Serial - Adnan released & sentence vacated. Now all charges dropped.

Adnan Syed, the man sentenced to life in prison in a murder case re-examined through the wildly popular podcast "Serial," arrived at a Baltimore courthouse Wednesday morning for the start of a scheduled three-day hearing to determine whether he should be granted a new trial.

Syed, 35, entered the courthouse with his hands shackled in the front and wearing prison clothing.

Syed, whose last request for a new trial was denied in 2012 in a sparsely attended hearing, will appear in a packed downtown Baltimore courtroom with family members, supporters and representatives from more than 40 local and national media outlets.

A small crowd assembled in advance of the court's opening on Wednesday, including Sarah Koenig, the former Sun reporter who produced and narrated the 'Serial' podcast that focused on the Syed case.

Syed's attorney, C. Justin Brown, is expected to present an alibi witness and raise questions about cellphone evidence that linked Syed to the area where his Woodlawn High School classmate Hae Min Lee was buried.

Conviction vacated, new trial granted for Adnan Syed of "Serial"

A Baltimore judge has vacated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular "Serial" podcast that explored his case, and granted his request for a new trial.

The order from retired Judge Martin Welch was handed down in an order Thursday afternoon. Syed has been serving a life sentence since being convicted in 2000 of killing ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a Woodlawn High School classmate, and burying her body in Leakin Park.

Welch wrote in his opinion that Syed's trial attorney "rendered ineffective assistance when she failed to cross-examine the state's expert regarding the reliability of cell tower location evidence."

Syed's attorney, C. Justin Brown, broke word of the judge's ruling on Twitter. "WE WON A NEW TRIAL FOR ADNAN SYED! #FreeAdnan," he wrote.

Reached by phone, Syed's brother Yusuf said the family was "feeling great."

"I had a feeling in my heart it was going to happen," he said. "We are just very happy. It's not only a win for us but a win for a lot of people who are stuck in the system because it opened a lot of people's eyes about the justice system."

The ruling comes four months after a post-conviction hearing at which Syed's attorneys argued that a crucial alibi witness and questionable cellphone records were wrongly overlooked by his original trial lawyer.

The Maryland attorney general's office maintained that Syed was a calculated killer whose conviction was the only possible outcome. Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah said he knew the state's position was "not popular."

"The court finds that trial counsel's performance fell below the standard of reasonable professional judgment when she failed to cross-examine the state's cell tower expert regarding a disclaimer obtained as part of pre-trial discovery," Welch wrote.

The Serial podcast became the most popular of all time. But it was a spinoff podcast, "Undisclosed," that uncovered a fax cover sheet regarding the reliability of cell phone tower evidence that Welch in his ruling said swayed him that a new trial should be ordered.

jfenton@baltsun.com

Poser wrote:Amazing. I also listened to every minute of the subsequent 30 or so episodes of Undisclosed. I'm reasonably sure he didn't do it.

Some seriously weird stuff went on between Jay and the police. The whole thing stinks.

Cuttooth wrote:

Poser wrote:Amazing. I also listened to every minute of the subsequent 30 or so episodes of Undisclosed. I'm reasonably sure he didn't do it.

Some seriously weird stuff went on between Jay and the police. The whole thing stinks.

Interesting. After the twelve episodes of Serial I came down on the view that he probably did it but shouldn't have been convicted based on the evidence presented.

Poser wrote:This isn't a recommendation, as I've not listened to it yet, but there is a monster podcast series based on Syed's case, called Undisclosed. Will be listening to part 1 tonight and will feed back. If nothing else it has a 90 minute episode dedicated to Christina Gutierrez, which has to be good.

Vishvanath wrote:

Poser wrote:This isn't a recommendation, as I've not listened to it yet, but there is a monster podcast series based on Syed's case, called Undisclosed. Will be listening to part 1 tonight and will feed back. If nothing else it has a 90 minute episode dedicated to Christina Gutierrez, which has to be good.

Link?