Syed, the subject of the hit true-crime podcast ‘Serial’, was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee
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AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Adnan Syed
In a ruling Friday, August 30, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to re-sentence Adnan Syed on murder charges in connection with the 1999 death of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
The higher court’s 4-3 ruling upheld an earlier appeals court ruling that found the victim’s family’s rights were violated because they were not properly notified of a 2022 hearing to overturn Syed’s conviction, CNN reported.
The ruling does not force Syed — who was released from prison in 2022 after his 2000 conviction — to return to prison while the case proceeds, the Associated Press reported.
“In attempting to right what they saw as an injustice to Mr. Syed, the District Attorney and the trial court committed an injustice” against Lee’s brother Young Lee “by failing to treat him with dignity, respect and sensitivity and, in particular, by violating Mr. Lee’s rights as a representative of a crime victim to reasonable notice of the Vacatur Hearing, the right to attend the hearing in person, and the right to be heard on the merits of the Vacatur Motion,” the Maryland Supreme Court said, per CNN.
The court said the case would return to Baltimore City District Court, per The New York Times.
Related: Adnan Syed remains free ‘for now’ as lawyer slams court: ‘No basis to re-traumatize him’
Syed, the subject of the hit true crime podcast Serial, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Lee, his 18-year-old classmate and ex-girlfriend at Woodlawn High School. Her body was found buried in a park four weeks after she was reportedly abducted.
Syed had been in prison for more than a decade when his case was featured on the first season of NPR’s true-crime podcast, sparking widespread criticism of his arrest and prosecution.
Syed was released from prison in the fall of 2022 after his first-degree murder conviction was overturned. However, the Maryland Court of Appeals reinstated his conviction in March 2023, ruling that Young Lee’s rights had been violated, the court said. Times.
Syed subsequently appealed the decision to the Maryland Supreme Court, Baltimore sun.
The Baltimore District Attorney’s Office said the Supreme Court’s decision “is currently under review by our office and we have no further comment at this time,” the Times.
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David Sanford, the attorney representing Lee’s family, said in a statement to PEOPLE: “Today, the Maryland Supreme Court definitively affirms the rights of crime victims to be treated with dignity, respect and sensitivity, rights enshrined in the Maryland Constitution. The Supreme Court recognizes what Hae Min Lee’s family has argued: Crime victims have the right to be heard in court. In this case, that means that the family of murder victim Hae Min Lee had the right to reasonable notice to be present and meaningfully participate in the criminal proceedings involving Adnan Syed, the person accused and convicted of Lee’s murder.
“It is significant that the Lee family now has the right to debate the merits of the motion to quash after the prosecution and defense have made their presentations in support of that motion,” he continued. “If there is compelling evidence to overturn Adnan Syed’s conviction, we will be the first to agree. To date, the public has seen no evidence that would justify a murder conviction that has stood on appeal for more than two decades. The burden of proof is on the prosecution and defense to present their case. To date, they have failed to do so.”
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