The condemnation of murder of ADNAN Syed is still standing while seeking the reduction of the sentence in the ‘series’ case

By Lea Skene

Baltimore (AP) – Despite the documented problems with the evidence against them and an earlier request for prosecutors to clear their history, Adnan Syed will continue to be convicted of murder, according to judicial documents presented on Tuesday night.

Baltimore prosecutors’ decision is ahead of a hearing scheduled on Wednesday morning where a judge will consider whether Reduce Syed prayerBut this means that the conviction itself is no longer in doubt.

It is the last wrinkle in a Legal odyssey That obtained a massive follow -up after appearing in the “serial” podcast more than a decade ago.

Syed’s lawyers recently submitted the request for a reduction in the sentence under the Maryland Youth Restoration Law, a relatively new state law that provides a potential way to release for people who attend long prison terms for crimes committed when they were minors. That request is supported by prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the state prosecutor of Baltimore, Ivan Bates, announced on Tuesday that his office is withdrawing a motion previously presented to cancel Syed’s conviction in the 1999 murder of his ex -girlfriend of the high school, Hae Min Lee, who was found strangled until death and buried in a serious serious serious.

“I did not make this decision lightly, but it is necessary to preserve the credibility of our office and maintain public confidence in the justice system,” Bates said in a statement.

Syed’s lawyer Erica Suter issued a statement on Tuesday night, criticizing the move and reaffirming Syed’s innocence.

“Tonight, the state lawyer was wrong,” said Suter. “His decision to withdraw the motion of his office to vacate the condemnation of ADNAN ignores the injustices on which this conviction was founded. We will continue to fight to clear his name through all the legal routes available to him. ”

The original motion to vacate, which was presented by the predecessor of Bates, Marilyn Mosby, Syed won his freedom In 2022. But his The conviction was reinstalled After a procedural challenge of Lee’s family. He Maryland Supreme Court He ordered a rebuild the Vacatur audience of the conviction after discovering that the family did not receive an adequate notice to attend in person.

Since the prosecutor changed hands in the meantime, the decision to withdraw the motion fell to Bates.

Instead of asking a judge to consider Syed’s guilt or innocence again, Bates chose a different path. He supported Syed’s motion for a reduced sentence, without addressing the underlying sentence.

Bates said that since his release in 2022, Syed has shown that he is a productive member of society whose continuous freedom is “in the interest of justice.” He said the case “is precisely what legislators imagined when they created the youth restoration law.”

The legislation was approved in the middle of a growing consensus that such defendants are especially open to rehabilitation, partly because brain science shows that cognitive development continues beyond adolescence. Syed was 17 when read was killed.

Now 43 years, he has been working on the Prison and Justice initiative of the University of Georgetown and family care aged since his release, according to judicial presentations. His father died in October after a long illness.

Bates faced a deadline on Friday to decide on the motion to vacate.

After reviewing the motion presented by its predecessor, Bates concluded that it contained “false and deceptive statements that undermine the integrity of the judicial process,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Bates wrote in an executive summary published on Tuesday that his decision “does not prevent Mr. Syed from raising any new problems that he believes will support his innocence in the allegations after trial.”

“However, properly changing this burden on Mr. Syed will reinstall the adversary nature of the procedures that are the distinctive seal of the truth search function of our criminal justice system,” says the summary.

The lawyers of the victim’s family had argued that prosecutors should address the integrity of Syed’s conviction before court considering the reduction of their sentence. Prosecutors “the problem should not be allowed to hide” their motion for a reduced sentence, lawyers wrote in a recent presentation.

Syed has maintained his innocence from the beginning, but many questions remain unanswered even after the “series” podcast reviewed through evidence, he reexamined legal arguments and interviewed witnesses. The series debuted in 2014 and attracted millions of listeners who became armchair detectives.

Rife of turns and legal turns, the case recently faced the efforts to reform criminal justice against the rights of crime victims and their families, whose voices are often disagree with a growing movement to recognize and correct systemic racism, police misconduct and errors in the Prosecutor’s Office.

When prosecutors sought to cancel Syed’s conviction in 2022, they cited numerous problems with the case, including alternative suspects and unreliable evidence presented at the trial. A judge agreed to vacate the condemnation and the free Syed. Prosecutors at Mosby’s office later chose not to refill the charges After saying that DNA tests excluded Syed as a suspect.

Although the appeal courts restored their conviction, they allowed Syed to remain free while the case continued.

Originally published: February 26, 2025 at 9:59 am PST

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