Maryland's highest court A court on Friday upheld the murder conviction against Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the groundbreaking true crime podcast. seriesconsistent with the Court of Appeal's previous decision to re-convict Syed for the murder of Hae Min Lee.
In September 2022, a Baltimore judge ordered Syed released after overturning his third-degree murder conviction; Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing Lee, whose murder—and subsequent missteps during Syed’s murder trial—were the focus of attention. seriesSyed had started the first season of the tournament in 2014. A month later, prosecutors announced they would not seek a retrial, and instead dropped the charges against Syed, who was serving a life sentence plus 30 years after his conviction.
However, in March 2023, the Court of Appeal reinstated the murder conviction on the grounds that the lower court violated the right of Lee's brother, Young Lee, to be present at the hearing that resulted in the conviction being overturned.
“The family received no notice and their lawyers were not offered any opportunity to be present at the proceedings,” said Lee's family lawyer, Steve Kelly. Rolling Stone In October 2022. “By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the prosecutor’s office sought to silence Hae Min Lee’s family and prevent the family and the public from understanding why the state suddenly changed its stance of more than 20 years. All this family wanted were answers and a voice. Today’s actions deprived them of both.”
Nearly 18 months after the conviction was reinstated—during which time Syed remained free while the appeals process continued—the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the appeals court’s decision by a 4-3 vote.
“In attempting to remedy what they saw as an injustice to Mr. Syed, the District Attorney and the Circuit Court committed an injustice against Mr. Lee by failing to treat him with dignity, respect, and sensitivity, and, in particular, by violating Mr. Lee’s rights as a crime victim’s representative to reasonable notice of the Vacatur hearing, the right to attend the hearing in person, and the right to be heard on the merits of the Vacatur application,” the Maryland Supreme Court said in its ruling.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Michelle Holten argued that Syed should remain free because prosecutors had already announced they would drop the charges. Holten wrote (via Associated Press“It has been revived, though it has expired. The principle of futility was designed to prevent such judicial magic.”
“If there is compelling evidence to support overturning Adnan Syed’s conviction, we would be the first to agree,” David Sanford, an attorney representing Lee’s family, said after Friday’s ruling. “To date, the public has not seen any evidence that would justify overturning a murder conviction that has endured appeals for more than two decades.”
And despite the murder conviction being upheld, there is still a good chance that Syed will eventually be released again: His legal journey will now pick up where it left off in September 2022, when a Baltimore judge overturned the conviction because a reinvestigation of Lee’s murder had turned up two new suspects as well as potential DNA evidence that ruled Syed out as a suspect.
