Adnan Syed spent 23 years in prison on charges stemming from his ex-girlfriend and former high school classmate Hae Min Lee’s 1999 murder. Back then, a jury had found him guilty of premeditated murder, kidnapping, robbery, and false imprisonment. However, in September 2022, a Baltimore court overturned the 42-year-old’s conviction and released him from prison. Prosecutors claimed that he had been wrongfully convicted in 2000.
However, earlier this year, on March 28, a Maryland appellate court reinstated Syed’s conviction and sentence. The court also ordered a new hearing to determine whether he should remain free, but the State’s Supreme Court put his return to prison on hold.
Where is Adnan Syed now?
An ABC News report from May 2023 confirmed that Maryland’s Supreme Court has put Adnan Syed’s return to prison on hold. The court issued an order to prevent the reinstatement of his murder conviction by a lower court. Therefore, the 42-year-old is to remain free for now.
The outlet further reported that in a court filing, Syed’s counsel revealed he has been working since December 2022. He works as a Program Associate at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. Moreover, the recently liberated man also looks after his elderly parents. The filing also mentioned that his father suffers from dementia and that his mother from leukemia.
The case began over two decades ago and recently resurfaced after the Baltimore court overturned that alleged murderer’s conviction in September 2022. Baltimore prosecutors moved to vacate his conviction and sentence following a year-long investigation. During this probe, they found other potential suspects and addressed the use of unreliable evidence at his 2000 trial.
According to The New York Times, over 70 wrongfully convicted men and women filed a legal brief. In the brief, the exonerees urged Maryland’s Supreme Court to undo the appeals court’s decision of the appeals court. They also supported the lower court’s decision from last year that threw out Syed’s conviction.
Why was Adnan Syed’s conviction reinstated?
As previously mentioned, a Maryland appeals court reinstated Adnan Syed’s conviction on March 28, 2023. The lower court moved the motion after the family of the victim, Hae Min Lee, said they received insufficient notice to attend the September 2022 hearing before the judge in person. This reportedly violated their right to be “treated with dignity and respect.”
The ABC report stated that the intermediate appellate court agreed that last year’s decision violated the victim’s family’s rights. Following this, in a 2-1 decision, the judges reinstated Syed’s conviction and ordered a new hearing.
According to the outlet, Syed was 17 when he faced charges for allegedly strangling Lee, his ex-girlfriend, and burying her body in Leakin Park in 1999. Her body was found buried in a makeshift grave. Weeks after the killing, authorities arrested the teen. A jury convicted him on multiple charges, including premeditated murder and kidnapping, a year later.
