Adnan Syed’s murder conviction will remain in place after Baltimore City prosecutors withdrew a motion to vacate the conviction Tuesday.
The motion contained “false and misleading statements and unsubstantiated conclusions” that prosecutors allegedly failed to turn over evidence favorable to the defense at trial, known as a Brady violation, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates said ahead of a hearing where a judge will consider a reduced sentence.
“As prosecutors, our duty is to seek justice and ensure that all legal proceedings are conducted transparently, accurately, and fairly,” Bates said. “I did not make this decision lightly, but it is necessary to preserve the credibility of our office and maintain public trust in the justice system.”
Syed, now 43, was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years after being convicted of killing his high school ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. He was freed in October 2022 after a Baltimore judge vacated the conviction at the urging of prosecutors.
But that conviction was reinstated by the state appeals court over problems with notifying Lee’s family of the hearing. Since then, Syed’s attorneys have been trying to get the conviction overturned and are also seeking to have the sentence reduced.
“There is no need to guess whether Mr. Syed can lead a law-abiding life because he has been doing just that for over two years,” Syed’s attorneys wrote in a motion seeking a reduction of sentence.
The case became famous when it was featured on the first season of the “Serial” podcast, which came out in 2014.
On Tuesday night, the eve of Wednesday’s hearing, Bates withdrew the motion to vacate the conviction, which was filed by the former prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby.
Mosby’s attorney, Tiffany Alston, said Tuesday that Mosby stands by the work of her office. “They found there were Brady violations and they disclosed it in their pursuit of justice,” Alston said.
Bates still supports resentencing for Syed, he said. Resentencing is allowed under a state law passed in 2021 regarding people who committed crimes as juveniles.
Syed and Lee both attended Woodlawn High School and had dated, broken up, reunited and broken up again in a relationship an appeals court described as turbulent.
Lee disappeared on Jan. 13, 1999, and her strangled body was found buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park the following month.
Syed was arrested and charged in her killing. A first trial ended in a mistrial, but in a second in 2000 a jury convicted Syed of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and false imprisonment.
Lee’s family opposes a reduction in sentence, and their attorney said the facts have not changed.
“Adnan Syed stands convicted of premeditated murder and nothing these past 25 years changes that fact,” attorney David Sanford, who represents the family, said in a statement last week.
Advocates for Syed argued that the evidence used to convict him was unreliable and that police ignored leads pointing to other potential suspects.
There’s been a long history of court decisions in the case.
A circuit judge overturned Syed’s conviction in 2016 and ordered a new trial, but the state’s appeals court reinstated the conviction in 2019.
In October 2022, a judge vacated Syed’s conviction for a second time, and Mosby said she was dropping the charges against him. Mosby said at the time that new DNA evidence supported his innocence.
Maryland’s appeals court in March 2023 reinstated the conviction, ruling that officials failed to provide sufficient notice for Lee’s family to attend the hearing. Syed was allowed to remain free as more proceedings were held.
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