Maryland’s court of appeals on Friday reinstated the charges against Adnan Syed, the alleged murderer who rose to national prominence when his case was featured on the podcast Serial. Syed was first convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 2000, and given a life sentence—but the attention brought by Serial brought the case back into the legal spotlight in 2014. Lower Maryland courts had twice attempted to throw out Syed’s conviction—but prosecutors appealed both times, arguing that Syed does not deserve a new trial. The appeals court sided with prosecutors Friday, closing the door on Syed’s ability to appeal at the state level. In the decision, the court wrote that although Syed’s lawyers didn’t contact a potential alibi witness, “there was not a significant or substantial possibility that the jury would have reached a different verdict had his trial counsel presented the alibi witness.”
