Adnan Syed 'Serial' Case Warrants New Hearing, Victim's Brother Says

BALTIMORE, MD — The brother of Hae Min Lee wants a new hearing for Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction was recently vacated after he served more than 20 years in prison for Lee's 1999 slaying.

In a brief filed in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and obtained by The Baltimore Banner, Young Lee's lawyer asked the court to reverse its decision to vacate charges against Syed, whose case was chronicled on the hit podcast "Serial" after he was found guilty of killing Hae Min Lee.

According to court documents, Young Lee claims his rights as a family member were violated when he did not receive proper notice and was denied the right to be heard at the hearing that overturned the conviction.

"The state’s attorney gave him less than one business day’s notice of the relevant hearing," the brief states. "Neither the State’s motion nor in-court proffer provided enough detail for him to understand, let alone challenge, the evidence purportedly supporting vacatur."

In the brief, Lee's lawyer asked the panel of judges for a new hearing that would allow Young Lee to present evidence and call witnesses challenging what the state presented during Syed's original hearing.

Syed, now 42, was found guilty in a 2000 trial of killing Hae Min Lee, who died by strangulation on Jan. 13, 1999. Her body was found in Leakin Park in Baltimore after she was reported missing.

In September, Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated Syed’s first-degree murder conviction in Hae Min Lee's death after Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby and Syed’s lawyer filed motions questioning the integrity of the trial and evidence that sent Syed to prison.

The judge ordered Syed unshackled in court and to remain on GPS monitoring pending a new trial. She also told prosecutors they had 30 days to either schedule a new trial or drop the case.

Prosecutors dropped all charges against Syed in October.

A month later, a Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that an appeal filed by Hae Min Lee's family could continue, according to a report by The Baltimore Sun. Lee's family filed the appeal shortly after Syed's release, claiming their rights as crime victims had been violated.

According to the Sun, the Lee family isn't seeking to return Syed to prison. Instead, the family is hoping to establish their rights as crime victims under Maryland law were violated.

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