Maryland prosecutors have agreed to a request from Adnan Syed to conduct new DNA tests on evidence used to convict him of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a case that intrigued many Americans when it was mentioned on the popular podcast “Serial”.
In a motion filed Thursday in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, prosecutors said additional forensic tests conducted by Mr. Syed had been requested, in his case earned because of advances in genetic profiling.
The motion was filed jointly by Baltimore prosecutors and an attorney for Mr. Syed, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ms. Lee. The body of Mrs. Lee, a high school classmate who once dated Mr. Syed, was found in a Baltimore County park. Mr. Syed was 17 at the time.
Mr Syed, 40, has steadfastly maintained his innocence and continues to seek acquittal. An appeals court overturned his conviction in 2018, ruling that he had received ineffective legal counsel, but Maryland’s highest court overturned that decision in 2019.
Last year, he asked prosecutors to review his sentence under a new law that came into effect in Maryland. The law gives prosecutors the freedom to change the sentences of offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crimes and who have served at least 20 years in prison.
Read more about the Adnan Syed case
Adnan Syed was serving a life sentence for the murder of his ex-girlfriend when a podcast, “Serial,” turned his story into a sensation.
That process typically does not include re-examination of DNA evidence, according to those familiar with the case.
“While reviewing this case for possible conviction, it became clear that additional forensic testing — which were not available at the time of the original investigation and trial in this case — would be an appropriate avenue to pursue,” Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore City state attorney said in a statement on Thursday.
The move comes nearly three years after forensic testing was conducted as part of an HBO documentary series following the case. Those tests, while unofficial, found no trace of Mr. Syed’s DNA on the many samples taken from Ms. Lee’s body and car during the original investigation.
Prosecutors and the attorney for Mr. Syed are now seeking a court order to have an independent lab test DNA evidence found on Ms. Lee has been found. It wasn’t immediately clear how these tests compare to those for the documentary.
Ms Mosby declined to comment further on the matter, which she described as an ongoing investigation.
Erica J. Suter, director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law and attorney for Mr. Syed, praised the plaintiffs for their willingness to consider new evidence.
“Mr. Syed has been waiting for more than two decades for the opportunity to exonerate himself not only in the court of public opinion, but also in court,” Ms Suter said in a statement. for acknowledging the serious concerns in his case, after several months of deliberation and evaluation, and agreeing that DNA testing is needed.We would like to finally have access to the forensic tools to establish Mr. Syed’s innocence .”
Mr. Syed was convicted of first degree murder, theft, kidnapping and false imprisonment in the death of Ms. Lee, who had been strangled and whose body was found in a shallow grave in Leakin Park, on the western edge of Baltimore.
At the time, prosecutors claimed that Mr. Syed had become jealous of Ms. Lee, who had started dating someone else. At the trial, a friend of Mr Syed said he heard him confess to the murder and accompanied him to the park to bury Mrs Lee’s body. But another student, who said she saw Mr. Syed in the library when Mrs. Lee disappeared, was not called to testify.
Focusing on whether Mr. Syed received a fair trial, “Serial” made its debut in 2014. The series has been downloaded more than 175 million times and won a Peabody Award.
In 2020, DailyExpertNews Company bought Serial Productions, the company behind the podcast, adding the storytelling giant to The Times’ growing portfolio of digital journalism.
