Conviction finally quashed in serial podcast case

Written by Olivier Guiberteau September 21, 2022

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Adnan Syed, who was convicted in 2000 of murdering his then ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, has finally had his conviction overturned. 

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The case, which was made famous thanks to a podcast series called Serial in which a journalist named Sarah Koenig investigated the conviction, has drawn international attention. 

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Syed has always maintained his innocence and for nearly 25 years fought against the prosecution's assertions that he was a jealous ex-lover turned murderer. 

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Serial premiered in 2014 after a Baltimore-based lawyer approached Koenig about investigating the case along with any other possible suspects. 

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The show was an instant success with the first series being downloaded more than 300 million times, while the evidence uncovered was enough to grant Syed a new trial in 2015.

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In 2019, an HBO series titled ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’ cast further doubt on the legitimacy of the process and whether Syed was unfairly convicted thanks to racial bias. 

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Last Monday, the judge presiding over the case released Syed on the basis that the precaution may have withheld evidence that could have exonerated him. 

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No DNA evidence linked Syed to the crime, with much of the prosecution case based upon mobile phone positioning, which has since proved far from reliable. 

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However, the decision does not mean Syed has been proven innocent and the prosecution now has thirty days to decide whether to bring new charges against him.