Hae Min Lee family files claim that court didn't follow procedure for Adnan Syed's release
BALTIMORE - Hae Min Lee's family continues to push for a new hearing to review whether Adnan Syed should have been released from prison.
In papers filed in the last 24 hours, the Lee family attorney accuses the court of not following procedure by holding a private meeting to discuss Syed's release.
Syed was released from prison in September after his conviction in the 1999 murder of high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, was vacated. Syed served more than 20 years in prison before the shackles were removed in a Baltimore courtroom on Sept. 19.
His charges were dropped after new DNA evidence was found and new potential suspects were presented.
This filing comes a little more than a week before the Lee family make their case to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
The filing says the judge, the prosecutor and Adnan Syed had a closed-door hearing and didn't properly notify the Lee family.
Lee's family wants a redo of that hearing.
Since his Syed's release, Lee's family has been appealing the court's decision.
The family's attorney just filed this 25-page brief ahead of their hearing, which in part states, "the court held an improper, clandestine... Prehearing at which only the judge, prosecutor and defendant were present."… and that the Lee family was given less than a day's notice.
"There was no court reporter. There was no transcript of what happened," said David Sanford, Lee family attorney. "It was highly irregular, and in fact, the way to do a secret proceeding is to first have a public proceeding. That public proceeding asking for a private proceeding never occurred."
Sanford told WJZ that he didn't think it would have mattered if the Lee family was given proper notice.
"The Lee family could have had five years notice and it wouldn't have mattered because the judge had already made up her mind based on a secret proceeding," Sanford said. "There are a lot of violations here of the law and there are errors made here by the court and there are rights that our client has as a victim in the state of Maryland which were violated. All of that is being brought before the Appellate court now."
Sanford said he wants the Special Court of Appeals to grant a redo of the hearing, and make it public so that the Lee family can participate and evidence can be presented.
"No one wants an innocent person behind bars," Sanford said. "If Adnan Syed is in fact innocent, it was a terrible miscarriage of justice and we'll be the first ones to say that, once there is a proper evidentiary ruling."
The Lee family will go before the Special Court of Appeals on Feb. 2.
"Whether the conviction of Adnan Syed should stand is a question that should be answered in an open, public hearing with evidence that the victim's family and the world should see," Sanford said. "The court made a most egregious error by holding a private proceeding without informing the victim's representative and with no court reporter present. There is no record of what was said and no record of what evidence, if any, the court reviewed. Hae Min Lee's family and the public deserve more, and that is what the law requires. At this point, the integrity of our judicial system and respect for the rule of law are at stake."
WJZ reached out to current City State's Attorney Ivan Bates; office for comment on this filing.
We were told they couldn't comment while the case is pending.
