Thousands of people have been following the case of Adnan Syed, accused and convicted of the 1999 murder of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2014, “Serial” podcast producers investigated the case and laid it out for their listeners, casting doubts on Adnan’s guilt. Since the conclusion of “Serial”, other podcasts, such as “Undisclosed”, have continued the investigation. The public scrutiny of the case raised concerns about evidence collected that ultimately convicted Adnan.
The key arguments are: Ineffective counsel because Cristina Gutierrez, the defense attorney, failed to call a witness to testify that would have given Adnan an alibi and her failure to cross-examine the analysis of cell-phone records that a prosecution expert witness presented during trial. There’s also prosecution misconduct that plagues the facts of this case. The judge hearing the motion to reopen the case agreed.
On November 6th, his legal team’s motion was granted by Judge Martin P. Welch. The case will be reopened and Adnan Syed will be allowed to present the new evidence in court.