The state was also awaiting the results of a new DNA test on Lee’s clothing. (file)
Washington:
Prosecutors in the US city of Baltimore on Tuesday dropped charges against a man who has spent more than two decades in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend – a case that has attracted worldwide attention thanks to the hit podcast “Serial”. attracted.
The Maryland Public Defender’s Office said state attorneys had dropped murder charges against 41-year-old Adnan Syed, who had been serving a life sentence since 2000 for the 1999 murder of He Min Lee.
“We can confirm that the charges were dropped,” Tammy Jernagin of the public defender’s office said in an email to AFP.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Finn struck down Syed’s sentence last month at the request of Baltimore City state attorney, Marilyn Mosby, and ordered his immediate release.
Mosby asked the court to vacate Syed’s conviction while further investigation into Lee’s murder was carried out.
“The state has lost faith in the integrity of their sentence,” said assistant state attorney Becky Feldman. “We need to make sure we hold the right person accountable.”
Feldman told the judge that the decision was driven by the discovery of new information about two alternate suspects and the unreliability of the cell phone data used to convict Syed.
The state was also awaiting the results of new DNA tests on Lee’s clothing before deciding to drop all charges or conduct a new test.
Prosecutors had 30 days to either bring fresh charges against Syed or dismiss the case.
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Lee’s body was found buried in a shallow grave in the woods of Baltimore, Maryland in February 1999. The 18-year-old was strangled to death.
Syed has consistently maintained his innocence, but several of his appeals were rejected, including by the US Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case in 2019.
Syed’s case gained global attention when it was picked up in 2014 by “Serial”, a weekly podcast in which a journalist revisits his sentence and casts doubt on his crime.
It has also been the subject of a four-part documentary titled “The Case Against Adnan Syed” on the HBO channel.
The “Serial” podcast — a mix of investigative journalism, first-person fiction, and dramatic storytelling — focused its first season on Syed’s story in 12 nail-biting episodes.
Syed and Lee were both high school honor students and children from immigrant families – that Pakistani, that South Korean – who hid their relationship from their conservative parents.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Syed was a despised boyfriend who felt humiliated after breaking up with Lee.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)