Baltimore prosecutors have dropped all charges against Adnan Syed, whose case garnered worldwide attention through the hit true-crime podcast Serial.
Syed was released from prison last month after the overturning of his murder conviction in the case that was at the center of the famed podcast Serial. He served 23 years in prison after he was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Have Min Lee in 1999.
A circuit court judge vacated the murder conviction last month and released Syed after an investigation identified problems with the case, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry him.
In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Baltimore’s state attorney Marilyn Mosby said the dropping of charges means the case against Syed is closed and he cannot be charged again.
The successful true-crime podcast Serial chronicled the case and Syed’s story. Doubt was cast on Syed’s guilt. A circuit court judge reversed Syed’s conviction on September 19 after ruling authorities hid exculpatory evidence from his defense.
The charges were dropped due to the completion of touch DNA testing on Lee’s clothes for the first time, which uncovered multiple DNA samples on her shoes – none of which belonged to Syed.
The prosecutors identified last month two other potential suspects following a year-long case review.
After the murder of his high school classmate and ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999, a jury found Syed guilty of premeditated murder, kidnapping, robbery, and false imprisonment.
Prosecutors argued he was a scorned lover who strangled Lee and hid her body in a park in Baltimore with the help of a friend. They relied in part on mobile phone location data that has since been proven unreliable.
Syed has maintained his innocence since his conviction and appealed the court’s decision several times, including a recent attempt in 2019. All of his applications were denied.
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