BALTIMORE — An opinion issued this week in the appeal of the family of Hae Min Lee from the notorious case of the man long held responsible for her killing, Adnan Syed, has touched off a debate in Maryland about crime victim rights.
State law says crime victims or people representing them should be treated with “dignity, respect, and sensitivity during all phases of the criminal justice process,” and the Appellate Court of Maryland said that didn’t happen last September, when Lee’s brother, Young Lee, got short notice of a hearing that terminated Syed’s murder conviction and was able to attend that proceeding not in person but by video call.
However, the same appeals judges who found Young Lee’s rights were violated acknowledged that Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn went above and beyond by allowing him the opportunity to address the court that day — the law does not expressly give victims the right to speak at hearings to vacate court judgments.
