Adnan Syed—whose doubtful homicide conviction was the topic of the 2014 hit podcast Serial—can not catch a break. On the request of Baltimore metropolis prosecutors, Baltimore Circuit Court docket Decide Melissa Phinn had vacated his conviction on the grounds that prosecutors failed to show over proof they have been legally compelled to supply to the protection. After 23 years in jail, Mr. Syed walked free.

Not so quick, mentioned the Appellate Court docket of Maryland final week. Even supposing the prosecution, protection, and decide all agreed that the conviction could not stand, the Appellate Court docket of Maryland reinstated it in a 2-1 resolution, holding that Decide Phinn had violated the precise of the sufferer’s household to attend a crucial listening to within the case. A lot for strolling free.

That appears ridiculously unfair, chances are you’ll be pondering. How can they presumably let the man go after 23 years in jail, simply to right away say “Whoops! You should return to jail!”? Do not fret; Syed will not be going again to jail, The Appellate Court docket simply needs to make it possible for out of due respect for the crime sufferer’s rights, Decide Phinn dots her i’s and crosses her t’s.

The Conviction of Adnan Syed

In February 1999, the physique of common high-school scholar Hae Min Lee was present in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park. The 17-year-old had been strangled a month prior. Six weeks later, Syed, her classmate and ex-boyfriend, was arrested and charged along with her homicide.

When questioned, Syed could not actually bear in mind the place he was or what he was doing the January afternoon of his girlfriend’s purported homicide. However the prosecution had cellphone information that positioned him close to the park the place Lee’s physique was discovered, and his acquaintance, Jay Wilds, testified at trial that he had helped Syed eliminate her physique.

Syed was convicted of homicide, theft, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. The court docket sentenced him to life in jail. He was 18 years previous on the time of his conviction.

Serial: Severe Journalism

In 2014, fourteen years later, the Serial podcast, hosted by Sarah Koening, known as into query the details of the case. The 12-episode investigative sequence was downloaded greater than 100 million instances in its first 12 months, bringing widespread consideration to Syed’s case. It received a Peabody Award for its “compelling, drilling account of how guilt, fact and actuality are determined.”

However the podcast was extra than simply leisure; it significantly influenced the trajectory of the legal investigation that was its focus. The podcast uncovered an alibi witness, Asia McClain, who claimed she noticed Syed on the Woodland Excessive Library on the time of Lee’s dying. Though McClain mentioned she would have willingly testified in Syed’s case, Melissa Cristina Gutierrez, Syed’s lawyer, by no means contacted her (Gutierrez was subsequently disbarred for unrelated causes, and handed away in 2004). Moreover, the podcast challenged the reliability of the cellphone tower information submitted by the prosecution. The investigative sequence additionally highlighted the existence of bodily proof from 1999 that had by no means been examined for Syed’s DNA.

Syed Is Bounced Round within the Courts

Syed persistently maintained his innocence, even after he was sentenced. In 2010, he filed for post-conviction aid, arguing that as a result of Gutierrez had not spoken to McClain, the lawyer had did not adequately signify him—a violation of the Sixth Modification. Notably, he did not convey up the truth that Gutierrez additionally failed in difficult the reliability of the cellphone tower information.

Primarily based on the McClain problem alone, Syed requested for a brand new trial primarily based on ineffective help of counsel, and the case ultimately made its technique to the Maryland Court docket of Particular Appeals (later renamed to the Appellate Court docket of Maryland). Later, Syed added an extra declare that Gutierrez was ineffective as a result of she did not problem the cell tower proof. In June 2016, Syed was lastly granted a brand new trial, however earlier than it might be underway, attorneys for the State filed an enchantment arguing that he should not get one. The whole time all of this back-and-forth was happening, Syed remained in jail.

The enchantment lastly reached Maryland’s highest court docket (then known as the Maryland Court docket of Appeals, now renamed to the Supreme Court docket of Maryland). First, the court docket dominated that whereas Syed’s lawyer had been poor, Syed wasn’t “prejudiced” on account of her conduct. In different phrases, the court docket concluded that though Gutierrez’s ignoring the McClain alibi fell under the skilled normal of what legal professionals ought to do, the proof towards Syed was nonetheless nice sufficient that the results of the case most likely would not have modified even with the alibi.

Second, the court docket dominated that Syed raised the difficulty of the cell tower proof too late; he ought to have raised it when he initially raised the difficulty of the McClain alibi. Thus, he had “waived” his proper to make a case primarily based on it.

The court docket thus denied him a brand new trial and reinstated his conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to assessment the case.

The Case In opposition to Adnan Syed and New DNA Proof

In March 2019, HBO aired a four-part documentary entitled The Case In opposition to Adnan Syed. It revealed that later forensic exams, taken by Syed’s new legal professionals and carried out on the unique samples taken from Lee’s physique and automobile, didn’t discover any traces of Syed’s DNA or fingerprints.

In 2021, Maryland handed a regulation empowering prosecutors the ability to change the sentences of offenders who have been beneath 18 on the time of the crime and had served 20 years in jail.

In March 2022, the prosecution agreed to carry out new DNA exams on bodily proof as a result of advances in genetic profiling. These exams revealed the potential of two different suspects concerned in Lee’s dying—proof that had not been accessible to Syed’s protection staff at trial.

Prosecutors Search to Vacate the Conviction

In September 2022, prosecutors requested Decide Phinn, the unique trial decide, to vacate the conviction. They argued that along with the DNA proof, there have been vital reliability points with the opposite proof that had been submitted in Syed’s trial. The court docket scheduled a “vacatur listening to” for a Monday. The Friday earlier than the scheduled listening to, prosecutors emailed discover of the listening to to Hae Min Lee’s brother, Younger Lee. On Sunday, they linked with him by cellphone.

Younger, who lived in California, did not have time to get to the Maryland courthouse in time for the scheduled listening to. The Lees’ household legal professional requested the court docket to proceed the listening to for seven days in order that Younger might be bodily current on the listening to. Shortly earlier than the scheduled listening to, the decide denied the request, so Younger sped house from work in order that he might attend the listening to by Zoom. He was profitable, and the court docket allowed Younger to make a press release on the vacatur listening to.

On September 19, 2022, Decide Phinn vacated Syed’s conviction, which gave Maryland state attorneys 30 days to both refile the case or to nolle prosequi. This idea, known as “nolle execs” or “nol” for brief, is actually a authorized discover that the federal government will now not prosecute a case. Syed, now 41 years previous, walked free whereas the fees remained in place. Younger Lee requested the decide to remain her resolution pending enchantment. When she did not rule, Younger requested the appellate court docket to remain her ruling in order that he might argue that the court docket had violated his proper as a member of the sufferer’s household to obtain discover and the chance to attend the listening to in particular person.

On October 11, 2022, earlier than the state’s deadline, Baltimore Metropolis Lawyer Marilyn Mosby filed a nolle execs, concluding that the brand new DNA proof on Hae Min Lee’s sneakers exculpated Syed. The impact was a dismissal of the fees towards Syed. Erica Suter, Syed’s lawyer, introduced her intention to file a petition establishing his innocence.

Syed’s Conviction Is Reinstated

However simply when it seemed like Syed had received his lengthy authorized battle, the Appellate Court docket of Maryland stepped in.

On March 28, 2023, in a 2-1 resolution, the Appellate Court docket of Maryland reinstated Syed’s homicide conviction, ruling that the trial court docket had violated Younger Lee’s proper to note and the chance to attend the vacatur listening to in particular person and ordering it to conduct a brand new listening to.

The primary query was whether or not the nol execs, which dismissed the case, rendered Younger’s enchantment moot. The Appellate Court docket determined that it didn’t, reasoning that the sufferer’s proper to attend a vacatur listening to could be meaningless if prosecutors might circumvent them by dismissing prices whereas an enchantment on vacatur was pending. Mootness did not apply, it dominated.

On the deserves, the court docket dominated as a matter of regulation that the Friday electronic mail and Sunday cellphone name earlier than the Monday vacatur listening to weren’t sufficient to fulfill Younger Lee’s proper to “discover” and the chance to attend. The court docket held that, beneath the Maryland Structure, Younger had the precise to attend in particular person if he needed to.

However whereas Younger received on this level, the court docket rejected his argument that he had the precise to communicate on the listening to, and denied his request {that a} sufferer’s consultant be appointed to problem the prosecution’s proof. The court docket directed the trial court docket to carry a “new, legally compliant, and clear” vacatur listening to and provides the sufferer’s household adequate discover to attend it in particular person.

The place Does That Go away Syed Now?

The Appellate Court docket stayed its resolution for 60 days to present the events time to determine the best way to proceed. Syed is a free man for now. The Baltimore Metropolis State’s Lawyer Workplace, now led by Ivan Bates, is leaving the choice of whether or not to enchantment as much as Syed’s attorneys.

They’ve a option to make. They might enchantment the Appellate Court docket’s resolution to the Supreme Court docket of Maryland, which might kick the decision of this case down the street for who-knows-how-long. Or, they might ask the trial court docket for a do-over listening to that offers Younger Lee discover and sufficient time to seem in particular person—whereas working the danger that the court docket adjustments its thoughts.

Prosecutors say the investigation into Hae Min Lee’s dying is ongoing.