The Maryland Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to reinstate Adnan Syed’s murder conviction.
Syed’s case gained national attention a decade ago when it was the focus of the popular true crime podcast “Serial.”
He was convicted in 2000 of strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park, and was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years before being released in 2022.
The Supreme Court ruling will not see Syed immediately sent back to prison, and his case will now be heard again by a lower court after the move reversed previous rulings that cleared Syed’s name two years ago.
Maryland Supreme Court upheld lower court’s decision to reinstate Adnan Syed’s murder conviction
Syed was convicted in 2000 of strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park.
The Supreme Court’s decision essentially returns the case to where it was before a judge overturned Syed’s conviction and freed him from jail, sending his complex legal saga to another retrial.
When Syed was released in 2022, Lee’s brother Young argued that his rights had been violated when the decision went through the courts.
Lee’s family argued that they were not given proper notice to be able to attend the proceedings in person, which they said was a violation of their rights before the court.
In its ruling this week, the Supreme Court said that “in an effort to remedy what they perceived as an injustice against Mr. Syed, the prosecutor and the Circuit Court committed an injustice against Mr. Lee.”
Syed was just 17 when he was tried and convicted of Lee’s murder, and was tried as an adult. He has since steadfastly maintained his innocence.
