After 23 years in jail, Adnan Syed is a free man. Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday introduced they have been dropping fees towards the 41-year-old and topic of the hit podcast Serial, reviews The New York Instances. Previous to his launch in September, Syed had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 homicide of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
The choice comes after a choose final month overturned Syed’s jail sentence on the advice of prosecutors, who stated the state was now not assured of the conviction. At that time, prosecutors had 30 days to determine whether or not to maneuver ahead with a brand new trial or drop fees. The place the case of Lee’s homicide goes from right here is tough to say. In September, following a virtually yearlong investigation, the state stated it had discovered two doable “various suspects.” Nonetheless, the general public identification of these people will not be identified but.
Whereas Syed maintained his innocence all through the twenty years he was in jail, it’s honest to he in all probability wouldn’t be free at present if not for Serial. His case attracted world consideration in 2014 after it was chronicled by former Baltimore Solar reporter Sarah Koenig within the podcast’s breakout first season. Koenig spent greater than a 12 months investigating the specifics of Syed’s case, paying specific consideration to the conduct of Cristina Gutierrez, his lawyer on the time. The problems she highlighted proved to be vital within the state’s reassignment of Syed’s case.
In 2019, for example, Maryland’s highest courtroom discovered Gutierrez had did not correctly examine an alibi witness forward of Syed’s trial. Extra just lately, the state investigation discovered “reliability points” with a few of the proof that was used to convict Syed and that prosecutors might have did not disclose proof that may have aided his case.
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