ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A 2022 court hearing that freed Adnan Syed from prison violated the legal rights of the victim’s family and must be redone, Maryland’s Supreme Court ruled Friday, marking the latest development in the ongoing legal saga that gained global attention years ago through the hit podcast “Serial.”
The 4-3 ruling comes about 11 months after the court heard arguments last October in a case that has been fraught with legal twists and divided court rulings since Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
The panel of seven judges weighed the extent to which crime victims have a right to participate in hearings where a conviction could be vacated. To that end, the court considered whether to uphold a lower appellate court ruling in 2023 in favor of the Lee family. It reinstated Syed’s murder conviction a year after a judge granted a request from Baltimore prosecutors to vacate it because of flawed evidence.
Syed, 43, has maintained his innocence and has often expressed concern for Lee’s surviving relatives. The teenage girl was found strangled to death and buried in an unmarked grave in 1999. Syed was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years.
Syed was released from prison in September 2022, when a Baltimore judge overturned his conviction after city prosecutors found flaws in the evidence.
However, in March 2023, the Appellate Court of Maryland, the state’s intermediate appellate court, ordered a redo of the hearing that won Syed his freedom and reinstated his conviction. The court said the victim’s family didn’t receive adequate notice to attend the hearing in person, violating their right under state law to be “treated with dignity and respect.”
Syed’s lawyer Erica Suter has argued that the state did meet its obligation by allowing Lee’s brother Young Lee to participate in the hearing via video conference.
Syed appealed his conviction’s reinstatement, and the Lee family also appealed to the state’s highest court, contending that crime victims should be given a larger role in the process of vacating a conviction.
Syed has remained free as the latest set of appeals wind their way through the state court system.
During oral arguments last year, his attorneys argued the Lee family’s appeal was moot because prosecutors decided not to charge him again after his conviction was vacated. And even if her brother’s rights were violated, the attorneys argued, he hasn’t demonstrated whether the alleged violation would have changed the outcome of the hearing.
This wasn’t the first time Maryland’s highest court has taken up Syed’s protracted legal odyssey.
In 2019, a divided court ruled 4-3 to deny Syed a new trial. A lower court had ordered a retrial in 2016 on grounds that Syed’s attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, didn’t contact an alibi witness and provided ineffective counsel. Gutierrezdied in 2004.
In November 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision by Maryland’s top court.
More recently, Baltimore prosecutors reexamined Syed’s files under a Maryland law targeting so-called “juvenile lifers” because he was 17 when Hae Min Lee’s body was found. Prosecutors uncovered numerous problems, including alternative suspects and the unreliable evidence presented at trial.
Instead of reconsidering his sentence, prosecutors filed a motion to vacate Syed’s conviction entirely. They later chose not to recharge him after receiving the results of DNA testing that was conducted using more modern testing techniques than initially conducted. DNA recovered from Lee’s shoes excluded Syed as a suspect, prosecutors said.
Syed’s case was chronicled in the “Serial” podcast, which debuted in 2014 and drew millions of listeners who became armchair detectives as the series analyzed the case. The show transformed the true-crime genre as it shattered podcast-streaming and downloading records, revealing little-known evidence and raising new questions about the case.
Maryland’s Highest Court Orders Retrial for Adnan Syed in ‘Serial’ Case
In a major development in the long-running case that captivated audiences around the world, Maryland’s highest court has ordered a retrial for Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit podcast “Serial.” The Court of Appeals of Maryland ruled that Syed’s conviction for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee should be vacated due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
Syed was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Lee, a high school student in Baltimore County. The case gained widespread attention after it was featured on the podcast “Serial,” which raised questions about the fairness of Syed’s trial and the evidence used to convict him.
The Court of Appeals’ decision to order a retrial is a significant victory for Syed and his legal team, who have been fighting for years to overturn his conviction. The court found that Syed’s trial attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to adequately investigate an alibi witness who could have provided crucial evidence in his defense.
The court also cited other instances of ineffective assistance of counsel, including Gutierrez’s failure to cross-examine the state’s key witness and her failure to seek a plea deal for Syed. The court concluded that these errors had a prejudicial impact on the outcome of the trial and warranted a new trial.
Syed’s case has been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate since “Serial” first aired in 2014. The podcast raised questions about the reliability of the evidence against Syed, as well as the credibility of key witnesses in the case. The retrial order is a significant development in a case that has divided public opinion and sparked widespread interest in the criminal justice system.
Syed’s legal team has expressed relief and gratitude for the court’s decision, which they believe is a step towards justice for their client. They have vowed to continue fighting for Syed’s exoneration and are hopeful that a new trial will finally bring closure to this long and complex legal saga.
The retrial order is a victory not only for Adnan Syed, but also for advocates of criminal justice reform who have long argued for greater scrutiny of the legal system and the rights of defendants. The case has highlighted the importance of effective legal representation and the need for fair and impartial trials in ensuring justice for all individuals.
As Adnan Syed prepares for his retrial, supporters and observers will be closely watching to see how this high-profile case unfolds. The outcome of the retrial could have far-reaching implications for the criminal justice system and for the rights of defendants facing similar challenges in the future.
