Adnan Syed Will Not Return to Prison After Judge Agrees to Reduce Sentence
Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction was the subject of the hit podcast Serial, was officially freed from prison after a judge agreed to reduce his sentence to time served.
A judge approved Syed’s sentence reduction bid in a decision handed down March 6, just over a week after an emotional hearing on the matter in Baltimore on Feb. 26. Syed had filed an application last year under Maryland’s Juvenile Restoration Act, which offers people serving heavy sentences for crimes they committed as minors new opportunities to secure early release. Syed was 17 when he allegedly killed his high school ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
In her ruling, Judge Jennifer Schiffer said Syed was “not a danger to the public,” adding, “the interests of justice will be better served by a reduced sentence.”
Syed, now 43, spent over 20 years in prison after being found guilty of killing Lee. He has always maintained his innocence, and his case garnered national attention after Serial raised questions about the investigation into Syed.
“Today, we are focused on the joy and relief of this decision,” Syed’s lawyer, Erica J. Suter, said in a statement. “Adnan is grateful that the Judge agreed with his motion to reduce his sentence under the Juvenile Restoration Act. Given his accomplishments in prison and his work in the community since release, he was a model candidate for a sentence reduction. Adnan is committed to continuing to be a productive member of his community and living a life centered around his family.”
David Sanford, a lawyer for Lee’s family, decried today’s ruling, especially in light of a decision prosecutors made last week to drop a motion to vacate Syed’s conviction. (Despite that move, prosecutors continued to back Syed’s sentence reduction bid.)
“The State of Maryland just last week acknowledged that it had presented ‘false and misleading’ information to the court in support of Mr. Syed’s release more than two years ago,” Sanford said. “We now know there was never any new information that called into question Adnan Syed’s guilty verdict. Absolutely nothing changes the fact that Mr. Syed remains convicted of first-degree premeditated murder due to overwhelming direct and circumstantial evidence. We hope that one day Mr. Syed can summon the courage to take responsibility for his crime and express sincere remorse.”
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In 2022, Syed was released from prison when Bates’ predecessor, Marilyn Mosby, filed a motion to withdraw judgment. It was granted, but an ensuing legal battle led to his conviction being reinstated: Lee’s family challenged the motion on procedural grounds, saying they weren’t given enough advance notice to attend a hearing on the decision to drop charges. Last August, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld that ruling and ordered a redo on the hearing to vacate Syed’s conviction. (Despite this turn, Syed was allowed to remain out of prison.)
Bates, however, ultimately chose a different path. Though he backed Syed’s sentence reduction bid, on Feb. 25 — the day before the hearing — he announced that he would withdraw the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. With today’s ruling, Syed is officially free, but his conviction remains in place.
Of his decision to drop the motion to vacate, Bates said his office had determined that the original contained “false and misleading statements that undermine the integrity of the judicial process.” He continued: “As prosecutors, our duty is to seek justice and ensure that all legal proceedings are conducted transparently, accurately, and fairly.”
The “false and misleading statements” regard claims that the State withheld evidence from Syed’s defense team, in this case, two notes written by original prosecutor Kevin Urick suggesting two alternative suspects. But Bates, in a filing, said the “notes do not point to alternative suspects,” the “alleged alternative suspects were known to the defense counsel” before the trial, and the notes likely were turned over to Syed’s defense at the time.
Syed’s lawyer, Erica Suter, criticized the decision at the time, saying, “Tonight, the state’s attorney got it wrong. His decision to withdraw his office’s motion to vacate Adnan’s conviction ignores the injustices on which this conviction was founded. We will continue to fight to clear his name through all legal avenues available to him.”
Bates, in his filing, acknowledged this, saying the decision to withdraw the motion to vacate did not “preclude Mr. Syed from raising any new issues that he believes will support his innocence in the proper post-trial pleadings.”
Since his release from prison in 2022, Syed has been working at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative while also caring for aging relatives. (His father died last October after a long illness.) In backing Syed’s sentence reduction, Bates said the case was “precisely what legislators envisioned when they crafted” the law. He continued: “We have an individual who has served over 20 years in prison from the time he was a teenager and who has displayed tremendous personal growth and reform.”
At the sentence reduction hearing on Feb. 26, Syed’s attorneys called several character witnesses, including his younger brother, two fellow former inmates and friends, and a forensic social worker. Syed’s boss at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, which helps former inmates readjust to life outside prison, Mark Howard, called Syed “kind, thoughtful, compassionate,” and said he was a “cultural bridge” for many of his coworkers in helping them understand “the challenges someone in prison face.”
Meanwhile, several members of Lee’s family spoke against reducing Syed’s statement, including her brother and mother. While on the stand, the latter said, “This is really America? Is this not supposed to be where justice is alive, and criminals are punished for their sins?”