Adnan Syed Case Update: New Trial Ordered

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has determined Adnan Syed will have a new trial. The opinion was issued Thursday, March 29.

Syed was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee while they were teenagers attending Woodlawn High School.

The podcast "Serial" cast doubt on Syed's guilt, bringing to light unreliable cell phone data and an alibi witness never called to the stand.

Syed petitioned his case and was granted an appeal in 2015. Judge Martin P. Welch vacated Syed's conviction in June 2016. However, Welch denied his request to be released on bail, saying that among other factors, he believed Syed would be a flight risk since he would face a life sentence for murder if retried.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ordered a new trial Thursday based on the violation of Syed’s Sixth Amendment right, specifically the part guaranteeing "the assistance of counsel" for his defense.

To show a Sixth Amendment violation of this nature, the court must determine two requirements have been met: The attorney made errors that deem the counsel deficient, and the attorney prejudiced the defense.

Syed’s attorney failed to speak with Asia (Chapman) McClain, a classmate whose testimony could have exonerated him, the court said.

McClain, who described herself as someone who was not a close friend of Syed, wrote letters to him in jail letting him know that she and two others could verify that he was at the Woodlawn branch of the Baltimore County Public Library near their high school the afternoon of the murder. She said she had a conversation with him that lasted about 15 to 20 minutes and could recall details of that day.

Upon receiving the letters, Syed asked his attorney to contact McClain and obtain security footage from the Woodlawn library. Although his lawyer said she spoke to McClain and “nothing came of it,” McClain said she was never contacted, despite leaving her phone number in her correspondence.

McClain swore in March 2000 and January 2015 affidavits that she had seen Syed at the Woodlawn library from approximately 2:20 to 2:40 p.m. on Jan. 13, 1999.

At trial, where McClain was never called as a witness, prosecutors said the murder took place between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. in the area of Best Buy off Security Boulevard, about 1.5 miles from the library.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that Syed's attorney did not do an adequate job in representing him by failing to contact the potential witness whose testimony would have called into question the state's case.

To determine he had inadequate representation, judges also had to find that Syed's attorney prejudiced the defense.

“It is our opinion that, if McClain’s testimony had been presented to the jury, it would have ‘alter[ed] the entire evidentiary picture,’ because her testimony would have placed Syed at the Woodlawn Public Library at the time the State claimed that Syed murdered Hae,” according to the March 29 opinion issued by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

"The Court, therefore, held that the jury was deprived of the [opportunity] to hear testimony that [would or] could have supplied ‘reasonable doubt' in at least one juror’s mind leading to a different outcome..." the opinion stated.

"...the Court concluded that there was a reasonable probability that, but for trial counsel’s deficient performance, the result of Syed’s trial would have been different."

Read the opinion from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

The new case will be tried in Baltimore City Circuit Court, and costs are to be paid by the mayor and city council of Baltimore, according to the order.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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