Prosecutors in Baltimore have dropped all charges against Adnan Syed — the man whose conviction for the murder of Hae Min Lee was overturned last month — citing new DNA evidence.
Mr Syed spent more than 23 years in jail for the 1999 killing of his high school girlfriend, but continued to protest his innocence throughout his incarceration. The story of the case was told in the hit podcast Serial, which reached millions of listeners around the world.
Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby said on Tuesday that new DNA testing results excluded Mr Syed from their investigation, declaring the criminal case against him “over” and adding that “there are no more appeals necessary.”
“This morning I instructed my office to dismiss the criminal case against Adnan Syed following the second round of DNA testing on items never tested before. Those items included a skirt, pantyhose, shoes and jacket of Ms Hae Min Lee,” Ms Mosby said at a press conference on Tuesday. “Although no DNA evidence was recovered from the skirt, pantyhose and jacket swabs, there were multiple contributors on both of her shoes. Most compellingly, Adnan Syed, his DNA was excluded.”
“Although my administration was not responsible for neither the pain inflicted upon Hae Min Lee’s family, nor was my administration responsible for the wrongful conviction of Mr Syed, as a representative of the institution, it is my responsibility to acknowledge and to apologise to the family of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed,” she said.
“Today, justice is done,” Ms Mosby added.
The Maryland Office of the Public Defender said in a statement the Circuit Court dropped all charges on Tuesday in response to the state’s attorney.
“Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man,” Mr Syed‘s attorney Erica Suter said in the statement. “The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit.”
“While the proceedings are not completely over, this is an important step for Adnan, who has been on house arrest since the motion to vacate was first granted last month,” Ms Suter added. “He still needs some time to process everything that has happened and we ask that you provide him and his family with that space.”
The latest development in the case comes some three weeks after Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated the 41-year-old’s conviction “in the interest of justice”, paving the way for his release from custody on 19 September.
Mr Syed’s release was ordered following a request from prosecutors in Maryland who said that “the state no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction”.
The judge ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Mr Syed’s defence, including the discovery of new information about two alternate unnamed suspects and the reliability of mobile phone tower data that was used against him at trial.
Following his release, Mr Syed was placed on home detention while the state decided whether to seek a new trial or dismiss the case.
Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and family friend of Mr Syed who campaigned for his release, tweeted before the announcement: “Hold on to your hats everyone, it’s gonna be an amazing day.”
Attorney Steve Kelly, speaking on behalf of the Lee family, said they had not been given prior notification of prosecutors’ decision to drop the charges, and first heard about it in the news. “The family received no notice and their attorney was offered no opportunity to be present at the proceeding,” Mr said. “By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the State’s Attorney’s Office sought to silence Hae Min Lee’s family and to prevent the family and the public from understanding why the State so abruptly changed its position of more than 20 years. All this family ever wanted was answers and a voice. Today’s actions robbed them of both.”
