Adnan Syed Requests Release From Prison While He Awaits New Trial
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular "Serial" podcast's first season, today filed a motion seeking to be released on bail while the state's appeal is pending and while he awaits a new trial.
The motion was prepared by his legal representatives and filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
A judge ordered a new trial for Syed in June. Syed's attorneys had argued that testimony from an alibi witness was never used in the original trial, and that a cell phone expert was never cross examined.
The judge that vacated Syed's conviction said his original team failed to confront the state's cell tower expert, creating a substantial possibility that the result of the trial was fundamentally unreliable.
Syed has been serving a life sentence in a Maryland prison since 2000, when he was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
Lee was found dead in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park.
One of Syed's friends claims that he even helped dig the hole to bury her.
The case made national headlines after "Serial" debuted in 2014.
The podcast, which has been downloaded millions of times, examines the case and whether Syed was wrongfully convicted.
This story will be updated.
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