Adnan Syed of Serial Seeks Release on Bail
10.26.16 By Innocence Staff
High school photo of Adnan Sayed, the focus of the hit podcast Serial
In June, a Baltimore City Circuit Court overturned the conviction of Adnan Syed based, in part, on ineffective council at trial. Syed was found guilty in 2000 of murdering his high school ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, the year prior. On Monday, Syed’s attorneys filed a motion to have him released on bail while he awaits a retrial, according to the New York Times.
Syed has been in prison for 17 years. He’s serving a life sentence for Lee’s murder. But Syed’s attorneys claim that the 35-year-old was wrongly convicted based, at least in part, on erroneous testimony by an expert, whom his attorney failed to cross examine, according to the Times.
Many people developed doubts around Syed’s conviction and questions about the murder investigation after his case was detailed and popularized in 2014 on the podcast Serial. Most recently, his case was retold in the book, Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial by attorney and writer Rabia Chaudry. (The Innocence Blog featured an interview with Chaudry upon the release of the book in August.)
One of Syed’s attorneys, C. Justin Brown, said to the New York Times: “There’s a tendency to sensationalize this story and view it as a piece of entertainment . . . . But I’m always brought down to earth by the fact that Adnan has now spent 17 years in prison, and every day in prison is miserable.”
Syed and his attorneys now await to hear whether the motion for release will be granted. According to the Times, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office in Maryland said that the motion had not yet been received.
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May 7, 2019 at 7:39 am
September 22, 2018 at 10:52 am
I can’t find anywhere information following the suggestion that Ronald Lee Moore could be responsible for Hae’s murder. In chapter 12 of Serial it is mentioned that DNA will be tested if the case is opened up again, because of the Innocence Project’s involvement. What were those test results? Were they ever tested? Was the DNA still viable? WHAT HAPPENED?
Adnan is innocent, Adnan did not get a fair tial, Asia was with him in the library at the time the State claim Hae ( RIP ) was murdered. Adnan’s attorney failed him on both occassions, she was too ill to do her job properly. The cell phone records were totally wrong in there timeline to Jays story and more importantly AT n T had a disclaimer stating that INCOMING calls could not be used to place the location of a device. All 6 locations the state used to try to prove where the cell phone was …. were for INCOMING calls, therefore should never have been used to prove the location of the device. Also … the pings from the towers place the location of the device, we all know and Jay admits that for most of that day … Adnan did NOT have the cell phone with him, Jay had it in the car. The whole of the States case is based on the testimony of ONE person, that person is a self confessed criminal, that person was known to tell lies especially to save himself from getting into trouble, that person was a self confessed drug dealer and drug user… that person in recent years has had no less than 20 incidents with law enforcement agencies, including for beating his ex girl friend… that persons name is JAY WILDS !!!