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| Photo Credit: AP. |
BALTIMORE (AP) — The office of Maryland’s attorney general is supporting an appeal by a slain woman’s family after a Baltimore judge overturned a man’s murder conviction in a case chronicled by a groundbreaking podcast.
Hae Min
Lee’s brother, Young Lee, has asked the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to
halt court proceedings for Adnan Syed, whose conviction in Lee’s 1999 killing
was reversed by Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn in September.
Young Lee is
asking the appellate court to suspend an Oct. 18 deadline for prosecutors to
decide whether to drop the charges against Syed or retry him. Lee argues that
his family didn’t get adequate notice of the Sept. 19 hearing where Phinn
overturned Syed’s conviction.
Attorney
General Brian Frosch’s office, which represented the state in opposing Syed’s
appeals, said in a court filing Friday that Young Lee has a right to appeal
given his status as the victim’s representative, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The filing argues that Lee’s appeal should be addressed before any circuit
court rulings render it moot.
Syed, who
has always maintained his innocence, has served more than 20 years of a life
sentence. He was convicted of strangling Lee, whose body was found buried in a
Baltimore park. Syed and Lee were students at a Baltimore County high school.
The first
season of the popular “Serial” podcast focused on the 18-year-old woman’s
killing and raised doubts about some of the evidence prosecutors had used to
secure Syed’s conviction.
Phinn
ordered Syed’s release from prison after Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn
Mosby’s office said it found evidence that should have been disclosed to Syed’s
attorneys. Prosecutors said a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence
regarding the possible involvement of two other potential suspects.
Phinn ruled
that the state violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have
bolstered Syed’s defense. She ordered Syed to be placed on home detention with
GPS location monitoring