'Serial' Star Adnan Syed's Murder Conviction Tossed Out

BALTIMORE, MD — A Baltimore judge on Monday overturned "Serial" podcast star Adnan Syed's murder conviction in the 1999 slaying of his girlfriend.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated Syed’s first-degree murder conviction in the death of Hae Min Lee. Baltimore City State 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, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Phinn ordered Syed to be released from prison on home detention. Prosecutors have 30 days to either schedule a new trial or drop the case. There were gasps in the courtroom and spectators in the gallery began to applaud as the judge made her ruling, The Baltimore Banner reported.

A year-long investigation unearthed new information and identified two alternative suspects, who have not been charged or named.

Syed, whose case was featured on the hit podcast "Serial" in 2014, is serving a life sentence for the murder of his ex-girlfriend while they were students at Woodlawn High School.

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

"To be clear, the State is not asserting at this time that Mr. Syed is innocent," a statement from Mosby's office released last week said. "While the investigation remains ongoing, when considering the totality of the circumstances, the State lacks confidence in the integrity of the conviction and requests that Mr. Syed be afforded a new trial."

Mosby filed the motion to vacate Syed's murder conviction, and asked for a new trial.

Syed was serving a life sentence for the murder of his ex-girlfriend while they were students at Woodlawn High School.

Young Lee, Hae Min Lee’s brother, said in court Monday that prosecutors’ motion to vacate the conviction left him feeling “betrayed.”

“That’s really tough for me to swallow, and especially for my mom,” he said, according to The Washington Post.

"Today, my friend and client Adnan Syed walks free for the first time in 23 years. In 1999, Adnan was a senior at Woodlawn High School. He had been accepted to college with plans to major in pre-med. Those dreams were ended with Adnan was accused of the brutal murder of his friend and classmate, Hae Min Lee," Assistant Public Defender and Innocence Project Clinic Director Erica Suter said, as reported by WBAL.

Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue released a statement, saying: "Adnan Syed never should have waited this long for his name to be cleared and his freedom restored. The information pointing to other, more likely, suspects was within the possession of the state's attorney's office for 23 years. Withholding evidence is unconscionable and morally reprehensible."

The Serial podcast became a pop-culture sensation with its detailed examination over 12 episodes of the case against Syed, including the actions of his lawyer, who agreed to be disbarred amid complaints of wrongdoing in 2001 and died in 2004, The New York Times reported.

Last year, Syed's attorney brought his case before the state's Sentencing Review Unit. Because he was a juvenile and had spent more than 20 years in prison, prosecutors said Syed was a candidate for sentencing review under the Juvenile Restoration Act, which took effect in October 2021.

While reviewing his case, additional evidence emerged, prompting the state to conduct further analysis and forensic testing, according to Mosby's office.

As part of the investigation, prosecutors ordered the Baltimore City Crime Lab to conduct DNA testing of Lee's clothes and hair found around the crime scene. The testing was reportedly not available when the case first went to trial.

To date, no evidence has been obtained through DNA testing, according to Mosby's office.

In the last year, additional evidence also revealed the possible involvement of two additional suspects, according to court documents. The suspects were known to authorities during the original investigation but were not "properly ruled out," the motion read. At least one of the additional suspects reportedly threatened to kill Lee, according to court documents.

The investigation also found a separate document from the original trial file, in which a different person relayed information that can be viewed as a motive for that same suspect to harm the victim, prosecutors said. The information about the threat and motives to harm could have provided a basis for the defense and was not disclosed to the trial nor the post-conviction defense counsel, the state's attorney's office said.

Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.

The podcast "Serial" brought to light unreliable cellphone data and an alibi witness never called to the stand in the trial.

Syed's attorney failed to speak with Asia McClain, a classmate whose testimony could have exonerated him, the court said. 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 Lee's murder occurred between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. near Best Buy off Security Boulevard, about 1.5 miles from the library.

In March 2019, the Maryland Court of Appeals voted not to reopen the case. Several judges said they believed the testimony of McLain would not have changed the trial's outcome, and one said it may have been harmful to Syed.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Syed's case in 2019.

In her office's statement, Mosby said Syed "deserves a new trial where he is adequately represented, and the latest evidence can be presented."

"As stewards of the court, we are obligated to uphold confidence in the integrity of convictions and do our part to correct when this standard has been compromised," Mosby said. "We have spoken to the family of Ms. Hae Min Lee and fully understand the person responsible for this heinous crime must be held accountable."

Lee’s family expressed concern that prosecutors had not given them adequate notice about the move to vacate the conviction. On Monday, Steve Kelly, the family’s lawyer, asked Judge Phinn to delay a decision on the motion but she rejected the request, The Times said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.