Baltimore – The condemnation for murder of Adnan Syed will remain in place after the prosecutors of the city of Baltimore withdrew a motion to vacate the sentence on Tuesday.
But a decision to reduce Syed’s sentence, something backed by the city prosecutor, follows a judge, who did not rule after a hearing in Baltimore on Wednesday.
Judge Jennifer Schiffer said she would issue an opinion in writing later about whether to reduce Syed’s sentence. Schiffer said that “it was not my intention to leave everyone waiting too much.”
Syed, now 43 years old, was sentenced to life imprisonment more than 30 years after being convicted of murder for the murder of his former high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999.
Syed’s case became famous for the successful “Serial” podcast in 2014, who raised questions about his conviction. Syed has overturned his sentence twice, more recently in 2022 when he was released from prison after he turned 23. The State Court of Appeals restored the conviction every time.
“I humbly request free and build a significant life,” Syed said, fighting tears, Schiffer at the end of Wednesday’s audience.
Lee’s family is still opposed to any reduction in the sentence, and said that the acts of the murder remain unchanged.
“Adnan Syed is convicted of premeditated murder and nothing of the last 25 years changes that fact,” said Family Lawyer Lee David Sanford last week by opposing a reduction.
The case has gone through a series of judicial and fiscal decisions, including Tuesday night, when the state prosecutor of the city of Baltimore, Ivan J. Bates, withdrew the motion of the Prosecutor’s Office to annul Syed’s conviction.
The prosecutor withdraws the motion to cancel the conviction
Bates said that the motion, presented by his predecessor Marilyn Mosby, contained “false and deceptive statements and conclusions without foundation” that prosecutors allegedly failed to deliver favorable evidence to the defense in the trial, known as a rape of Brady.
Bates told “NBC Nightly News” in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that did not rely his decision on whether Syed was guilty or not.
“One of the things I would say is that we support the jury’s verdict,” he said, noting that, based on the evidence, “no doubt” would bring the case against Syed again today.
A Mosby lawyer said Mosby supports his office’s work. “They discovered that there were Brady’s violations and revealed him in his search for justice,” said Mosby’s lawyer, Tiffany Alston, Tuesday night.
Sanford, the lawyer of the Lee family, described the withdrawal as a victory.
“The State finally acknowledged what we had always suspected: there was never any new information that questioned the integrity of the condemnation of Adnan Syed for murder, kidnapping and premeditated robbery,” he said.
Witnesses speak at Wednesday’s audience
Wednesday’s hearing was about Syed should be forwarded, something allowed by a state law of 2021 that allows people convicted of crimes as minors who review their sentences.
Syed was 17 when he reads, who was 18 at that time, was strangled and found buried in a shallow tomb in a Baltimore park.
Syed’s brother, Yusuf Syed, told the court that Adnan Syed always supported him and believed in him.
“He was always there,” he said, struggling against tears. “He taught me to move on. If there is something I achieved in my life, it is because he was supporting me. “
Other witnesses said Syed was dedicated to his family, did everything possible to help others and never got into prison problems.
Two people who met Syed in prison talked about him at Wednesday’s audience, and Dr. Anita Boss, a psychologist based in Virginia, did a risk assessment for Syed and said he was connected to the family and dedicated to religion.
Lee family members talked about Wednesday of their pain, and how the 1999 murder stole Lee from a future.
“Syed took away the ability to be an uncle,” said Lee’s brother, Young Lee, through tears. “I always dreamed of being an uncle for his children and spoiling them. I don’t have the opportunity to see my sister walk around the hall. He took that away. ”
Lee’s mother, You Wha Kim, said her world collapsed when her daughter was killed.
“He lived in a prison without bars while Syed lived in a prison with bars,” he said in a statement read by a translator. “I had no will to live.”
Syed, who has maintained his innocence, addressed the court at the end of the hearing. He said he was grateful for receiving a second chance, and that he does not want to cause more pain to the Lee family.
“I promise you that I will continue living the life I am trying to live,” Syed told Schiffer, the judge.
Schiffer concluded Wednesday’s audience by recognizing that Syed had a second chance and has shown progress.
“But everyone must remember that Hae Min Lee never had the opportunity,” said Schiffer. “They are the true victims in this case.”
She did not say when she would issue a written opinion about the ressentation.
The 1999 murder
Syed and Lee attended Woodlawn High School and had come out, broken, gathered and broken again in a relationship that an appeal court described as turbulent.
Lee disappeared on January 13, 1999, and his strangulated body was found buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park the following month.
Syed was arrested and accused of his murder. A first trial ended in a null trial, but in a second in 2000 a jury condemned Syed for first -degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and false imprisonment.
Syed’s defenders argued that the evidence used to condemn it was not reliable and that the police ignored the potential clients that pointed to other potential suspects.
Syed’s conviction was revoked by a circuit judge in 2016, who discovered that a failure for defense in his trial to challenge the information of the cell tower justified a new trial. The Maryland Court of Appeals restored the sentence in 2019.
In October 2022, a judge annulled Syed’s conviction for the second time after the arguments of the Mosby office, and Mosby said he was leaving the charges against him. Mosby, who lost re -election that year, said at that time that the new DNA evidence supported his innocence.
Maryland’s Court of Appeals in March 2023 restored the sentence, ruling that officials did not provide enough notice to Lee’s family to attend the audience. Syed was allowed to remain free as more procedures were carried out.
Chloe Atkins reported from Baltimore and Phil Helsel in Los Angeles.
