A Baltimore judge on Monday ordered Adnan Said’s release after overturning his conviction for the 1999 murder of Hemin Lee.
At the request of prosecutors who uncovered new evidence, Circuit Court Judge Melissa Finn approved the release of Sayid, now 41, after spending more than 20 years in prison, thus ordering her conviction to be vacated. . There were gasps and applause in the crowded courtroom as the judge announced her decision.
Phinn ruled that the state had violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could strengthen Syed’s defense. The judge also said the state would have 30 days to decide whether to seek a new trial date or dismiss the lawsuit.
“Okay Mr. Sayid, you are free to join the family,” Finn said when the hearing ended.
A few minutes later, Said emerged from the courthouse with a small smile as he was ushered into a waiting SUV amidst a sea of cameras and a crowd of cheering supporters.
Said has always maintained his innocence. His case led the 2014 debut season of “Serial” to focus on Lee’s murder, question some of the evidence used by prosecutors, and question Said’s innocence or guilt at the dinner table and in the water cooler. It caught the attention of millions when it sparked a heated debate.
Last week, prosecutors filed a motion that said a lengthy investigation conducted by the defense had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the 2000 conviction of Lee’s ex-boyfriend Said. “I understand how difficult this is, but we need to make sure the right people are held accountable,” state assistant attorney Becky Feldman told the judge, referring to the flawed cell phone data. and other details that overturn a decades-old conviction. , unreliable witness testimony, and potentially biased detectives.
Said was serving a life sentence after being convicted of strangling 18-year-old Lee, who was found buried in a park in Baltimore. In a news release last week, the Marilyn Mosby State Attorney’s Office said the investigation “revealed undisclosed, newly developed information about two additional suspects, as well as unreliable cell tower data. The suspect was a known person at the time of the initial investigation, but was not properly excluded and disclosed to the defense, according to an ongoing investigation. The prosecutor, who declined to release information about the suspect, said.
Prosecutors said they didn’t claim Said was innocent, but they were unsure of the “integrity of the conviction” and recommended he be released on his own admission or on bail. The office said the motion, if granted, would effectively enter a new trial status that would vacate Syed’s conviction, but the case remained ongoing. Said was handcuffed and taken to a crowded courtroom on Monday. In a white shirt and tie, he sat next to a lawyer. His mother and other family representatives were in the room, as was Mosby.
In 2016, a lower court ordered a retrial for Saeed on the grounds that Saeed’s attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, who died in 2004, failed to contact an alibi witness and provided invalid counsel. However, after a series of appeals, in 2019 Maryland’s Supreme Court dismissed the new trial by a 4-3 vote. The Court of Appeal agreed with the lower court’s opinion that Syed’s attorneys were flawed in their failure to investigate alibi witnesses, but did not agree that the flaws prejudiced the case. He said he had dismissed his lawyer’s claims.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Syed’s case in 2019.
The true crime series was the brainchild of longtime radio producer and former Baltimore Sun Reporter Sarah Koenig. He spent her more than a year digging into Sayid’s case, reporting her findings in near real-time in her hour-long segments. The 12-episode podcast won a Peabody Award and revolutionized the reach of podcasts to a wider audience.
(This article is not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
