The Maryland Supreme Court ruled on Friday (August 30) that the 2022 court hearing that freed Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit podcast Serial, violated the legal rights of the victim’s family and must be redone. This ruling reinstates Syed’s murder conviction for the foreseeable future. Syed, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted in 2000 for the murder of his high school ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
The court’s 4-3 ruling comes nearly a year after it heard arguments in Syed’s case, which has been fraught with legal twists since the 1999 killing. Syed has been free since October 2022, and while the Supreme Court’s ruling reinstates his convictions, the justices did not order any changes to his release.
The court concluded that in an effort to remedy what was perceived to be an injustice to Syed, prosecutors, and a lower court “worked an injustice” against Lee’s brother, Young Lee. The court ruled that Lee was not treated with “dignity, respect, and sensitivity,” because he was not given reasonable notice of the hearing that resulted in Syed being freed.
The court ruled that the remedy was “to reinstate Mr. Syed’s convictions and to remand the case to the circuit court for further proceedings.” The court also said Lee would be afforded reasonable notice of the new hearing, “sufficient to provide Mr. Lee with a reasonable opportunity to attend such a hearing in person,” and for him or his counsel to be heard.
Syed, now 43, was released from prison in September 2022, when a Baltimore judge overturned his conviction after city prosecutors found flaws in the evidence. However, in March 2023, the Appellate Court of Maryland, the state’s intermediate appellate court, ordered a redo of the hearing that won Syed his freedom and reinstated his conviction. The court said the victim’s family didn’t receive adequate notice to attend the hearing in person, violating their right under state law to be “treated with dignity and respect.”
Syed has remained free as the latest set of appeals wind their way through the state court system. His case has drawn global attention and has been the subject of numerous legal twists and turns since his initial conviction in 2000.
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