Md. Supreme Court orders redo of hearing that freed Adnan Syed

The Supreme Court has affirmed the Appellate Court’s decision reinstating Adnan Syed’s convictions and ordered that a new vacatur hearing be held.

Adnan Syed and his mother Shamim Rahman talk with reporters as they arrive at Maryland’s Supreme Court in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, to hear arguments in an appeal by Syed, whose conviction for killing his ex-girlfriend more than 20 years ago was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial.” (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“In an effort to remedy what they perceived to be an injustice to Mr. Syed, the prosecutor and the circuit court worked an injustice against Mr. Lee by failing to treat him with dignity, respect and sensitivity and in particular, but violating Mr. Lee’s rights as a crime victim’s representative to reasonable notice of the Vacatur Hearing, the right to attend the hearing in person and the right to be heard on the merits of the Vacatur motion.”

The case brought before the state’s Supreme Court in October wasn’t intended to determine Adnan Syed’s innocence or guilt in the murder of Hae Min Lee, but about whether or not Lee’s brother, Young Lee, was provided proper notice to a vacatur hearing the year before.

Lee’s murder and Syed’s trials and conviction attracted the attention of millions when Sarah Koenig started the podcast Serial in 2014.

The now quarter-decade-long saga between Hae Min Lee’s initial disappearance and the deeply legal questions the Court has had to consider has had many twists and turns.

How this will impact the future of victims’ rights in Maryland isn’t yet clear. DC Attorney Susan Simpson told Scripps News Baltimore last September that this case “is like bizarro land criminal procedure.”

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This story was originally published by Scripps News Baltimore, an E.W. Scripps Company.