How Victim's Brother in Adnan Syed Case Turned Trial Upside Down

The Adnan Syed case, popularized by the podcast Serial, has been forever changed thanks to an appeal launched by the victim's brother.

Syed was convicted of the murder of his then-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who died in January 1999. He was found guilty of a number of charges in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, though he always maintained his innocence. In 2014, the murder of Min Lee and Syed's trial was the subject of the first season of the podcast Serial.

Eventually, new evidence in the case was unearthed and by September 2022 all charges against Syed had been dropped. A court in Maryland recently reinstated the murder conviction of Syed, but the ruling suggests Syed will not remain convicted for long, as another hearing is needed to remove the reinstatement.

The conviction was reinstated after the victim's brother, Young Lee, filed an appeal in December 2022, arguing that prosecutors violated a state law requiring them to give sufficient notice of hearings to victims (or their representatives) so they may attend in person.

Lee argued, and the Maryland appeals court agreed, that the state violated his rights by giving him just one business day's notice.

According to court documents obtained by Newsweek, the one business day notice "was insufficient time to reasonably allow Mr. Lee, who lived in California, to attend the hearing in person, and therefore, the court required Mr. Lee to attend the hearing remotely."

The document continued, "Because the circuit court violated Mr. Lee's right to notice of, and his right to attend, the hearing...this Court has the power and obligation to remedy those violations, as long we can do so without violating Mr. Syed's right to be free from double jeopardy."

The Circuit Court for Baltimore City will now remand for a new "legally compliant hearing" with Lee given enough notice in order for him to attend in person.

The reinstatement of the murder conviction appears only to be a temporary technicality as the courts seem wary of infringing upon Syed's right to be free from double jeopardy—that is to say, he cannot be retried for a crime for which he has already been acquitted.

Hae Min Lee, 17, was discovered buried in Leakin Park, Baltimore in February 1999. Her boyfriend, Syed was arrested and charged with first-degree murder later that month, and he was found guilty in February 2000.

Podcast host and journalist Sarah Koenig made the case the first subject of Season 1 of Serial in 2014, which led to renewed interest and eventually investigations into the case. Reacting to his release last year, Koenig released a new episode discussing the case.

"Adnan's case was a mess—is a mess," Koenig said on the podcast. "Baltimore City Police have told the prosecutor's office they're going to put someone back on the case...But I do know that the chances of the state ever trying to prosecute Adnan again are remote at best."