Lawyers for Adnan Syed, the Woodlawn man whose murder trial and conviction were chronicled in the popular Serial podcast, are urging a judge to reject prosecutors’ arguments that he shouldn’t get a new trial.
Syed, who was convicted in 2000 of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, was granted a new trial in June based on faulty cell tower data that placed him at the scene of the crime.
Last month, prosecutors appealed the judge’s order granting Syed a new trial. The state also sought a remand of the case back to Circuit Court, so prosecutors could introduce testimony from two sisters who dispute testimony from alibi witness Asia McClain.
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“What we are saying in our filings is this: If the State’s case against Syed is so strong — as they claim it to be — the State should retry the case. Give Syed a fair trial and let a jury decide,” Justin Brown, Syed’s lead counsel, said in a statement. “My client has spent more than 17 years in prison based on an unconstitutional conviction for a crime he did not commit. The last thing this case needs right now is more delay.”
The Serial podcast, released in 2014, examined inconsistencies in Syed’s case and quickly became the most popular podcast of all time.
