ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Lawyers for Adnan Syed, whose complex trial was detailed in the popular podcast “Serial,” are seeking to reduce his prison sentence pending further court decisions. released from prison in 2022 and has remained free since, although his trial is still ongoing. His lawyers are seeking to reduce his sentence under a Maryland law that allows people who have served at least 20 years in prison for crimes committed when they were minors to seek a sentence modification.
Syed was released when a judge in Baltimore overturned his conviction in response to a request from prosecutors who said they had found flaws in the evidence. But in August, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled maintained a lower court decision that reinstated Syed’s conviction while allowing him to remain free pending another hearing on whether he should have been released.
The court said the victim’s family had not been given sufficient notice to allow them to attend the original hearing in person.
The defense lawyers’ filing on Friday seeks to preserve Syed’s freedom until the new hearing.
“This filing is a small step toward ensuring that Adnan’s custody status is stabilized and his freedom secured,” said Erica Suter, Syed’s attorney and an assistant attorney general who directs the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore Law School.
“We maintain his innocence and our mission to prove that that has not changed,” Suter said in a statement.
She also said Syed’s performance and good behavior, both during his incarceration and since his release, support a reduction in his sentence. Since his release, Syed has worked at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. His attorneys, including Brian Zavin, who is chief counsel for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s Appellate Division, also noted in the filing Friday in Baltimore City Circuit Court that Syed has been caring for his elderly parents since his release and that his father recently dead. .
The filing also stated that Syed has been caring for his husband’s elderly parents.
The 4-3 ruling by the Maryland Supreme Court in August came about 11 months after it heard arguments in a case that has been full of legal twists and divided judicial rulings since Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing his high-school ex-girlfriend school, Hae Min Lee.
She was found strangled in 1999 and buried in an unmarked grave. Syed was 17 years old at the time and was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years.
David Sanford, an attorney representing Lee’s family, said in a statement Monday that “if there is new and compelling evidence to support the overturning of Adnan Syed’s conviction, we will be the first to call for the freedom of Mr. Syed.”
However, he said the state “has not presented an ounce of new, let alone compelling, evidence that would justify overturning a murder conviction that has withstood appeal for more than two decades.”
“The state of Maryland engaged in a charade in 2022, recycling old evidence and fooling the court and the public into believing that Mr. Syed was likely innocent,” Sanford said, adding that attorneys will consult with the court. family and will make their position known in court in the coming days.
Syed, who is now 43, has maintained his innocence.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates is considering how to proceed in light of the Maryland Supreme Court’s decision.
Syed’s case was chronicled in the podcast “Serial,” which debuted in 2014 and attracted millions of listeners who became armchair detectives. The show, hosted by veteran radio producer Sarah Koenig, transformed the true-crime genre as it shattered podcast streaming and record downloads, revealed little-known evidence and raised new questions about the case.