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Whereas Syed has remained free since his launch final yr, he may probably be despatched again to jail — some extent he famous on Tuesday.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Adnan Syed, talking a yr after he was launched from jail when a decide vacated his conviction within the homicide of his ex-girlfriend, emphasised his innocence once more Tuesday, as he faces one other stage in a protracted and complicated authorized odyssey in Maryland’s Supreme Court docket after a decrease court docket reinstated his conviction in March.
Syed, who gave a presentation lasting greater than an hour that was streamed on-line by information shops, known as on Maryland Lawyer Basic Anthony Brown to research what he alleged to be prosecutorial misconduct in his case, which was chronicled within the hit podcast “Serial.”
“We now have an amazing quantity of respect for Mr. Brown,” Syed mentioned, as his mom and youthful brother sat close by on a sofa within the household’s residence. “He has a protracted historical past of standing up for Maryland households, and we’re simply asking that he please rise up for our household as nicely.”
Jennifer Donelan, a spokeswoman for Brown, mentioned the lawyer basic didn’t have the authority to research allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
“We’re prevented from commenting any additional as a result of, as you’re conscious, we’re within the midst of ongoing litigation involving this case,” Donelan mentioned in an e-mail.
Syed spoke for greater than an hour with journalists in his household’s residence in Windsor Mill. Maryland’s Supreme Court docket is scheduled to listen to oral arguments in his attraction on Oct. 5.
The Supreme Court docket is contemplating whether or not a decrease court docket violated the rights of Younger Lee, whose sister Hae Min Lee was killed in 1999 when she was in highschool with Syed in a Baltimore suburb.
The Lee household is interesting a decide’s determination to vacate Syed’s conviction, saying the household obtained inadequate discover concerning the vacatur listening to, which was scheduled on a Friday for the next Monday. Maryland’s intermediate appellate court docket largely affirmed their arguments, reinstated Syed’s conviction and known as for a brand new vacatur listening to.
Attorneys for the Lee household declined to remark Tuesday.
Syed, 42, famous that the decide’s determination to rapidly schedule the listening to may have been out of respect for his household, which had suffered throughout the 20 years of his incarceration.
“They don’t know if it’s Monday, am I going to be alive on Tuesday,” Syed mentioned. “Am I going to be alive on Wednesday? And for years this has damage them a lot that my mother would keep awake at evening.”
Syed, whose presentation included 93 slides summarizing the various twists and turns his case has taken over greater than 20 years, pointed to a number of criticisms which have been raised concerning the case.
For instance, he highlighted failures to convey to mild testimony by an alibi witness who mentioned she noticed Syed in a library that might have modified the end result of his trial. Syed alleged that prosecutors weren’t truthful in statements concerning the witness.
Syed additionally famous unreliable cellphone information used throughout his court docket case to corroborate his whereabouts on the day of the crime. The discover on the information particularly suggested that the billing areas for incoming calls “wouldn’t be thought of dependable data for location.”
Syed additionally confused the failure by prosecutors to reveal various suspects to protection attorneys throughout his trial in what’s referred to as a Brady violation, which was cited by a Baltimore decide final yr when she vacated his conviction.
Whereas Syed has remained free since his launch final yr, he may probably be despatched again to jail — some extent he famous on Tuesday.
“If that court docket comes to a decision that I’ve to return to jail, I’m going to be there,” Syed mentioned.
Syed, who was 17 on the time of Lee’s dying, has been working as an affiliate for Georgetown College’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. After a mistrial, a jury convicted Syed in 2000.
Syed, who has all the time maintained his innocence, emphasised it once more Tuesday.
“We’ve fought so arduous for all these years to attempt to show that I used to be harmless, but additionally to get justice for Hae and justice for her household,” Syed mentioned.
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