Adnan Syed enters a Baltimore courthouse previous to a listening to on Feb. 3, 2016. Baltimore prosecutors requested a decide on Wednesday to vacate his conviction for the 1999 homicide of Hae Min Lee — a case that was chronicled within the hit podcast “Serial.”
Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Solar through AP, File
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Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Solar through AP, File
Adnan Syed enters a Baltimore courthouse previous to a listening to on Feb. 3, 2016. Baltimore prosecutors requested a decide on Wednesday to vacate his conviction for the 1999 homicide of Hae Min Lee — a case that was chronicled within the hit podcast “Serial.”
Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Solar through AP, File
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Baltimore prosecutors requested a decide on Wednesday to vacate Adnan Syed’s conviction for the 1999 homicide of Hae Min Lee — a case that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial.”
Baltimore’s state’s legal professional filed a movement in circuit court docket, saying a prolonged investigation performed with the protection had uncovered new proof that might undermine the conviction of Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend.
“The movement filed right this moment helps a brand new trial for Syed primarily based on a virtually year-long investigation that exposed undisclosed and newly-developed data relating to two different suspects, in addition to unreliable cellular phone tower knowledge,” State’s Legal professional Marilyn Mosby’s workplace stated in a information launch.
Syed, 42, has maintained his innocence for many years and captured the eye of hundreds of thousands in 2014 when the debut season of the “Serial” podcast centered on the case and raised doubts about a number of the proof, together with cellphone tower knowledge.
Prosecutors advocate that Syed be launched
Prosecutors on Wednesday stated they weren’t asserting that Syed is harmless, however they lacked confidence “within the integrity of the conviction” and advisable he be launched on his personal recognizance or bail.
“We consider that protecting Mr. Syed detained as we proceed to analyze the case with every thing that we all know now, after we should not have confidence in outcomes of the primary trial, can be unjust,” Mosby added.
The state’s legal professional’s workplace stated if the court docket grants its movement it will successfully put Syed in a brand new trial standing, and his convictions can be vacated, however the case would stay energetic.
“Whether or not the State in the end continues with a trial on this matter or dismisses the fees will depend upon the end result of the continued investigation,” the state’s legal professional’s workplace stated.
State legal professional’s workplace says two different suspects could also be concerned
Prosecutors stated a reinvestigation of the case revealed proof relating to the potential involvement of two different suspects apart from Syed. The 2 suspects could also be concerned individually or could also be concerned collectively, the state’s legal professional’s workplace stated. One suspect had threatened Lee, saying “he would make her
Now, prosecutors say, the roughly year-long probe revealed two different suspects who had been recognized to the authorities 23 years in the past however not disclosed to Syed’s protection. Neither prosecutors nor protection attorneys will reveal the suspects’ identities as a result of the investigation is ongoing, based on the movement.
One of many suspects had threatened Lee, saying “he would make her (Ms. Lee) disappear. He would kill her,” based on the submitting.
“Given the beautiful lack of dependable proof implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with rising proof pointing to different suspects, this unjust conviction can’t stand,” stated Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, Mr. Syed’s legal professional and, Director of the Innocence Mission Clinic. “Mr. Syed is grateful that this data has lastly seen the sunshine of day and appears ahead to his day in court docket.”
The suspects had been recognized individuals on the time of the unique investigation and weren’t correctly dominated out nor disclosed to the protection, prosecutors stated.
The investigation additionally discovered a separate doc from the unique trial file, during which a unique particular person relayed data that may be seen as a motive for that very same suspect to hurt the sufferer, prosecutors stated. The details about the risk and motives to hurt might have supplied a foundation for the protection and was not disclosed to the trial nor the post-conviction protection counsel, the state’s legal professional’s workplace stated.
Prosecutors additionally stated new data revealed that one of many suspects was convicted of attacking a lady in her car, and that one of many suspects was convicted of participating in serial rape and sexual assault.
The state’s legal professional’s workplace declined to launch details about the suspects, as a result of ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors be aware unreliable cellphone knowledge used within the case
Prosecutors additionally famous unreliable cellphone knowledge used throughout Syed’s court docket case to corroborate his whereabouts on the day of the crime. The discover on the information particularly suggested that the billing areas for incoming calls “wouldn’t be thought of dependable data for location.”
“Proof proved that the State mustn’t have relied on the incoming name proof,” the state’s legal professional’s workplace stated.
Syed has served greater than 20 years in jail for the strangling of Lee, who was 18 on the time. Her physique was discovered weeks later buried in a Baltimore park.
Greater than a decade later, the favored “Serial” podcast revealed little-known proof and attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners, shattering podcast-streaming and downloading information.
In 2016, a decrease court docket ordered a retrial for Syed on grounds that his legal professional, Cristina Gutierrez, who died in 2004, did not contact an alibi witness and supplied ineffective counsel.
However after a sequence of appeals, Maryland’s highest court docket in 2019 denied a brand new trial in a 4-3 opinion. The Courtroom of Appeals agreed with a decrease court docket that Syed’s authorized counsel was poor in failing to analyze an alibi witness, however it disagreed that the deficiency prejudiced the case. The court docket stated Syed waived his ineffective counsel declare.
The U.S. Supreme Courtroom declined to evaluate Syed’s case in 2019.
