Adnan Syed: Prosecutors drop charges against ‘Serial’ podcast subject who spent 22 years in jail

It comes after Syed was released from prison last month after his murder conviction was overturned
Judge overturns 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed in Baltimore Maryland
Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial departs the courthouse with his attorney Erica Sute
REUTERS
Sami Quadri11 October 2022

Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who spent 22 years in prison after being convicted of killing his former girlfriend in a case made famous by a podcast.

Adnan Syed, 41, was jailed for life in 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee, 18, whose body was discovered partially buried in a park.

He has always maintained his innocence, and his case captured the attention of millions in 2014 when it was chronicled in Serial, a crime series created by radio producer Sarah Koenig.

Syed was released from prison last month as his conviction was overturned after a Baltimore court heard prosecutors found evidence of other suspects, flawed phone data and unreliable witnesses.

Lawyers affiliated with the high-profile murder case announced on Tuesday that all charges against Syed have now been dropped.

Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the US city of Baltimore's state's attorney's office, said in an email that her office had dropped its case against Syed and would release further details about its decision later on Tuesday.

Laura Nirider, a co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law who accompanied Syed when he walked out of prison last month, tweeted: “Breaking news: After the latest round of DNA testing generated results that, like previous rounds of testing, excluded Adnan Syed, he has now been formally exonerated!”

Hae Min Lee (pictured) was strangled to death in 1999

Erica Suter, a lawyer who has represented Syed in court, confirmed the news to The Baltimore Sun.

There were gasps among onlookers last month as Judge Melissa Phinn approved his move to home detention with GPS tracking.

“All right Mr Syed, you’re free to join your family,” Judge Phinn told him. He was greeted by cheering supporters as he left.

Syed has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of “Serial” focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence.

Prosecutors have previously said that a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternate suspects.

The two suspects may have been involved individually or together, the state’s attorney’s office said.

One of the suspects had threatened Lee, saying “he would make her (Ms. Lee) disappear. He would kill her,” according to a court filing.

The suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one of the suspects was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.

Prosecutors also noted unreliable cellphone data used during Syed’s court case to corroborate his whereabouts on the day of the crime. The notice on the records specifically advised that the billing locations for incoming calls “would not be considered reliable information for location.”

Syed served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of Lee, who was 18 at the time. Her body was found weeks later buried in a Baltimore park.

More than a decade later, the popular “Serial” podcast revealed little-known evidence and attracted millions of listeners, shattering podcast-streaming and downloading records.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in