If you were one of the 130 million people who downloaded Serial, then you’ll probably be excited by the news that channel Investigation Discovery have made a TV special all about the case called Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? which will premiere on 14th June.
Who is Adnan Syed?
Adnan Syed was the subject of the first season of the hugely popular podcast, Serial. He is currently serving life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee on 13th January, 1999. He has always maintained his innocence and the public have become interested in the story since the podcast started 2 years ago.
What's the update on Adnan Syed's case?
In November, Syed was granted a hearing for his lawyer to present the argument for his case to be re-opened and a re-trial granted. The hearing took place in February and Asia McClain (now Chapman) testified that she saw Syed on the afternoon of 13th January which when the state argued the murder had taken place. Syed’s lawyer at the time, Christina Gutierrez, and her defense team never contacted her during the original trial. Syed’s current lawyer, Justin Brown is arguing that this is ineffective council and reason for re-trial.
They also addressed what they believe to be the unreliable mobile phone data which the prosecution built most of their case on. Judge Martin Welch who was presiding over this is yet to give his ruling.
According to a press release, Syed’s current lawyer Justin Brown will be on the programme discussing these two pieces of evidence – McClain's testimony and the cell phone data. Dr Williams Manion, a medial examiner who reviewed Lee’s autopsy report will also appear to gives his expert opinion it.
Henry Schleife, Group President of Investigation Discovery said: ‘With a judge expecting to make a decision at any time, we want to give our viewers not only the crucial information surrounding Adnan Syed's case, but also the personal, first-hand accounts of what to expect from key players.’
Adnan Syed's new trial
On 30 June 2016 Adnan's lawyer Justin Brown posted the news of a retrial on Twitter. Judge Martin Welch, who already turned down a request for a retrial has granted it now saying that Adnan's original attorney 'fell below the standard of reasonable professional judgment.'
Rabia Chaudry, family friend and co-host of the Undisclosed podcast echoed Brown's excitement 'WE WON. WE WON. WE WON. WE WON. alhamdulillah WE WON!!!!!!!!!' She tweeted.
Asia McClain, one of Adnan's schoolmates who claims to have an alibi for when Adnan was supposed to be committing the crime (we interviewed her about it here) actually had a BABY when Adnan's new trial was announced 'Wow...I'm speechless.' She tweeted. 'New baby, new trial'.
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Hae Min Lee's Family Have Spoken Out About Adnan Syed's Hearing
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.