Legal expert describes what happens next in the Adnan Syed saga
BALTIMORE -- After decades in prison, convicted for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, Adnan Syed's conviction was thrown out of court Monday.
But what happens to him next?
WJZ sat down with Adam Ruther, Partner at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP, to hear his legal expertise.
Q: What is Adnan's current legal situation?
A: He is under monitoring. He has the pale of the possible retrial hanging over him. I don't think that any of us would think of that as being truly free, but he is a great deal more free than he was yesterday.
Q: What happens next?
A: Mr. Syed is now innocent until proven guilty. The decision whether there needs to be a retrial needs to be made within 30 days.
Q: Who makes that decision?
A: The state has to do it, decide whether they want to prosecute this case based on the evidence they have today.
Q: Could the City State's Attorney's Office decide to drop the case and be exonerated?
A: They could decide, "Could we potentially re-prosecute him? Yes, we could." But they can exercise their discretion and say it wouldn't be worth it. They have already expressed, quote unquote, serious doubts as to whether this case should be prosecuted and whether he is the person who should be prosecuted for it. It would seem like it would be a difficult time to walk back from that. But the office has said they'll continue to investigate this case.
Q: What is the likelihood Adnan Syed could go back to jail?
A: If the state can in fact garner beyond a reasonable doubt evidence against Mr. Syed in another trial, then the law says that he should be convicted again. There's also the difficulty of trying a case that's 20 years old.
Q: Could another possible suspect be convicted and go to jail for the murder of Hae Min Lee.
A: Trying a second suspect under these circumstances would be exceedingly difficult. But if the evidence exists and the prosecutor's office is willing, it's certainly possible. How can you say beyond a reasonable doubt this person—this new second person on trial—is guilty when you already convicted someone else beyond a reasonable doubt? Doesn't that by itself make it reasonable to double whether this person is guilty?