Syed was 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 murder of his girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who was strangled and buried in a Baltimore park in 1999. On Monday, a judge in Maryland overturned the conviction after prosecutors said there were two other potential suspects who were never disclosed to the defense at trial. U.S. District Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn in Baltimore ordered Mr. Syed released from prison and placed on house arrest, and ordered the state to decide whether to seek a new trial date or dismiss the case within 30 days. “Okay, Mr. Side, you are free to join your family,” Ms. Finn said as the hearing ended. Mr Syed, now 41, has always maintained his innocence and has been appealing his conviction for years. The case first came to global attention from the hit podcast in 2014, which cast doubt on his guilt and some of the evidence prosecutors had used. The serial suggested evidence discovered by witness Asia McClain could have corroborated Mr Syed’s account of being in the library at the time of the murder. Image: Adnan Syed leaves the courthouse on Monday Last week, prosecutors filed a motion saying a lengthy investigation conducted by the defense had turned up new evidence that could undermine Mr. Said’s conviction. Assistant State’s Attorney Becky Feldman described to the judge various details from the case that undermine the conviction, including faulty cell phone data, unreliable witness statements and a potentially biased detective. Image: Adnan and Hae Min Lee at the dance. Image from The Case Against Adnan Syed. Pic Pic: HBO/ Sky Atlantic/ NOW TV The investigation “revealed unknown and newly developed information about two alternate suspects, as well as unreliable cell tower data,” State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a news release last week. Read more: Serial and The Case Against Adnan Syed The suspects were known figures at the time of the initial investigation, prosecutors said, but were not properly excluded or disclosed to the defense, which declined to release information about the suspects because of the ongoing investigation. Prosecutors said they did not claim Mr. Syed was innocent but had no confidence “in the integrity of the conviction” and recommended he be released on his own recognizance or bail.
