After more than two decades—and one wildly successful podcast—Adnan Syed will be released from prison after a judge tossed his conviction for murdering his high school ex-girlfriend.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday afternoon granted prosecutors’ request to vacate Syed’s conviction in connection with Hae Min Lee’s 1999 murder, and he was immediately released into home detention. Her decision earned audible gasps from the courtroom, which ultimately erupted in applause.
“At this time, you will remove the shackles of Mr. Syed, please,” Phinn said at the end of the hearing.
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Syed walked out of Baltimore City Circuit Court on Monday afternoon to a cheering crowd, but didn’t comment on the decision.
The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office now has about 30 days to decide whether to drop the charges against Syed or to retry the case.
The bombshell decision comes after a Wednesday filing in which prosecutors revealed that a lengthy investigation conducted in conjunction with Syed’s defense uncovered new evidence, including two alternate suspects that could undermine the 42-year-old’s conviction. “Based on this information alone, we believe the defendant is entitled to a new trial,” Sentencing Review Unit Chief Becky Feldman said during the Monday hearing about the additional suspects.
Syed was serving a life sentence plus 30 years at the Patuxent Institution after being convicted of fatally strangling 18-year-old Lee, whose body was found in a Baltimore park in January 1999. The case was the focus of the first season of the hit podcast Serial and a 2019 HBO documentary that raised questions about Syed’s involvement and legal representation.
“No one has been able to provide any shred of evidence that I had anything but friendship towards her—like love and respect for her. I had no reason to kill her,” Syed insisted on Serial.
The publicity also spurred a national outcry over Syed’s conviction and several attempts to revive his case. In 2016, Judge Martin Welch vacated Syed’s conviction and ordered a new trial—but that decision was ultimately overturned by the Maryland Court of Appeals three years later.
Lee’s brother addressed the court during Monday’s hearing, admitting that constant updates in Syed’s case over the last two decades have been “really tough” for him and his family. Young Lee then stressed that he felt “betrayed” by the prosecution’s request to vacate Syed’s conviction, stating he thought the government was on his family's side.
“This is not a podcast for me. This is real life—a never-ending nightmare for 20-plus years,” Young Lee added, noting that he is not against an investigation to find out the truth about his sister’s murder. “It’s tough for me to swallow, especially for my mom. I ask you to make the right decision.”
During Monday’s hearing, prosecutors argued that while they are not admitting Syed’s innocence, newly discovered information has given them a lack of confidence in his 2000 conviction. The Wednesday filing notes that prosecutors have doubt about cell phone records and two individuals who were not properly ruled out or disclosed to the defense during the initial 1999 murder investigation into Lee.
Steve Kelly, an attorney representing the Lee family, admonished the State’s Attorney’s Office in court for failing to provide his clients with adequate notice of the hearing. He then urged Phinn to postpone the hearing by a week so that Lee’s brother can attend in person—but the judge rejected the request.
Lee, who emigrated with her family to the United States from South Korea and attended Woodlyn High School, went missing on Jan. 13, 1999. Her body was discovered on Feb. 9 at Leakin Park. Days later, the Baltimore City Police Department received an anonymous tip pinning the murder on Syed, who was eventually arrested at the end of that month.
But prosecutors mentioned in the latest filing that one of the alternate suspects said at the time of Lee’s murder that “he would make [Lee] disappear. He would kill her.” The two suspects were not named in the filing.
“We’re not yet declaring Adnan Syed is innocent, but we are declaring that in the interest of fairness and justice, he is entitled to a new trial,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a press conference after the hearing.
Mosby would not commit to dropping Syed’s charges now—noting that her office has 30 days to make a decision per Maryland law.
