The murder charges against Adnan Syed, the subject of season 1 of the Serial podcast from NPR, have just been dropped. Serial, hosted by Sarah Koenig, started in 2014 as a spin-off of This American Life. The podcast ran for three seasons, each one focusing on offering the details of a singular true story. Season 1 centered on the case of Adnan Syed, a high school senior arrested in 1999 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Syed maintained his innocence despite a damning testimony from a friend of his, leading Koenig to pick up the thread 15 years later and investigate the facts for herself and her listeners.
Season 1 of Serial received over 80 million downloads and led to a four-part documentary series on HBO Max in 2019, titled The Case Against Adnan Syed. In 2016, Syed was granted a new trial due to an improper examination of cell tower data evidence. However, Maryland's highest court denied that appeal in 2019, and his conviction was reinstated. In September, the case was re-opened, with prosecutors recommending Syed's release after over two decades behind bars.
Now, The Daily Record reports that Syed's charges have officially been dropped by the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office. According to the report, Maryland Office of the Public Defender said that DNA recovered in the case was tested which excludes Syed. One of Syed's representatives, Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, offered a statement, presented below:
“The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit.”
How Serial Helped Get Adnan Syed's Charges Dropped
Though Syed's sentence has been vacated, Lee's brother has filed an appeal in accordance with Maryland's victim's rights laws, which would have put the case on hold during the Lee family's appeal process. However, the new evidence, which points to the possible involvement of two new suspects, led to Syed's immediate release. After 23 years, it's surprising to see such a conviction overturned, and the influence of Serial cannot be understated. With an international listener base and millions of downloads, which saw a huge resurgence after each update in the trial was publicized, the Serial podcast kept a light shining on Syed's case when normal circumstances would have seen a case like his fade into the dark. The podcast also opened the door for new information about the case from key witness, Asia McClain.
Though most of the work in Syed's trial was done behind the scenes, Serial kept the trial alive in the eyes of the public and prevented the case from going cold. The charges against Syed being dropped makes it likely that true crime media such as Serial will only continue to grow in popularity, as fans of the genre will feel a more pronounced sense of involvement in old investigations, which will also likely take on new relevance. Though the media buzz can often create noise that distracts from important details about a case, Syed's story shows that sometimes, those 24/7 lines of communication and the ongoing relevance of news topics can have an impressive real-life impact.
Source: The Daily Record