Posted on 04/26/23
| News Source: WMAR2NEWS
Adnan Syed is asking the Appellate Court of Maryland to reconsider its decision to reinstate his conviction and life sentence in the murder of Hae Min Lee, according to court documents filed this morning.
Syed, whose case gained notoriety from the hit podcast Serial, spent more than two decades behind bars for the death of Lee. In September, his murder conviction was thrown out, and he became a free man.
In late March, the appeals court reinstated his conviction and sentence. Attorneys for Lee’s brother, Young Lee, argued that prosecutors violated Maryland Victims’ Rights saying Lee was given short notice of the hearing in September on which he ultimately appeared on Zoom from California.
The appeals court ordered a new hearing in the case, agreeing with Kelly that Young Lee's rights had been violated.
In today's filing, Syed's attorneys argue that Lee's brother failed to show how the outcome of September's hearing would have been different had he been present in court.
"Through video and the presence of his attorney in the courtroom, Appellant was able to convey the gravity of the proceedings for his family. Before this Court should be willing to take the drastic and unprecedented step of reinstating the criminal convictions of an individual whom the State has declined to prosecute, it at a minimum should require Appellant, like all other litigants, to demonstrate that any errors committed by the trial court were not harmless," Syed's attorney's wrote in today's filing.