Adnan Syed, Subject Of Hit Podcast ‘Serial,’ Gets New Trial

Adnan Syed, whose 1999 murder trial was the subject of the Serial podcast’s wildly popular first season, has been granted a new trial.

Adnan Syed Murder Trial

On Thursday, a Baltimore judge ordered that Syed, 35, get a new trial for the two-decade old murder case in which he was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, reported the Baltimore Sun. He was tried and convicted of Lee’s murder after her body was discovered in Baltimore’s Leakin Park after she went missing. Syed was sentenced to life in prison in 2000.

It was determined this week that Syed’s initial conviction should be vacated, as evidence was presented about cell towers that wasn’t properly questioned by the accused’s trial team.

The defense team sees the grating of a new trial as a victory. However, there’s the possibility that the state will appeal the ruling.

“We have been fighting for this day for, I think it’s been about eight years now, and it’s been a grueling fight, and there have been a lot of disappointments along the way, and there were times when it looked like we had lost,” attorney C. Justin Brown said. “But we made it. We got a new trial.”

The Maryland attorney general’s office said that the judge ruled in its favor “on a number of issues, but there does appear to be at least one ground that will need to be resolved by the appellate courts.”

“It is the continued desire of the Attorney General to seek justice in the murder of Hae Min Lee,” the office said. “The state’s responsibility remains to pursue justice, and to defend what it believes is a valid conviction.”

The state has 30 days to file an appeal against Syed’s new trial. While awaiting such an appeal, Syed’s attorney’s will attempt to get Syed freed on bail.

Syed’s case became a matter of national interest in 2014, when podcast producer Sarah Koenig delved into his controversial trial that many believed had resulted in a wrongful conviction. As the host Serial, Koenig went through all of the state’s evidence, which, in addition to featuring questionable cell tower evidence, did not include any physical evidence linking Syed to Lee’s murder.

When asked about whether or not Syed would have been granted a retrial without the interest inspired by Serial, Brown admitted, “I don’t think so,”