ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Adnan Syed will not return to jail and his murder conviction is on hold, for now, as Maryland’s Supreme Court docket decides no matter if to hear his appeal.
The state’s maximum court issued an purchase on Thursday that helps prevent the reinstatement of Syed’s murder conviction by a lower courtroom.
Syed’s legal case started much more than two a long time in the past, and acquired worldwide attention from the strike podcast “Serial.” He regained his freedom in September from a judge soon after Baltimore prosecutors moved to vacate his conviction, declaring they reviewed the circumstance and uncovered choice suspects as nicely as unreliable proof used at trial.
But the victim’s household said they been given inadequate notice to go to the September hearing right before the choose in man or woman, which violated their ideal to be “treated with dignity and respect,” and the state’s intermediate appellate court docket agreed. In a 2-1 final decision in March that was stayed for 60 days, the judges reinstated Syed’s conviction and ordered a redo of the listening to in question.
With the 60 times nearing an end, Syed’s law firm, Erica Suter, asked the Supreme Court docket of Maryland on Wednesday to concern a remain in the situation to prevent her customer from perhaps becoming incarcerated though the court docket considers no matter if to listen to an attractiveness.
Justice Shirley Watts mentioned in her buy, which was accredited with a majority of the court’s seven justices, that the victim’s loved ones and the workplace of the state’s attorney typical have consented to the stay of the reduced court’s mandate while the Supreme Court docket considers no matter whether to hear the charm and in the course of the pendency of an appeal.
Suter is asking the courtroom to overview several legal challenges, which include no matter whether former Baltimore State’s Legal professional Marilyn Mosby’s conclusion to dismiss the fees versus Syed final calendar year made the family’s courtroom problem moot.
Syed, who has often taken care of his innocence, was 17 when his large school ex-girlfriend and classmate, Hae Min Lee, was uncovered strangled to death and buried in a makeshift grave in 1999. He was arrested weeks later and in the long run convicted of murder in 2000.
In Wednesday’s courtroom filing, Syed’s counsel observed he has been employed considering the fact that December, operating as a Application Affiliate at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative.
The submitting also pointed out that Syed has been caring for his aged parents. His father suffers from dementia and his mother has been identified with leukemia.
“Mr. Syed’s return has intended a far better excellent of daily life for his loved ones as he is capable to guide with the day-to-working day administration of his parents’ overall health, transportation them to doctor’s appointments, and commonly be of services to them,” the court docket filing mentioned.