Adnan Syed files motion to reduce sentence months after conviction reinstatement

BALTIMORE -- Adnan Syed, subject of the hit podcast "Serial," filed a motion on Friday asking a judge to reduce his sentence in the killing of Hae Min Lee, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the University of Baltimore School of Law Innocence Project Clinic announced Monday. 

Syed had served more than 20 years for the murder of Lee, his ex-girlfriend and classmate at Woodlawn High School whose body was discovered in 1999 in Leakin Park. 

He was freed from prison in September 2022 after Baltimore prosecutors found flaws in the evidence presented at trial and a judge agreed to vacate his murder conviction. But in August 2024, the Maryland Supreme court upheld an appellate court's decision to reinstate the conviction after the court found that Lee's family did not receive sufficient notice of the vacatur hearing.

Syed's attorneys said Monday that he "lives with the constant fear that he will be sent back to prison." 

"If the Circuit Court grants our motion, he will have peace of mind that he can continue to fight his wrongful conviction with his family and from outside prison walls."This filing is a small step toward ensuring that Adnan's custody status is stabilized and his freedom is safeguarded,"Erica J. Suter said. Sutler is an Assistant Public Defender, Director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore, and counsel for Syed.