A Timeline of Adnan Syed's Case, Conviction and Release from Prison — and What's Next for 'Serial' Subject

Adnan Syed.Photo: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

In September 2022, a Baltimore judgevacated Adnan Syed’s murder conviction, freeing Syed after 23 years behind bars.

The subject of the groundbreaking 2014 podcast “Serial,” Syed was arrested in 1999 at the age of 17 on accusations he murdered his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend,Hae Min Lee. He was convicted of the crime the following year.

Days before his release from prison,Baltimore prosecutors had asked that Syed’s conviction be overturned, saying “the State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction,” and that after a lengthy investigation, new information was discovered, including “the possible involvement of alternative suspects.”

Here is a timeline of Adnan Syed’s case — including what’s next for the now 41-year-old man.

1998: Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed break up

After keeping their romance a secret due to religious and cultural differences, Hae Min Lee, 18, and Adnan Syed, 17, who were classmates at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, break up. Both attended the magnet program at Woodlawn, for high-achieving students.

Hae Min Lee.

Lee was born in South Korea in 1980 and came to the United States in 1992 along with her mother and brother. At Woodlawn, she played lacrosse and field hockey.

1999: Hae Min Lee vanishes and her body is found 27 days later

On Jan. 13, 1999, Lee vanished after leaving school.

She was found dead 27 days later — her body partially buried in a park. Police said at the time Lee was strangled to death.

Her ex-boyfriend, Syed, was arrested in connection with her death and disappearance. He pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence to this day.

2000: Adnan Syed is convicted

At trial, Jay Wilds, a friend of Syed’s, testified against him, and claimed the pair buried Lee in the park where she was found.

Cell phone data also placed Syed in the area, prosecutors said — although that data would later be called into question.

Adnan Syed.Courtesy Syed family

Syed was found guilty of murder, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison.

2014:Serialpodcast unearths new evidence

More than 15 years after Lee’s killing, the “Serial” podcast reexamined the case and revealed a key alibi witness who did not testify on Syed’s behalf.

While McClain offered to testify, Syed’s attorney Maria Cristina Gutierrez, who has since passed away, did not call her.

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The podcast also questioned the credibility of the cell phone data used against Syed, and revealed that DNA found at the crime scene was never tested.

Millions of people tuned in to the podcast, thrusting the case back into the spotlight and pressuring authorities to reexamine the facts.

Adnan Syed.Courtesy of Yusuf Syed/AP Photo

2015: Maryland court agrees to hear Adna Syed’s appeal

In February 2015, following the success of “Serial” and the scrutiny it drew to the case, a Maryland court agreed to review Syed’s conviction.

In November of that year, a Baltimore judge issued an order that would allow Syed to present new evidence, including the testimony of McClain, Syed’s alibi witness.

Asia Chapman, formerly Asia McClain.

2016: Adnan Syed’s conviction vacated for the first time

In June 2016, Judge Martin P. Welch overturned Syed’s conviction and granted him a new trial.

Syed’s attorney, C. Justin Brown, argued that Gutierrez’s failure to call McClain showed that she mishandled the case. Brown also argued that cell tower data that placed in the park where Lee’s body was found, and that was used to convict Syed, was unreliable — and that the prosecution failed to disclose evidence which would have called the data’s reliability into question.

However, even after Judge Welch’s ruling, Syed remained incarcerated as the state appealed the ruling and the case wound its way through the courts.

At a news conference after the judge’s order, Brown said, “We made a lot of progress, but we are not there.”

Adnan Syed.Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty

At the time, Lee’s family issued a statement expressing their continued belief in Syed’s guilt.

“We continue to grieve,” the family said in a statement. “We continue to believe justice was done when Mr. Syed was convicted of killing Hae.”

In March 2018, an appeals court upheld Judge Welch’s 2016 decision to vacate Syed’s conviction and grant him a new trial.

Woodward wrote that “there is a reasonable probability that McClain’s alibi testimony would have raised a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror about Syed’s involvement [in] Hae’s murder, and thus ‘the result of the proceedings would have been different.’ "

2019: Maryland’s highest court upholds conviction

Syed suffered a setback in March 2019, when Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled in a 4-3 decision to uphold his conviction.

In a statement after the ruling, Brian E. Frosh, Maryland’s attorney general, said, “Justice was done for Hae Min Lee and her family.”

In November 2019, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Syed’s case.

RELATED VIDEO: Judge Orders Release of Adnan Syed as Murder Conviction of ‘Serial’ Subject Is Vacated

September 2022: Adnan Syed’s conviction is overturned again; he leaves prison

On Sept. 19, Syed was released from prison after Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated his conviction.

However, she did not commit to declaring that Syed is innocent.

“It’s re-traumatizing them because they thought that they had resolution and closure, when in all actuality, they didn’t. But my job is to do the right thing. And you have to have the fair and just result in order to ensure the right person is held accountable.

After his release from prison, Syed was placed on home detention with GPS monitoring. The state has 30 days to schedule a date for a new trial, but it is unclear if the state will pursue a new conviction.

rabia O’chaudry/twitter

Hours after Syed was released, longtime friendRabia Chaudry, a lawyer who has advocated for his release, shared a video of Syed combing through a refrigerator, looking for something to eat.

September 2022: Hae Min Lee’s family reacts to Adnan Syed’s release

After Syed’s release, the Lee family attorney, Steve Kelly, told PEOPLE he believes that prosecutors will not retry Syed for the murder, saying that based on the statements of prosecutors, the possibility seems “virtually impossible.”

“And in addition to that, I think it’s going to make it virtually impossible for anybody to ever really be brought to justice. So quite frankly, [Lee’s family] is very hopeless about any justice for Hae and that’s where they are right now. They’re despairing,” he said.

Kelly added, “They feel like Adnan Syed is an international celebrity. The story is about him. He’s been made to be a hero in the media. And Hae Min Lee is not part of that narrative.”

“It’s re-traumatizing them because they thought that they had resolution and closure, when in all actuality, they didn’t,” she said. “But my job is to do the right thing. And you have to have the fair and just result in order to ensure the right person is held accountable.”

March 28, 2023: Maryland court reinstates Adnan Syed’s murder conviction

On March 28, 2023,Syed’s muder conviction was reinstated. The news came after the Appellate Court of Maryland determined that the rights of Lee’s brother, Young Lee, were violated after he wasn’t given proper notice of an October hearing to throw out Syed’s convicton.

The court’s opinion said, per CNN, “Because the circuit court violated Mr. Lee’s right to notice of, and his right to attend, the hearing on the State’s motion to vacate… this Court has the power and obligation to remedy those violations, as long we can do so without violating Mr. Syed’s right to be free from double jeopardy.”

March 29, 2023: Adnan Syed’s lawyer criticizes the court’s decision

Syed’s lawyer Erica J. Suter slammed the court’s decision the following day. She claimed the appellate court’s decision “was not about Adnan’s innocence but about notice and mootness.”

source: people.com