Adnan Syed’s murder conviction has been reinstated by an appellate court panel.
In September 2022, a judge ordered Syed’s release from his life sentence for strangling Hae Min Lee – after serving 23 years – because they could no longer justify keeping him locked up based on new information.
He was tried in 2000 and found guilty of burying his high school sweetheart’s body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park.
But now, the Maryland appeals court ruled that the lower court violated the right of the victim’s family to attend a critical hearing in the case – and have therefore vacated the circuit court’s vacation of Syed’s convictions.
This ‘results in the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence,’ the court said in a ruling on Tuesday.
Syed had served over two decades behind bars – but was sensationally released following the re-popularization of his case, thanks to the podcast ‘Serial.’
Adnan Syed, the subject of the ‘Serial’ podcast, had his murder convictions vacated last year. However, a move today has reinstated them after the Maryland Special Court of Appeals ruled that the victim’s family’s rights were violated during the case
Syed was convicted of strangling Lee (with him above at junior prom in 1998). The two were high school classmates who had dated. He went to prison for the crime – but in 2022 a judge ruled that it was no longer justifiable keeping him behind bars because of new information
The Maryland appellate court ordered that the hearing at which Syed’s conviction was vacated needs to be re-done – resulting in ‘the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence.’
Hae Min Lee’s brother, who represents the victim in this case, has long argued that he was not given enough time to attend the vacation hearing. The Baltimore city state’s attorney gave him less than one business day, he claims.
The panel today ruled that a circuit court judge did indeed violated the rights of Young Lee in how it conducted Syed’s vacation hearing.
This ruling does not necessarily mean Syed will go back to prison – but instead that his hearing will have to be redone.
The Maryland Special Court of Appeals’ ruling, seen by DailyMail.com, read: ‘These rights were violated in this case, where the State gave Mr. Lee notice only one business day before the hearing, which was insufficient time to reasonably allow Mr. Lee, who lived in California, to attend the hearing in person, and therefore, the court required Mr. Lee to attend the hearing remotely.
‘Allowing a victim entitled to attend a court proceeding to attend in person, when the victim makes that request and all other persons involved in the hearing appear in person, is consistent with the constitutional requirement that victims be treated with dignity and respect.
The 41-year-old was serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2000 of strangling Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park
‘Because the circuit court violated Mr. Lee’s right to notice of, and his right to attend, the hearing on the State’s motion to vacate, in violation of CP § 8-301.1(d), this Court has the power and obligation to remedy those violations, as long we can do so without violating Mr. Syed’s right to be free from double jeopardy.
‘We can do that, and accordingly, we vacate the circuit court’s order vacating Mr. Syed’s convictions, which results in the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence.
‘We remand for a new, legally compliant, and transparent hearing on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee is given notice of the hearing that is sufficient to allow him to attend in person, evidence supporting the motion to vacate is presented, and the court states its reasons in support of its decision.’
Syed’s sensational release from jail in September 2022 was due to work by Becky Feldman, the chief of the State’s Attorney’s Office’s Sentencing Review Unit.
Feldman started investigating Syed’s case in June 2022 after a new Maryland law allowed prosecutors to modify sentences for offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crimes and had served at least 20 years in prison.
Syed fit the criteria because he was 17 in 1999 and imprisoned since 2000.
It was during her investigation that Feldman stumbled upon another possible suspect – who had previously threatened to murder Lee and said he would ‘make her disappear.’
While rummaging through the state’s 17 boxes of Syed’s case file at the Attorney General’s office this summer, she found two handwritten letters.
Two letters, thought to be penned by prosecutors, referred to two different phone calls from two different people who called the State Attorney’s office to give details about the same potential suspect.
The notes, although messy, hard to make out, and undated, were written before Syed was ever tried in court.
Hae Min Lee’s brother, Young (left) and mother pictured, following her tragic death. The new development today in Syed’s case stems from Young’s ongoing complaint that he was not given sufficient time to attend Syed’s vacation hearing in person in September 2022
The Korean-American girl was also a scholar at school, as well as an athlete who wanted to be an optician. She was killed in 1999
Brought to tears: Youn Wha Kim is pictured crying as her daughter’s murderer is sentenced in 2000
In the phone calls, the two different people revealed information about the same suspect, explaining and giving evidence that he had a motive to kill 17-year-old Lee.
After investigating the man in question, Feldman deemed the leads to be credible.
Both new suspects were known to detectives 23 years ago, it was confirmed. They were not properly ruled out during the 1999 murder investigation.
Under the circumstances, they couldn’t justify holding Syed in prison any longer.
However, since vacating Syed’s conviction, there still have not been any new arrests in the case over who killed Hae Min Lee.
In September, the victim’s brother, Young, wanted to attend the vacation hearing in Baltimore, but he could not travel from California on such short notice.
As well as the ‘late’ notice, the family weren’t told any details about the new evidence or two new suspects, which ultimately helped get Lee’s convicted murderer out of prison.
The new development today in Syed’s case therefore stems from Young’s ongoing complaint.
