Prosecutors cited doubts about the validity of cellphone tower data which was used in the original trial to place Syed at the scene of the crime.
She also pointed to new information about the possible involvement of two alternate unnamed suspects.
The two suspects, who were not named because of the ongoing investigation, were both known to the initial 1999 murder investigation and were not properly ruled out or disclosed to the defence, prosecutors said.
According to the court documents, one of the suspects had threatened to kill Lee around the time of her murder, saying that “he would make [Lee] disappear. He would kill her”.
Lee’s car was also found directly behind the house of one of the suspect’s family members, prosecutors said.
One of the suspects was ruled out of the case by police based on faulty polygraph tests, the documents state.
Both suspects have criminal records, with one convicted of attacking a woman in her car and the other convicted of serial rape and sexual assault.
Lee, 18, vanished without a trace back on 13 January 1999 after leaving Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was a senior. Her body was found around one month later buried in a park in Baltimore. She had been strangled.
Mr Syed, Lee’s former boyfriend who was 17 at the time, was arrested and charged with her murder. In 2000, he was convicted of murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment and sentenced to life in prison.
He has always maintained his innocence.
His case shot to global attention in 2014 through true crime podcast Serial.
