Bombshell ruling in Serial murder as freed suspect Adnan Syed has conviction reinstated

The Maryland Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to reinstate Adnan Syed’s murder conviction.

Syed’s case gained national attention a decade ago when it was featured on the popular true crime podcast “Serial.”

In 2000, he was convicted of strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park. He was sentenced to life plus 40 years before being released in 2022.

The Supreme Court ruling does not mean Syed will immediately go back to prison. His case will now be reheard by a lower court, after the decision overturned earlier rulings that cleared Syed’s name two years ago.

The Maryland Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to reinstate Adnan Syed’s murder conviction

Syed was convicted in 2000 of strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park

Syed was convicted in 2000 of strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore’s Leakin Park

The Supreme Court’s decision effectively returns the case to the state it was in before a judge quashed Syed’s conviction and set him free. His complex legal saga must now be reheard.

When Syed was released in 2022, Lee’s brother Young argued his rights were violated when the decision went through the courts.

Lee’s family argued that they were not given sufficient notice to attend the hearing in person, which they said violated their rights in court.

In its ruling this week, the High Court said that “in attempting to right what they saw as an injustice to Mr Syed, the prosecutor and the court wronged Mr Lee.”

Adnan SyedUS Supreme Court