Serial podcast’s Adnan Syed appeals murder charge of ex-girlfriend

HE was a high school senior when he murdered his ex in 1999. Now Adnan Syed is fighting to have his conviction overturned as the state fights to keep him in jail.

Supplied Editorial

THE US state of Maryland is fighting to have Adnan Syed’s appeal case thrown out of court after the podcast Serial brought the conflicting circumstances of his murder sentence to light.

The Attorney General’s Office yesterday filed a response to Syed’s claims that he received ineffective counsel when he was convicted of first-degree murder of Hae Min Lee, a 17-year-old Baltimore high school student and his ex-girlfriend, in 2000, reported the Baltimore Sun.

The popular podcast — which captivated the world for months until its finale in December — was a 12-episode journalistic investigation by producer and narrator Sarah Koenig into the cold case of Lee, for whose murder Syed was sentenced to life. He has currently served 16 years in prison.

Murdered ... Hae Min Lee, the murdered ex-girlfriend of Adnan Syed. Her murder investigation was unofficially reopened by Serial producer Sarah Koenig on October 3, 2014. Picture: Supplied.

Life sentence ... Adnan Syed is appealing his life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee based on receiving “ineffective assistance” from his lawyer during the 2000 trial. Picture: Serial podcast

In 2000, then 17-year-old Syed was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment after prosecutors alleged he strangled Lee because he was jealous that she was dating someone else.

Lee’s body was dumped in the local park, Leakin Park, where Syed and his friend Jay Wilds — the key witness in Lee’s murder case who recently spoke out about the ordeal — buried her after Syed allegedly murdered her.

Syed refutes the allegations, and has written in his 22-page appeal to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals that “trial counsel failed to establish a timeline that would have disproved the State’s theory”, “failed to call or investigate an alibi witness ... who was able and willing to testify”, and “failed to approach the State about a possible plea deal”.

1999 MURDER BAFFLES WORLD: Serial podcast reopens cold case

MYSTERY: Who really murdered Hae Min Lee

BURIAL GROUND: Baltimore’s Leakin Park

WITNESS INTERVIEW: Serial’s Jay Wilds breaks his silence

Serial's Adnan Syed To Receive Major Appeal News Today http://t.co/XLRJPYmCqr

— Stars Style (@StarsStyle) January 14, 2015

Syed argued that his lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, provided ineffective assistance during his 2000 trial. Ms Gutierrez resigned from practising law in 2001 after the state Court of Appeals ordered her “disbarred by consent” following revealed that her clients’ money had gone missing while she was representing them.

Ms Gutierrez — who was suffering from multiple sclerosis and other illnesses — died of a heart attack in 2004.

But the Attorney General has disputed many of Syed’s claims, one of which relates to his plea bargain.

Assistant Attorney General Edward J. Kelley wrote that “there is nothing in the record indicating that the state was prepared to make a plea offer had trial counsel pursued such negotiations.”

Mr Kelley wrote that it was a “bold assertion” to claim that the State’s Attorney Office routinely offered plea deals in murder cases, and said it was “ “impossible to determine with certainty whether” Syed would have even taken a plea bargain.

“In fact, petitioner’s own statements at sentencing indicate the contrary; that the petitioner intended to maintain his innocence throughout,” Mr Kelley wrote in the state’s response.

The first time Syed appealed his conviction was in 2003, which the Maryland Court of Appeals rejected.

Questions ... Baltimore’s Woodlawn High School group photo, with murdered student Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed, the man convicted for her murder, in the middle. Photo: Supplied.

In 2010, he appealed his sentence again, filing for “post conviction relief,” saying his attorney had been ineffective, a claim that was also denied by Baltimore’s Circuit Court Jan. 6, 2014.

That same month, Syed filed another application with the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, hoping to overturn the Circuit Court’s decision to deny him post-conviction relief.

Innocent ... Producer Sarah Koenig’s interest in Syed’s case resulted in the first season of Serial, which has gained Syed many fans. Picture: Supplied

In September 2014, Court of Special Appeals Chief Judge Peter Krauser took an interest in Syed’s claim of ineffective legal representation, and asked the state of Maryland to respond, which “respectfully request[ed] that the Petitioner’s Application for Leave to Appeal be denied”.

Despite the response, Syed’s final avenue for freedom has inspired fans — gained through Serial, where his conversations with Koenig were routinely featured as the backdrop of all episodes — to start a Change.org petition under the name “A Fair Trail for Adnan”.

Nearing 22,000 signatures for Adnan's petition. We can do better! Please sign, share, RT. Thank you! https://t.co/AqMOiS2F1i #FreeAdnan

— rabia chaudry (@rabiasquared) January 15, 2015

The signers of the petition have urged “the State of Maryland, its judiciary and the officers of its Courts to undertake all efforts to ensure the reopening of a post-conviction proceeding for Adnan Syed and urge the Courts to grant him a new and fair trial”.

“We believe that new information recently revealed in popular media up-ends previous court rulings that Mr. Syed is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the premeditated murder of Hae Min Lee”.

The last episode of Serial season one, called “What we know”, aired on December 18, 2014.