Adnan Syed: 'Serial' podcast subject has murder conviction reinstated in 'devastating' blow

Maryland court decision comes ahead of premiere of HBO programme ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’

Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular Serial podcast, has had his murder conviction reinstated by Maryland’s highest court ahead of the premiere of the HBO docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed.

In 1999, Syed was convicted of killing Hae Min Lee, a former girlfriend and classmate, and was sentenced to life in prison.

The Maryland Court of Appeals determined the 38-year-old received “deficient performance” from his defence attorney Cristina Gutierrez, but still found the evidence against Syed pointed towards guilty.

Syed gained prominence in 2014 when Sarah Koenig launched the Serial podcast to re-examine his case, which led to Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch to overturn his conviction in 2016.

Maryland’s high court agreed to the prosecutors request to reinstate Syed’s murder conviction.

“We are devastated by the Court of Appeals’ decision, but we will not give up on Adnan Syed,” defence attorney Justin Brown said in a statement, hinting the team will be looking to appeal to the US Supreme Court. “Unfortunately we live in a binary criminal justice system in which you either win or you lose. Today we lost by a 4-3 vote.”

Syed’s post-conviction case has focused on Ms Gutierrez failing to bring a potential alibi to the witness stand to challenge mobile phone records showing him to be in the location where Ms Lee’s body was discovered.

“There was a credible alibi witness who was with Adnan at the precise time of the murder and now the Court of Appeals has said that witness would not have affected the outcome of the proceeding,” according to Mr Brown’s statement. “We think just the opposite is true. From the perspective of the defendant, there is no stronger evidence than an alibi witness.”

The potential alibi statement of Asia McClain, a classmate of Syed, said she saw him in a library at the afternoon of Ms Lee’s disappearance. However, the majority of the court said the statement alone does not exonerate Syed since the state’s case did not depend on any exact timeline of Ms Lee’s murder.

Furthermore, during several interviews with the police, Syed never mentioned being in the library.

Throughout the case, prosecutors emphasised the testimony of Jay Wilds, Syed’s classmate, who said he saw Ms Lee’s body in the boot of her own car and said Syed admitted to murdering her.