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Reuters
Reuters
World

Maryland judge vacates murder conviction of 'Serial' podcast subject Syed

Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” departs after a judge overturned Syed's 2000 murder conviction and ordered a new trial during a hearing at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

A Maryland judge on Monday vacated the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed after prosecutors said there were grave problems with his trial, including two other possible suspects in the killing of his former girlfriend who were never disclosed to the defense.

The case gained national attention when the podcast "Serial" raised doubts about his guilt. Syed, now 42, has always said he was innocent and did not kill Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was strangled and buried in a Baltimore park in 1999.

Judge Melissa Phinn of the Circuit Court in Baltimore ordered Syed to be released from prison, where he was serving a life sentence, and put on home detention and that a new trial be scheduled. Syed emerged smiling from the courthouse as onlookers cheered and applauded, though he did not speak.

Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast ?Serial,? leaves the courthouse after a judge overturned Syed's 2000 murder conviction and ordered a new trial during a hearing at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The state's attorney for Baltimore filed a motion to vacate the conviction on Wednesday following a year-long investigation conducted alongside a public defender representing Syed, in which several problems were found with witnesses and evidence from the trial.

Prosecutors told the court they were not yet asserting that Syed is innocent but that they no longer had confidence in "the integrity of the conviction," and that justice required that Syed at least be afforded a new trial. They said Syed should be released from prison, where he has spent more than two decades, while prosecutors complete the investigation and decide whether to seek a new trial or to prosecute a different suspect.

Prosecutors said that they had found new information about two alternative suspects, whom they have not named, including one who had threatened to kill Lee, and both of whom have a history of violent crimes against women. Their identities were known to the original prosecutors but not disclosed to the defense as required by law.

Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast ?Serial,? smiles and waves as he heads to a vehicle after exiting the courthouse after a judge overturned Syed's 2000 murder conviction and ordered a new trial during a hearing at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Prosecutors also decided a key witness and the detective who investigated the murder were unreliable. They also found new information that cast doubt on the cellphone data prosecutors relied upon at trial to place Syed at the scene of the murder.

Young Lee, the victim's brother, told the court he was shocked and his family felt betrayed that the prosecutors had reversed course after standing by the conviction for decades.

"It's really tough to go through this again and again and again," he said, his voice breaking and wavering at times. "It's a living nightmare."

Attorney Chris Flohr cries as he embraces podcaster Sarah Koenig after Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” faces reporters after a judge overturned Syed's 2000 murder conviction and ordered a new trial during a hearing at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The podcast "Serial," produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ, drew national attention to the case in 2014.

"Justice over convictions is not only our mantra but our mission," Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney for Baltimore, said at a news conference after the hearing. She said her office was awaiting new test results on DNA evidence before announcing her next steps.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa Shumaker)

Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” arrives pror to a hearing to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Syed, at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Catina Carter, wearing a T-shirt with the name Adnan Syed whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” is seated next to Mickey Tait, clad in a shirt featuring Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, as they wait outside the courthouse for developments in the hearing to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed, at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland U.S., September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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