Should you listened to the primary season of the podcast Serial — and for the reason that first season of the present was downloaded lots of of thousands and thousands of occasions, odds are you’ve got — you’re very conversant in the homicide of highschool pupil Hae Min Lee, and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for the crime. The present’s first season systematically explored the proof in opposition to Syed, in addition to the holes within the case in opposition to him. It sparked monumental curiosity in Syed’s case, and helped encourage a sequence of tv reveals about it, together with HBO’s four-part documentary The Case In opposition to Adnan Syed, which up to date viewers on Syed’s appeals of his conviction.
Via the entire consideration, Syed fought for a brand new trial. The case ultimately went all the best way to the Supreme Court docket, however in 2019 they rejected Syed’s attraction. However earlier this month, prosecutors in Baltimore sought to vacate Syed’ conviction, as a result of they claimed they “not has confidence within the integrity of the conviction” amidst new proof that urged two different “different suspects” may have dedicated Lee’s homicide amidst “vital reliability points relating to essentially the most essential items of proof” used in opposition to Syed, particularly GPS information taken from his cellphone, which was the topic of a lot scrutiny on the Serial podcast.
In the present day, on the premise of that movement, a choose ordered Adnan Syed’s launch from jail. He’s to be detained in his dwelling for 30 days whereas prosecutors resolve whether or not or not he must be retried. Syed had been imprisoned since he was a youngster; he’s now 41 years outdated.
Extra particulars, per the Baltimore Solar:
Within the state’s movement to overturn his conviction, prosecutors wrote not that they believed Syed was harmless, however that they not had religion within the integrity of his conviction. ‘It’s within the pursuits of justice and equity that these convictions be vacated and that the defendant, at a minimal, be afforded a brand new trial,’ wrote Becky Feldman, chief of the State’s Lawyer’s Workplace’s Sentencing Overview Unit.
Prosecutors didn’t reveal the identities of the different suspects however “described one of many suspects as a serial rapist, saying the suspect was convicted in a sequence of sexual assaults after Syed’s trial.” In addition they famous that “police found Lee’s automotive close to the residence of one of many suspects.”
It’s a surprising flip of occasions, notably after Serial’s preliminary launch failed to assist Syed acquire an attraction, regardless of a number of makes an attempt. However now, at the least for the second, he’s been launched.