Adnan Syed Speaks Out After Appeal Hearing: 'We've Suffered So Much'

BALTIMORE, MD — Shortly after lawyers for Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee's brother argued about whether Syed's murder conviction in Lee's 1999 slaying should be reinstated, Syed asked the court to recognize his family's pain.

Thursday's hearing came after a request by Young Lee to reverse the court's decision to vacate charges against Syed and ultimately order a redo of the September hearing that set him free after spending 22 years in prison.

According to court documents, Young Lee claimed 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.

"It seems like our family, we just go unnoticed," Syed said in a video shared by WJZ's Avajoye Burnett. "Every time we go to court we go unnoticed. We definitely understand Hae's family has suffered so much, and they continue to suffer. And it's just that we suffer too. And we hope that the court today just takes notice of that."

Syed's case gained national attention when it was chronicled on the hit podcast "Serial" after he was found guilty of killing Hae Min Lee.

Syed 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 former 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 a separate Baltimore Sun report, an appellate court judge on Thursday questioned Young Lee's lawyers on whether the appeal was moot because the underlying criminal case no longer exists.

Young Lee's case is unprecedented, according to the Sun, meaning little to no case law exists.

In a court filing, Syed's lawyer Erica Suter said Young Lee's request goes "far beyond the scope of crime victims’ rights," the Sun reported.

“Victims do not prosecute charges, they do not decide which witnesses to call, and they do not cross-examine those witnesses,” Suter wrote. “Giving Appellant what he wants will not just result in the re-imprisonment of Mr. Syed for a crime he did not commit, it will wreak havoc on our criminal justice system."

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