Adnan Syed Murder Conviction Should Be Overturned and He Should Be Released From Prison, Prosecutors Say

Prosecutors have asked a court to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed — who was found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend — be released from prison and granted a new trial. Syed’s case was the focus of the groundbreaking “Serial” podcast back in 2014.

Syed, now 41, has been serving a life sentence in prison since 2000. He has maintained his innocence.

On Wednesday, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Office said in a filing in circuit court after an almost yearlong investigation it had uncovered new evidence in Syed’s case that cast doubt on his guilt. “[T]he State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction,” the office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Mosby said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

The prosecutors told the court Syed should be released from prison on his own recognizance pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation. Per the Journal, prosecutors said they found evidence that two suspects other suspects — known at the time of the initial investigation into the case — who may have been involved, either separately or together.

Syed’s attorney, Erica Suter, who is the director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law, issued a statement on the latest development through the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. “Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand,” said Suter, an assistant public defender in the state. “Mr. Syed is grateful that this information has finally seen the light of day and looks forward to his day in court.”

“Serial” launched in 2014 as a spinoff of NPR’s “This American Life” and became an overnight podcasting hit. In the first season, Sarah Koenig investigated Syed’s murder conviction for the death of his girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in Baltimore. “Serial” raised questions about the evidence against him, including an account of Asia McClain, who claimed she saw Syed at a public library during the time of Lee’s murder.

Syed’s case also was the subject of a four-part HBO docuseries released in 2019 by director Amy Berg called “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” which also cast doubt on his conviction. The filmmaker hired private investigators and reached out to new allies following the release of the “Serial” podcast.

In March 2019, Maryland’s highest court denied Syed a retrial and he appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear his appeal.

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