A Maryland appellate courtroom on Tuesday reinstated the conviction of Adnan Syed, the person who spent over 20 years behind bars for the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and whose homicide case was featured within the landmark podcast “Serial.”
In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate courtroom stated the decrease courtroom had violated the rights of the sufferer’s brother, Younger Lee, to attend a key listening to.
“As a result of the circuit courtroom violated Mr. Lee’s proper to note of, and his proper to attend, the listening to on the State’s movement to vacate … this Court docket has the facility and obligation to treatment these violations, as lengthy we will achieve this with out violating Mr. Syed’s proper to be free from double jeopardy,” the courtroom’s opinion stated.
“We remand for a brand new, legally compliant, and clear listening to on the movement to vacate, the place Mr. Lee is given discover of the listening to that’s enough to permit him to attend in particular person, proof supporting the movement to vacate is offered, and the courtroom states its causes in assist of its determination,” it added.
Lee household legal professional David Sanford stated they have been “delighted” with the courtroom’s determination.
“We’re equally happy that the Appellate Court docket is directing the decrease courtroom to conduct a clear listening to the place the proof shall be offered in open courtroom and the courtroom’s determination shall be primarily based on proof for the world to see,” Sanford advised CNN in an announcement.
Syed was accused of killing Hae Min Lee and served greater than 20 years in jail earlier than a choose vacated his conviction in a September listening to, resulting in Syed’s launch.
Syed’s legal professional says he’ll stay a ‘free man’
Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, Syed’s legal professional and director of the Innocence Venture Clinic, stated the appellate courtroom reinstated the conviction “not as a result of the Movement to Vacate was faulty, however as a result of Ms. Lee’s brother didn’t seem in particular person on the vacatur listening to.”
“We agree with the dissenting choose that the attraction is moot and that Mr. Lee’s attendance over Zoom was enough,” Suter stated in an announcement supplied to CNN by the Maryland Workplace of the Public Defender.
“There is no such thing as a foundation for re-traumatizing Adnan by returning him to the standing of a convicted felon. In the meanwhile, Adnan stays a free man,” the legal professional stated.
“We stay optimistic that justice shall be completed,” Suter added. “We intend to hunt evaluation in Maryland’s highest courtroom, the Supreme Court docket of Maryland, and can proceed to struggle till Adnan’s convictions are absolutely vacated.”
The choice to vacate Syed’s conviction got here practically eight years after the podcast dug into the case and raised questions in regards to the conviction and Syed’s authorized illustration.
In explaining her determination to vacate, Baltimore Metropolis Circuit Choose Melissa Phinn cited materials within the state investigation that was not correctly turned over to protection attorneys, in addition to the existence of two suspects who could have been improperly cleared as a part of the investigation.
Why sufferer’s brother needed a re-do of key listening to
Lee’s brother had requested a redo of that listening to, arguing partially he didn’t have sufficient discover to attend in particular person. Attorneys for Lee, who was in a position to watch September’s proceedings by Zoom, beforehand alleged in courtroom paperwork that prosecutors and the circuit courtroom that overturned Syed’s conviction had violated the brother’s rights.
That occurred, they allege, by failing to offer him ample discover, withholding proof from the household and never giving the brother a correct likelihood to be heard on the proceedings.
Sanford, the household’s legal professional, advised Maryland’s appellate courtroom final month that the circuit courtroom and prosecutors “failed repeatedly” forward of September’s determination to vacate Syed’s conviction.
“The sufferer, or sufferer’s consultant … has a proper to be heard,” the legal professional stated.