Deirdre Smith
After serving more than 20 years of a life sentence, a man convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend was released from prison after a podcast uncovered possible problems with his defense.
Adnan Syed, subject of the 2014 podcast, “Serial”, by Sarah Koenig, was sent to life in prison a year after his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, suddenly disappeared. Syed pleaded not guilty, and claims to be innocent to this day. Fifteen years later, Koenig's “Serial”, reopened the case, revealing key-witness Asia McClain, now Asia Chapman, who claimed to have been in the library with Syed at the time of the murder of Baltimore Woodlawn High School student. During the original trial, McClain offered to testify, but Syed’s attorney, Maria Cristina Gutierrez, never reached out. Along with this, the podcast also revealed DNA found at the crime scene that was never tested. In February 2015, a Maryland court decided to review Syed's case, and in November, a Baltimore judge issued to have Syed present the new evidence in court.
“It is so frustrating how he could be innocent, but was sent to life in prison because he had a bad attorney. His whole life was wasted, he couldn’t even graduate or get a real job. I feel really bad for him,” NHS sophomore Britta Peterson said.
Lee family attorney Steve Kelly said that Lee’s family is not against the reevaluation, but wants the court to hold an in-person hearing that they all can attend.
“The family is disappointed with the way that they were treated. They’re disappointed with the process. They want more than anybody to have the person who killed Hae Min Lee brought to justice,” Kelly said.
Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn’s order to release Syed and drop his murder sentence came after State Attorney Marilyn Mosby asked the judge to look back on the case, saying the investigation had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the conviction. During the hearing, Hae Min’s brother, Young Lee, said that he felt betrayed by prosecutors, as he believed that the case was settled and that they had gotten the closure they wanted.
“Although I feel really bad for her family, I think that Adnan deserves a fair trial. I can’t imagine spending basically your whole life in jail for something you didn’t even do,” NHS junior Katie Fiorini said.
In recent updates from the “serial” podcast, Koenig says that almost all of the evidence prosecutors are now using in the overturn were available in 1999, during the original trial, but were not used. According to Koenig, Syeds case involved “just about every chronic problem in the system,” along with unreliable witnesses and evidence.
“I think that this case is very powerful, especially because people are still talking about it today,” NHS english teacher, Mrs. Marks said.
After a deeper investigation, new evidence and information was revealed and the possibility of two new involvements were declared.
"We're not yet declaring that he's innocent because we still have pending DNA, but we are saying in the interest of fairness and justice, he's entitled to a new trial," Mosby told PEOPLE.
Syed was released on September 19, after 23 years, he has been placed on home detention with GPS monitoring. The state now has 30 days to schedule a trial date, but it is still unknown whether the state will reopen the conviction or not.
Kelly reports that the Lee family feels as if Syed is an “international celebrity” and believes that he is seen as a “hero”, while the world forgets about Hae Min Lee. Due to the impending results upon Syed's innocence, the Lee family is feeling farther away from closure and Hae’s honor.
“And in addition to that, I think it's going to make it virtually impossible for anybody to ever really be brought to justice. So quite frankly, [Lee's family] is very hopeless about any justice for Hae and that's where they are right now. They're despairing," Kelly said.
As of now there are no definite updates upon the reopening of the conviction, though many officials believe that new evidence will defend Syed's innocence.