A Baltimore judge has overturned the conviction of Adnan Syed, reports . The 41-year-old had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee. In 2014, his case attracted international interest after it was chronicled by former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig in the first season of the hit podcast Serial.
Koenig spent more than a year investigating the specifics of Syed’s case, focusing in particular on the conduct of his lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez. In 2019, Maryland’s highest court found Gutierrez had failed to properly investigate an alibi witness but voted against granting Syed’s request for a retrial. However, prosecutors recently recommended that a judge grant him a new trial, noting the state had lost “confidence in the integrity of the conviction.” With Monday’s decision, the state has 30 days to decide whether to move forward with a new trial or drop the case entirely.
“This is not a podcast for me,” , the brother of Hae Min Lee, during Monday’s hearing. He said his family felt “betrayed” and “blindsided” by the state’s motion to vacate Syed’s conviction. “Whenever I think it’s over, and it’s ended, it always comes back,” he added.
Following the decision, Serial announced it would air a new episode on Tuesday morning. In the years since its widely successful first season, Serial has produced a series of spinoffs, including and . More broadly, it’s safe to say the true crime genre and podcasting more generally have never been more popular – even if the series was never quite able to replicate the success of its first season.
All products recommended by Tech Reader are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
