The maryland judiciary7/8/2023 ![]() The family has a right to be present." But here's what's interesting. They said, "This is just a pure technicality. They didn't say that the judge made a wrong decision by granting the conviction to be vacated or there was anything wrong with the state's attorneys. They didn't touch the merits to the hearing. ![]() What they did was not only reinstate the conviction and say the hearing's got to be done over. That's the confusing part and that's the part that I literally haven't slept in two days thinking about. The problem is, they said, "We're going to reinstate the conviction." ![]() And that's the court that just ruled that they're going to grant the motion and they're going to send the case back down to the circuit court to do the hearing all over again and give the family enough notice to come and be there in person. Now, the motion that the family filed to postpone the hearing, because it was denied, they decided to appeal that denial to the intermediate appellate court in Maryland. "I am just scratching my head because that means they can undo the executive action of any state official period."Ĭonviction and released him. He spent about 40 minutes giving his statement, and after that, the court ruled on the motion that the state's attorney brought and vacated a non. We waited that day in court for Lee Young, the brother, to get home, get on a Zoom call. "To give you enough enough time to get home and get on a Zoom call." The judge did not grant the motion, but what she said was, "We're going to recess the hearing and we're going to wait to give you enough time." The victim's brother was at work. But the day of the hearing, they said, "No, we want to appear in person." They filed this motion. They were communicated with the entire week before the hearing, and they again told the state's attorney that they would be appearing via Zoom. They had been told about the motion about a week prior, and the family lives in California. Marilyn Mosby, her office, the prosecutor brought a motion to the court and said, "We are here to move to vacate the conviction." At that hearing, the victim's family, the brother, was represented by an attorney, and they filed their own motion, and the motion was to postpone the hearing and say, "We need more time because we should have had enough notice to be able to be present for the hearing." There was a hearing held in the circuit court in Baltimore on a motion to vacate his conviction. Just to explain to folks what happened on Sept. When you're at the point where the state's attorney drops charges and there no longer are any charges pursuant to which you can reinstate a conviction, nobody could expect something like this to happen. Please let us know what's going on with Adnan. The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Watch my "Salon Talks" episode with Rabia Chaudry here or read a Q&A of our conversation below to learn more about the new developments in Syed's case, how a failed system can fail again and what concerned citizens and podcast listeners can do to help. Continuous advocacy work and the international popularity "Serial" brought to the case led to the case being reviewed. It was especially confusing because Lee had not appeared in person at other hearings and would not be able to speak or change the outcome.Īttorney Rabia Chaudry, one of Syed's most vocal advocates and an attorney appearing on the "Serial" podcast, explained to me on "Salon Talks" why this peculiar new ruling leaves Syed's freedom hanging in balance and why it sets a dangerous precedent for innocence work.Ĭhaudry released the 2019 HBO docuseries "The Case Against Adnan Syed," which further proclaimed his innocence by exposing that DNA tests did not reveal anyone else's DNA on Lee's body or her belongings. That is why it was so surprising to hear that on March 28, the Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that the lower court violated the rights of Young Lee, Lee's brother, by not giving him enough time to appear in person for the hearing to vacate Syed's charges. Phinn of the Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated the charges against Syed based on "lost confidence in the integrity of his convictions" (due to new DNA testing that concluded the potential involvement of "two alternative suspects"), Syed started working at Georgetown University, reconnected with his loved ones and was on the road to reentry. It was a story that was most importantly, over. It felt like a storybook ending to the case that millions followed since the first season of the " Serial" podcast took the world by storm in 2014. For the past 23 years, Syed had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, his classmate and ex-girlfriend. Glowing pictures of Adnan Syed, his family and defense team leaving the courthouse in Baltimore filled the internet in September.
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