'Serial' Appeal: Attorney For Podcast Star Argues For New Trial

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Judges in Maryland's Court of Special Appeals must weigh whether to grant a new trial for Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction raised questions after the popular podcast "Serial" brought new details to light about his case.

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 2014 podcast "Serial" led to the unearthing of two pieces of the case on which the appeal hinges: unreliable cell phone data used as evidence and an alibi witness who was not called to the stand.

Syed petitioned his case and was granted an appeal in 2015, and a judge vacated his conviction in June 2016, ordering a new trial.

The state has appealed the order for a new trial. On Thursday, the court heard arguments from attorneys on both sides in Annapolis. Syed was not present at the hearing, where no witness testimony was presented.

One piece of the appeal had to deal with technological evidence. According to The Guardian, Syed’s case in 2000 was among the first where cell phone records were used to geolocate someone in tying them to a crime, and the technology was far from perfect. Cell phone records that allegedly tied Syed to Leakin Park, where Lee's body was found, had come with a disclaimer saying that the information may not be accurate, a disclosure that was not mentioned at the trial.

"This is a piece of paper that says incoming phone calls are not reliable," Syed's attorney, C. Justin Brown, told media, noting it was "a defense attorney's dream."

"We want the courts to look at the big picture and look and see whether this conviction was constitutional," Brown said outside the Annapolis courthouse. "Were all the rules followed in obtaining this conviction? We say that there were severe problems with it, and we're asking for a new trial."

The other issue involved a witness who provided an alibi for Syed yet was not called to the stand.

A former classmate of Syed — Asia McClain Chapman — said that she had chatted with Syed at the time of the murder, and they were in the Woodlawn library; two other students could attest to that and library footage could verify it, but despite writing a letter to his previous attorney Cristina Gutierrez with that information, she said she never heard back, according to court filings. Gutierrez died more than 10 years ago.

Maryland's Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah argued that Gutierrez had it on record that she was "very focused on developing an alibi" that had Syed at school rather than in the library at the time of the murder, according to the Associated Press, which reported that was why she did not call McClain to the stand.

A decision will be filed in the form of a written opinion at a later date, at some point after the June 8 hearing.

"He's patient," Rabia Chaudry, a family friend of Syed, told reporters after the hearing. "He's in good spirits."

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