Hae Min Lee’s brother believes his rights were violated when Adnan Syed was released from prison after 23 years.
Adnan Syed Headed Back To The Slammer
The convicted murderer who was the subject of the Serial podcast was freed last year after 23 years of lockup and consistently fighting charges claiming his innocence. in a twisted turn of fate, the Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that he was actually wrongfully released due to a technicality.
Hae Min’s brother Young Lee claims that he wasn’t properly notified of the state’s motion to vacate Syed’s conviction. The appeals court requested a new hearing stating in the court documents it “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.”
This doesn’t look to be all bad for Syed, the state continues, “We can do that, and accordingly, we vacate the circuit court’s order vacating Mr. Syed’s convictions, which results in the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence.”
Adnan Syed Was Freed In September
The accused murderer was shockingly released from prison last year in the fall by Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court who believed “in the interests of justice and fairness,” Syed should be released after serving over 20 years.
The release was put into action after evidence came to light that affected the overall outcome of his 1999 murder case. It was proven that prosecutors did not turn over evidence that could have positively affected his case.
Syed has long denied strangling his classmate and ex-girlfriend to death and burying her body in a Baltimore Park. During the hearing last year, Young Lee via his lawyers requested that the hearing be postponed.
This request was denied, and he attended via Zoom while at work. He said to the courts, “This is not a podcast for me. This is real life — a never-ending nightmare for 20-plus years.”
The court docs support this request stating, “We remand for a new, legally compliant, and transparent hearing on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee is given notice of the hearing that is sufficient to allow him to attend in person, evidence supporting the motion to vacate is presented, and the court states its reasons in support of its decision.”
Adnan Syed Tragic Case
The case of Hae Min Lee was followed by the Serial podcast who wasn’t on any particular side and the host, Sarah Koenig was really able to dig into the evidence available to her and give a practical reason why looked or didn’t look guilty.
The Lee family attorney, David Sanford released a statement revealing that the family is happy with this result. “We are equally pleased that the Appellate Court is directing the lower court to conduct a transparent hearing where the evidence will be presented in open court and the court’s decision will be based on evidence for the world to see.”
He also accused the Baltimore court system of failing “repeatedly”. Moreover, “the victim, or victim’s representative … has a right to be heard.”
