"the State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction"
September 14, 2022 6:25 PM Subscribe
Baltimore prosecutors move to vacate Adnan Syed's conviction in the 1999 murder case brought to national fame in 'Serial' podcast
Content warning: sexual assault, murder.
First reported by the WSJ [no paywall link]:
Content warning: sexual assault, murder.
First reported by the WSJ [no paywall link]:
Prosecutors are requesting Mr. Syed be given a new trial. They said they weren't asserting that Mr. Syed is innocent. "However, for all the reasons set forth below, the State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction," said the office of Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, which is overseeing the reinvestigation.
The office is recommending Mr. Syed be released on his own recognizance pending the continuing investigation.
...
In their reinvestigation, prosecutors found a document in the state's trial file detailing one person's statement, saying that one of the suspects had motive to kill Ms. Lee and had threatened her in the presence of another person. The suspect said "he would make her [Ms. Lee] disappear. He would kill her," according to the court filing.
That information was never given to the defense, the filing said. Prosecutors are required by law to give defense counsel exculpatory evidence upon request.
The reinvestigation also revealed that the grassy lot where Ms. Lee's car was found in Baltimore was located behind a house that belonged to one suspect's relative.
"This information was not available to the Defendant in his trial in 2000, and the State believes it would have provided persuasive support substantiating the defense that another person was responsible for the victim's death," prosecutors said in the filing.
Further revelations include that one of the suspects, "without provocation or excuse," attacked a woman he didn't know while she was in her vehicle. One suspect was accused and later convicted of rape and sexual assault. Both incidents occurred after Mr. Syed's trial, prosecutors said, but they added that they found the information relevant given the possible involvement of the suspects.
The motion also calls into question the validity of cellphone records and data, which were an important piece of evidence for the prosecution in Mr. Syed's original trial, as well as a key witness's testimony.
It only took 23 years, an immensely popular podcast, several tireless advocates, and a DA who seems to legitimately care about justice. I’m happy for Adnan and his family, but it’s sickening just imagining how many innocent people will never see freedom based on these kind of odds.
posted by KGMoney at 6:45 PM on September 14, 2022 [42 favorites]
posted by KGMoney at 6:45 PM on September 14, 2022 [42 favorites]
We need full file disclosure laws for prosecutors, with teeth like "you violate this law, you don't get to be a lawyer anymore."
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:07 PM on September 14, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:07 PM on September 14, 2022 [23 favorites]
We need GLP/GMP regs for law. Everyone in the chain above me is legally at risk if I don't follow 21CFR58 in the lab and they turn a blind eye. Companies and people have been taken to task in court for this stuff.
Same should be true for prosecutors offices.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:21 PM on September 14, 2022 [9 favorites]
Same should be true for prosecutors offices.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:21 PM on September 14, 2022 [9 favorites]
It's been figured out online, albeit from what I recall, it was on the "Truth and Justice" podcast years ago. The guy who runs that one did a very deep dive into Don, specifically finding out that his mother's SO signed off on his "timesheet" from another LensCrafters that Don didn't actually normally work at. I don't remember all of the other stuff at this point because I got off the Adnan podcast train after all of them petered out and it's been years, but I was pretty well convinced that Don did it after that.
I'm really happy to hear this. I had given up hope that he'd ever get out after the last bunch of legal stuff being thwarted. I won't believe it until he's actually released, of course.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:22 PM on September 14, 2022
I'm really happy to hear this. I had given up hope that he'd ever get out after the last bunch of legal stuff being thwarted. I won't believe it until he's actually released, of course.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:22 PM on September 14, 2022
Of course I don't know if the alternate suspects mentioned here include Don, but I really wonder. I also wonder who the other possible suspect is?
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 PM on September 14, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 PM on September 14, 2022
I checked out the Serial subreddit and among those who thought Adnan was innocent they think the other suspects are Don, Jay, and someone named Bilal. Bilal is apparently known to both Jay and Adnan who apparently matches the description of the other suspect who was arrested for assault.
posted by asteria at 9:44 PM on September 14, 2022
posted by asteria at 9:44 PM on September 14, 2022
We need full file disclosure laws for prosecutors, with teeth like "you violate this law, you don't get to be a lawyer anymore."
We do have those rules and the consequences for breaking them can be disbarring. There's no point adding new ones when just enforcing the old ones would do.
posted by atrazine at 1:15 AM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
We do have those rules and the consequences for breaking them can be disbarring. There's no point adding new ones when just enforcing the old ones would do.
posted by atrazine at 1:15 AM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Archive version of the lead link for the geoblocked
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 2:13 AM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 2:13 AM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
"you violate this law, you don't get to be a lawyer anymore go to prison"
posted by gottabefunky at 9:05 AM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 9:05 AM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
Undisclosed have now put out a special episode about this.
posted by offog at 10:36 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by offog at 10:36 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
NYT version of this. (Looks like about the same information though.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:54 AM on September 15, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:54 AM on September 15, 2022
I'm really curious how they know someone threatened to kill her, but Serial didn't learn that. I'm sure it will be found out shortly.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 5:55 PM on September 15, 2022
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 5:55 PM on September 15, 2022
I checked out the Serial subreddit and among those who thought Adnan was innocent they think the other suspects are Don, Jay, and someone named Bilal.
Side note: I briefly dipped a toe in that subreddit a few years ago after learning more about the case and they were unhinged there. People who think Adnan is guilty literally call themselves "guilters" like it's a club and were relentlessly hostile to anyone who was like "I think maybe he didn't get a fair trial." I just checked in after seeing this thread and it's real "Q said the storm is actually coming NEXT month" energy in there right now.
posted by lunasol at 5:57 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
Side note: I briefly dipped a toe in that subreddit a few years ago after learning more about the case and they were unhinged there. People who think Adnan is guilty literally call themselves "guilters" like it's a club and were relentlessly hostile to anyone who was like "I think maybe he didn't get a fair trial." I just checked in after seeing this thread and it's real "Q said the storm is actually coming NEXT month" energy in there right now.
posted by lunasol at 5:57 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm really curious how they know someone threatened to kill her, but Serial didn't learn that. I'm sure it will be found out shortly.
I was as captivated by Serial as everyone else, but it wasn’t much of an investigation.
posted by riruro at 6:09 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
I was as captivated by Serial as everyone else, but it wasn’t much of an investigation.
posted by riruro at 6:09 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm really curious how they know someone threatened to kill her, but Serial didn't learn that.
A lot of stuff has come out since Serial in subsequent podcasts and documentaries. Incidentally, people who believe in Adnan's innocence are pretty critical of Serial for glossing over some things that point to other suspects, and the aforementioned "guilters" are critical of it for lionizing Adnan, so everyone's got their gripes.
As to why this particular person didn't come to light, it's possible the witness to the threat is someone who wouldn't speak to Sarah. And I'm guessing NPR has stricter rules about what you can and can't say about potential suspects than a random podcast supported by Patreon funders. Because, yeah, if you have listened to Undisclosed (which is not without its own bias) or a gazillion other podcasts about this case, it's pretty easy to develop a shortlist. (I don't want to name names because that feels a bit icky)
posted by lunasol at 6:10 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
A lot of stuff has come out since Serial in subsequent podcasts and documentaries. Incidentally, people who believe in Adnan's innocence are pretty critical of Serial for glossing over some things that point to other suspects, and the aforementioned "guilters" are critical of it for lionizing Adnan, so everyone's got their gripes.
As to why this particular person didn't come to light, it's possible the witness to the threat is someone who wouldn't speak to Sarah. And I'm guessing NPR has stricter rules about what you can and can't say about potential suspects than a random podcast supported by Patreon funders. Because, yeah, if you have listened to Undisclosed (which is not without its own bias) or a gazillion other podcasts about this case, it's pretty easy to develop a shortlist. (I don't want to name names because that feels a bit icky)
posted by lunasol at 6:10 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
Of course I don't know if the alternate suspects mentioned here include Don, but I really wonder. I also wonder who the other possible suspect is?
I don't think there's anything in the motion that points to Don. The motion says that two suspects have been developed who were known at the time of the initial investigation and improperly cleared and this is what we know about them now:
But, there's nothing in there that points to Don. Don's full name has been published, as I understand it he has no criminal record; he was a suburbanite and had no connection to the Baltimore City places where Hae's car was dumped, or Woodlawn high school. There was a irresponsible podcaster who went full-in with the "Don was the killer" theory, and then failed to deliver any evidence for this claim.
Section D might be Bilal. He is currently incarcerated for sexually assaulting patients at his dentist practice (that plus medicaid fraud). The details of his sexual assault case match the motion's description. But, it's worth noting that all of Bilal's victims were male, and, while he was close to Adnan, we don't know if he was ever considered a suspect. I don't know if it's been established that he even knew Hae (but I didn't really follow much of the post-Serial cinematic universe, so I can't make much sense of the many Bilal posts on reddit). I'm seeing that Rabia Chaudry didn't have anything nice to say about him, but that doesn't makes him a murderer.
Section F lines up with the man who found Hae's body, "Mr. S." We know his first polygraph indicated deception but he claimed to be distracted and he was invited back for a second polygraph which used the P.O.T. technique. His full name is out there on the internet; Maryland court records show he has been convicted of indecent exposure (twice, remember the streaking story), and misdemeanor assault charges in 2004 and 2021.
But Section A is the juiciest and it'd be something to know more about who would verbally threaten to kill Hae Min Lee (presumably not Adnan or Jay). Section B is also interesting, someone ditched her car in a spot that was known to them, who was that. Reddit is claiming, without any supporting evidence, that this is Mr. S. but because there have been so many internet fabulists who have posted made up stories for reddit clout, it's hard to take it seriously.
posted by peeedro at 7:28 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]
I don't think there's anything in the motion that points to Don. The motion says that two suspects have been developed who were known at the time of the initial investigation and improperly cleared and this is what we know about them now:
- A: A witness said that one suspect threatened Hae Min Lee, "he would make her disappear. He would kill her." A second person provided a motive for that suspect to harm the victim. This was never shared with the defense.
- B: Location of victim's car was located directly behind house of a suspect's family member who lived at that address in 1999.
- C: One of the suspects, without provocation or excuse, attacked a woman in her vehicle. This suspect was convicted of assault after the Syed trial.
- D: One of the suspects engaged in serial rape and sexual assault, he "engaged in multiple instances of rape and sexual assault of compromised or vulnerable victims in a systematic, deliberate and premeditated way." This suspect was convicted after the trial.
- E: One of the suspects has a documented allegation of violence against a woman known to him and made threats against her life. This occurred prior to the trial.
- F: One of the suspects was improperly cleared based on flawed techniques used in two polygraph tests. The motion states the suspect's first polygraph indicated deception, and his second polygraph improperly used a "Peak of Tension" technique.
But, there's nothing in there that points to Don. Don's full name has been published, as I understand it he has no criminal record; he was a suburbanite and had no connection to the Baltimore City places where Hae's car was dumped, or Woodlawn high school. There was a irresponsible podcaster who went full-in with the "Don was the killer" theory, and then failed to deliver any evidence for this claim.
Section D might be Bilal. He is currently incarcerated for sexually assaulting patients at his dentist practice (that plus medicaid fraud). The details of his sexual assault case match the motion's description. But, it's worth noting that all of Bilal's victims were male, and, while he was close to Adnan, we don't know if he was ever considered a suspect. I don't know if it's been established that he even knew Hae (but I didn't really follow much of the post-Serial cinematic universe, so I can't make much sense of the many Bilal posts on reddit). I'm seeing that Rabia Chaudry didn't have anything nice to say about him, but that doesn't makes him a murderer.
Section F lines up with the man who found Hae's body, "Mr. S." We know his first polygraph indicated deception but he claimed to be distracted and he was invited back for a second polygraph which used the P.O.T. technique. His full name is out there on the internet; Maryland court records show he has been convicted of indecent exposure (twice, remember the streaking story), and misdemeanor assault charges in 2004 and 2021.
But Section A is the juiciest and it'd be something to know more about who would verbally threaten to kill Hae Min Lee (presumably not Adnan or Jay). Section B is also interesting, someone ditched her car in a spot that was known to them, who was that. Reddit is claiming, without any supporting evidence, that this is Mr. S. but because there have been so many internet fabulists who have posted made up stories for reddit clout, it's hard to take it seriously.
posted by peeedro at 7:28 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]
I wonder if the state prosecuting attorneys can be disbarred given how much time has passed? Is there a statute of limitations on lawyers being disciplined?
They, and whoever was in their chain of command, should be investigated for other cases where this kind of malpractice might have occurred. Same for the investigating cops as well.
What are the chances that this was an isolated instance? I feel certain there is a lot more dirt where this came from...
posted by Metacircular at 10:47 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
They, and whoever was in their chain of command, should be investigated for other cases where this kind of malpractice might have occurred. Same for the investigating cops as well.
What are the chances that this was an isolated instance? I feel certain there is a lot more dirt where this came from...
posted by Metacircular at 10:47 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
We know his first polygraph indicated
nothing at all because polygraphs have long been proven to be utter bullshit. It’s unbelievable that it’s still legal for police to use them. What did the police crystal readings indicate?
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:00 AM on September 16, 2022 [12 favorites]
nothing at all because polygraphs have long been proven to be utter bullshit. It’s unbelievable that it’s still legal for police to use them. What did the police crystal readings indicate?
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:00 AM on September 16, 2022 [12 favorites]
Undisclosed have now put out a special episode about this.
Just wanted to reiterate this—is certainly worth a listen and illuminates much of the decision to vacate.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 9:20 AM on September 16, 2022
Just wanted to reiterate this—is certainly worth a listen and illuminates much of the decision to vacate.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 9:20 AM on September 16, 2022
So, so many dead women.
posted by pelvicsorcery at 5:14 PM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by pelvicsorcery at 5:14 PM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Hearing is set for 2pm Monday to consider the request to vacate.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 5:33 PM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Ahmad Khani at 5:33 PM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Adnan Syed's conviction has been officially vacated, and his release ordered.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:29 PM on September 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:29 PM on September 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
There is a YouTube stream of the press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCFwhMBoOo
posted by Ahmad Khani at 1:42 PM on September 19, 2022
posted by Ahmad Khani at 1:42 PM on September 19, 2022
I'm so happy for him! I never thought he did it. I hope they find the right person soon. (reposting because I suspect one of these links will get closed.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:37 PM on September 19, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:37 PM on September 19, 2022
Sarah was at the courthouse when Adnan was released, a new episode is coming tomorrow morning.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:10 PM on September 19, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:10 PM on September 19, 2022
I ended the Serial podcast feeling very clear on one thing - the case as presented was so flawed, I couldn't believe there wasn't reasonable doubt. Hoping now for justice for Hae and Adnan, whatever that looks like - a new trial, a different defendant, whatever.
posted by nubs at 3:50 PM on September 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by nubs at 3:50 PM on September 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
And even more flawed than we knew, given the multiple Brady violations, unreliability of cell-phone tower location data, and repeated conflicting, contradictory interviews by crucial state witness Jay Wilds.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 4:47 PM on September 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ahmad Khani at 4:47 PM on September 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
(I wonder if we all should do a Serial 'relisten' on Fanfare? hmmm.)
posted by Ahmad Khani at 6:01 PM on September 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ahmad Khani at 6:01 PM on September 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
a new episode is coming tomorrow morning.
Here's 'S01 Episode 13: Adnan is Out' - very interesting contextualisation of how this came about.
posted by progosk at 3:04 AM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Here's 'S01 Episode 13: Adnan is Out' - very interesting contextualisation of how this came about.
posted by progosk at 3:04 AM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
(I wonder if we all should do a Serial 'relisten' on Fanfare? hmmm.)
I've been trying to post the new episode on FF all morning, on three different computers, and it just won't let me. Anyone else having this problem?
posted by Etrigan at 8:17 AM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've been trying to post the new episode on FF all morning, on three different computers, and it just won't let me. Anyone else having this problem?
posted by Etrigan at 8:17 AM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Quote from the podcast: "a disturbing bouquet of problems."
I tried and can't either, Etrigan. I got "The details of this error have been sent to a site administrator and we'll try to fix the problem quickly. This might be a one-time thing, but if you consistently have this problem, please contact the MeFi Admins with a description of your problem and the following information."
I won't nag them again if there's been four tries now, mind you.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:53 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I tried and can't either, Etrigan. I got "The details of this error have been sent to a site administrator and we'll try to fix the problem quickly. This might be a one-time thing, but if you consistently have this problem, please contact the MeFi Admins with a description of your problem and the following information."
I won't nag them again if there's been four tries now, mind you.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:53 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Just relistened to part of the first episode of Serial, again, and it's absolutely astonishing. Jay's interview with the police is borderline absurd; his answers sound as though they're straight out of a (bad) episode of Law & Order—he seems to parrot what he thinks a murdered would say (and this is aside from the supposed coaching from the cops, primarily around the location of the body after there was a break in the tape, as the motion to vacate notes).
posted by Ahmad Khani at 8:57 AM on September 20, 2022
posted by Ahmad Khani at 8:57 AM on September 20, 2022
From the motion and from the newly dropped episode, I assume that the two alleged suspects are Mr S and J (not Bilal, as some have noted)…
posted by Ahmad Khani at 8:58 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ahmad Khani at 8:58 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
NYT interview with Sarah.
NYT The Daily Podcast is on this too.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:06 AM on September 20, 2022
I was shocked. I did not see this coming at all. One of the first things I did was call Adnan’s brother and then his mother — they told me they didn’t know either. The prosecutors who filed the motion to release him kept it pretty tight, it seems.
But the shocking part was that this was coming from the state’s side. I felt almost disoriented for about a day. Like the city prosecutor’s office suddenly pulled off a rubber mask and underneath was a scowling defense attorney.
A lot of what the state is saying in this motion probably feels like déjà vu for the defense side. Many of the arguments are the same — unreliable witness statements, unreliable cellphone evidence. A timeline of the crime that doesn’t hold up. But there are a couple of new things, too.
The main is the revelation that the state didn’t hand over information about a possible alternate suspect in the crime. That was a bit of a bombshell.
David: Who is this alternate suspect?
Sarah: There are two of them actually. The state isn’t naming these people right now, but detectives definitely knew who they were at the time. The state is saying these suspects (either one or both) have criminal histories that are relevant to the crime. And that one of them has a family connection to the location where Hae Min Lee’s car was found.
But the most damning thing is that a couple of people had told the prosecutor’s office at the time that one of the suspects had a motive to kill Hae, and even had threatened to do so. And that information was never told to the defense. That alone — not handing over important evidence — could be grounds to overturn a murder conviction.
NYT The Daily Podcast is on this too.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:06 AM on September 20, 2022
Archive.org link for the above interview with Sarah
posted by nubs at 9:25 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 9:25 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Victim Hae Min Lee’s family to appeal Adnan Syed’s release in ‘Serial’ case
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:29 PM on September 30, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:29 PM on September 30, 2022
I wish I understood how likely that appeal was to win. I don't know what role the victim's family usually plays in situations like this.
posted by meese at 6:46 PM on October 1, 2022
posted by meese at 6:46 PM on October 1, 2022
Yeah, I don't know either. The complaint is that the family wasn't given the opportunity to participate (well, they didn't get MUCH).
I feel for the family, but keeping someone who (okay, I'm biased, I don't think he did it) didn't do it in jail for decades just to make the family feel better isn't right either.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:21 AM on October 2, 2022
I feel for the family, but keeping someone who (okay, I'm biased, I don't think he did it) didn't do it in jail for decades just to make the family feel better isn't right either.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:21 AM on October 2, 2022
I'm sorry, but the family's argument is a load of bovine manure, for the same reason that criminal trials are always The Sovereign v. X - because the process is about holding the defendant accountable to the laws of society, not for the family of the victim to get closure. The statement of "well, had we been told the reason for the vacation, we would have supported it" misses the point that they should never have a veto on this. To argue that injustice should be continued because the victim's family feels the matter is settled strikes me as reprehensible.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:52 AM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:52 AM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
It feels like the issue is between Hae Min Lee's family and the prosecutor's office, and so I'm not sure how putting Syed back in prison right now rectifies that.
posted by nubs at 7:47 AM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 7:47 AM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
October 3, Baltimore Sun: "Man considered alternative suspect in Hae Min Lee’s killing was known to authorities, had close ties with Adnan Syed." Soft Paywall; Archive link.
If you follow the case, it's very easy to deduce who this alternative suspect is.
"The man Baltimore prosecutors are now labeling a suspect in Hae Min Lee’s death, because he allegedly threatened her life, has long been known to authorities and had close ties with Adnan Syed.
Officials are not publicly identifying the suspect, but his name and a threat against an unnamed woman, who city prosecutors say is Lee, appear on a handwritten note in the original prosecutor’s files, according to multiple people familiar with the document who are not authorized to speak publicly.
That note, along with the revelation of the man as one of two alternative suspects in the homicide, were critical components to the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office’s motion to overturn Syed’s murder conviction in Lee’s 1999 death. For 23 years, Syed, whose case became known internationally due to the popular “Serial” podcast, remained behind bars for a crime he maintains he did not commit.
Had Cristina Gutierrez, Syed’s original attorney, known about the note and seen the threat prosecutors said the man made against Lee, she might have been able to use it at Syed’s trial, casting doubt on the original prosecution’s version of events.
While present-day prosecutors and Syed’s current attorney say Gutierrez did not know about the note or the threat, the suspect was no stranger to Gutierrez: She represented him when he testified before the grand jury investigating Lee’s homicide — he answered their questions for four days — and her law firm handled his divorce, which exposed his arrest after police found him in a sexual situation with a minor from the same mosque Syed attended, court documents show."
posted by Rumple at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you follow the case, it's very easy to deduce who this alternative suspect is.
"The man Baltimore prosecutors are now labeling a suspect in Hae Min Lee’s death, because he allegedly threatened her life, has long been known to authorities and had close ties with Adnan Syed.
Officials are not publicly identifying the suspect, but his name and a threat against an unnamed woman, who city prosecutors say is Lee, appear on a handwritten note in the original prosecutor’s files, according to multiple people familiar with the document who are not authorized to speak publicly.
That note, along with the revelation of the man as one of two alternative suspects in the homicide, were critical components to the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office’s motion to overturn Syed’s murder conviction in Lee’s 1999 death. For 23 years, Syed, whose case became known internationally due to the popular “Serial” podcast, remained behind bars for a crime he maintains he did not commit.
Had Cristina Gutierrez, Syed’s original attorney, known about the note and seen the threat prosecutors said the man made against Lee, she might have been able to use it at Syed’s trial, casting doubt on the original prosecution’s version of events.
While present-day prosecutors and Syed’s current attorney say Gutierrez did not know about the note or the threat, the suspect was no stranger to Gutierrez: She represented him when he testified before the grand jury investigating Lee’s homicide — he answered their questions for four days — and her law firm handled his divorce, which exposed his arrest after police found him in a sexual situation with a minor from the same mosque Syed attended, court documents show."
posted by Rumple at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
While present-day prosecutors and Syed’s current attorney say Gutierrez did not know about the note or the threat, the suspect was no stranger to Gutierrez: She represented him when he testified before the grand jury investigating Lee’s homicide — he answered their questions for four days — and her law firm handled his divorce, which exposed his arrest after police found him in a sexual situation with a minor from the same mosque Syed attended, court documents show."
The article makes it clear that both Syed and the un-named suspect did waive their conflict of interest at the time. But it still feels really weird all around.
posted by nubs at 1:55 PM on October 3, 2022
The article makes it clear that both Syed and the un-named suspect did waive their conflict of interest at the time. But it still feels really weird all around.
posted by nubs at 1:55 PM on October 3, 2022
Holy shitsnacks! God, sometimes you wish you could resurrect Gutierrez from the dead and prosecute her for malpractice.
I'm sorry, but I followed the case for years and I still don't know who the heck this guy is supposed to be. Just tried looking in the Serial transcripts and I don't get it.
The now-suspect was never called to testify at Syed’s trial, despite purchasing a cellphone for Syed, then aged 17,
The suspect was a leader at Syed’s mosque who personally mentored the honors student and helped Syed hire Gutierrez as his attorney after authorities charged him with murder, according to court documents. Syed called the man from jail and the man visited Syed multiple times while in custody.
If this guy's perv behavior is always directed towards boys, it does make me wonder why he possibly targeted a girl, unless he was jealous of her getting Adnan's attention or something?
Weirder and weirder.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:27 PM on October 3, 2022
I'm sorry, but I followed the case for years and I still don't know who the heck this guy is supposed to be. Just tried looking in the Serial transcripts and I don't get it.
The now-suspect was never called to testify at Syed’s trial, despite purchasing a cellphone for Syed, then aged 17,
The suspect was a leader at Syed’s mosque who personally mentored the honors student and helped Syed hire Gutierrez as his attorney after authorities charged him with murder, according to court documents. Syed called the man from jail and the man visited Syed multiple times while in custody.
If this guy's perv behavior is always directed towards boys, it does make me wonder why he possibly targeted a girl, unless he was jealous of her getting Adnan's attention or something?
Weirder and weirder.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:27 PM on October 3, 2022
Baltimore Sun reporting all charges against Syed dropped
posted by nubs at 6:55 AM on October 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by nubs at 6:55 AM on October 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Sun link is restricted (or at least I don't feel like making a free account for one story), so here's another.
In a statement released late Tuesday morning by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office announced it would not further prosecute the case based on DNA test results that excluded Syed from the DNA recovered from evidence.posted by jenfullmoon at 9:20 AM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Erica Suter, Syed's defense attorney, assistant public defender and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at University of Baltimore Law School, said in a statement: "Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man. The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: That Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit."
An appeal brought by the Lee family in the Court of Special Appeals remains pending.
"While the proceedings are not completely over, this is an important step for Adnan, who has been on house arrest since the motion to vacate was first granted last month," Suter said. "He still needs some time to process everything that has happened and we ask that you provide him and his family with that space."
This story will be updated:
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to provide update at 1 p.m.
Maryland Office of the Public Defender to provide update at 2 p.m.
Sorry about the Sun link being paywalled; I didn't run into that issue, or would have found something else.
posted by nubs at 9:28 AM on October 11, 2022
posted by nubs at 9:28 AM on October 11, 2022
Good point. I don't know if I used up my free last time or what, but it wanted me to register, so I reasonably assumed other articles would exist to cover the same topic.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:22 AM on October 11, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:22 AM on October 11, 2022
Buzzfeed News has more on the DNA:
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:37 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
"This morning, I instructed my office to dismiss the criminal case against Adnan Syed, following the completion of a second round of touch DNA testing of items that were never tested before," Mosby said. "Those items include a skirt, pantyhose, shoes, and jacket of Hae Min Lee. Although no DNA was recovered from the skirt, the pantyhose, or jacket swabs, there was a DNA mixture of multiple contributors on both Miss Lee's shoes — the same multiple contributor for both of Miss Lee's shoes."I'm reminded of the immortal line from "The Wedding Singer," in which he says, "things that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!" except in this case it's not yesterday, but 2003. God, I hope he can sue or get money or SOMETHING for this entire wrongful, effed-up case that he was innocent of the ENTIRE TIME. And that they get the rightful murderer.
"Most compellingly," Mosby said, Syed's DNA "was excluded."
Mosby confirmed that touch DNA analysis of skin cells left behind on evidence at a crime scene has only been available since 2003, four years after Syed's case was prosecuted.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:37 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've been thinking about Jay Wilds. His guilty plea for accessory to murder after the fact is never going to be re-adjudicated. He'll be a felon forever, he pleaded guilty to covering up a murder the state is now saying didn't happen.
Don't talk to the police is the lesson, I guess.
posted by peeedro at 6:08 PM on October 12, 2022
Don't talk to the police is the lesson, I guess.
posted by peeedro at 6:08 PM on October 12, 2022
Washington Post: Adnan Syed is a free man, eyeing exoneration. Here’s what we know.
Prosecutors dropped the charges against Adnan Syed, the subject of the “Serial” podcast. We’re answering your questions about what may happen next.
Prosecutors dropped the charges against Adnan Syed, the subject of the “Serial” podcast. We’re answering your questions about what may happen next.
If you ask Mosby, this is it for Syed. Experts also say it probably is. But Lee’s family has appealed the judge’s order vacating Syed’s conviction, and that technically remains a live case. Syed’s defense attorney cautioned that because the litigation is ongoing, Syed isn’t in the clear, but very close. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals on Wednesday gave Lee’s family 15 days to show why their appeal should not be dismissed as moot, in light of prosecutors’ decision to drop the charges against Syed.posted by jenfullmoon at 9:25 AM on October 13, 2022
As it stands now, Syed is neither charged with nor convicted of a crime. But there is a separate process for the court to declare him innocent, and prosecutors and defense attorneys have said they will try to make that happen.
She ordered tests on Lee’s underwear, bra, shirt, pantyhose, jacket and shoes — all items that she said had never before been tested for DNA. These tests were made possible by a new type of technology that can detect DNA left behind when someone touches a surface.
Most items came back without usable samples, but on Friday, Mosby learned the results from DNA detected on Lee’s shoes. She said that DNA belonged to “multiple contributors” but, critically, not to Syed.
But it is important to remember that Serial came out in 2014, and Syed did not walk free until eight years later. There were many failed attempts to vacate his conviction. Experts agree that it took a rare confluence of people and policy: savvy friends devoted to his cause, a prosecutor with a history doing defense work, a new law around juvenile sentences, and the millions of podcast listeners who called attention to inconsistencies in the trial that put Syed in prison.
Why haven't the courts told the Lee family that they have no standing?
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:35 AM on October 13, 2022
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:35 AM on October 13, 2022
It sounds like the court asked them yesterday to explain why their appeal should not be considered moot after the dismissal of charges.
posted by nubs at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2022
posted by nubs at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2022
Which is all fine and good, but the courts should have just yeeted their "appeal" into the horizon, stating that they had no standing.
This move by the Lee family sets a dangerous precedent that the families of victims get a say on whether a victim of injustice gets to have the wrongs against them righted. They need to be told that they don't get a place at this table.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:39 AM on October 13, 2022
This move by the Lee family sets a dangerous precedent that the families of victims get a say on whether a victim of injustice gets to have the wrongs against them righted. They need to be told that they don't get a place at this table.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:39 AM on October 13, 2022
At this point, they no longer think he did it. He has been cleared via DNA. The Lees at this point cannot/should not get to insist that he stay in prison wrongfully just so that they feel better.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:50 PM on October 13, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:50 PM on October 13, 2022
This move by the Lee family sets a dangerous precedent that the families of victims get a say on whether a victim of injustice gets to have the wrongs against them righted.
I don't know though. Is this really a precedent? It seems to me that, here in the US, we often make a very big deal in the news about what the victims and families of victims want, and we encourage people to think that that's a primary issue in sentencing. We're going through this right now with the Parkland shooter. Listening to the news last night, it was all about the families' disappointment and outrage that the death penalty was not imposed. This article details instances where families have been part of sentencing deals, and I feel as if I've read about things like it quite often. So I don't think it is outrageous for people to have these kinds of expectations.
Now that guilt or innocence is no longer in question in Syed's cae, it's obviously harder to see their point in staying involved. On a rational level. If I'd lost a kid to murder, I wouldn't be very rational at any time, so I can sympathize.
posted by BibiRose at 6:24 AM on October 14, 2022
I don't know though. Is this really a precedent? It seems to me that, here in the US, we often make a very big deal in the news about what the victims and families of victims want, and we encourage people to think that that's a primary issue in sentencing. We're going through this right now with the Parkland shooter. Listening to the news last night, it was all about the families' disappointment and outrage that the death penalty was not imposed. This article details instances where families have been part of sentencing deals, and I feel as if I've read about things like it quite often. So I don't think it is outrageous for people to have these kinds of expectations.
Now that guilt or innocence is no longer in question in Syed's cae, it's obviously harder to see their point in staying involved. On a rational level. If I'd lost a kid to murder, I wouldn't be very rational at any time, so I can sympathize.
posted by BibiRose at 6:24 AM on October 14, 2022
From where I sit, the fundamental problem appears to be that the Lee family feels that they were not kept informed or appropriately consulted with by the prosecutors office during this process; but the way the system works, the only way they can attempt to protect their involvement is by making motions that impact Syed, who is now not really a party to these proceedings anymore.
The whole case is a series of examples of just how fucked up the system is, and here's another one.
posted by nubs at 7:30 AM on October 14, 2022
The whole case is a series of examples of just how fucked up the system is, and here's another one.
posted by nubs at 7:30 AM on October 14, 2022
From where I sit, the fundamental problem appears to be that the Lee family feels that they were not kept informed or appropriately consulted with by the prosecutors office during this process; but the way the system works, the only way they can attempt to protect their involvement is by making motions that impact Syed, who is now not really a party to these proceedings anymore.
But the thing is that the appropriate amount of involvement or consultation for the family is none whatsoever. Their demands that injustice continue to be visited on Syed for their sake is reprehensible, and illustrates one of the reasons that criminal cases are tried by the sovereign, not the victim(s) and/or their families.
Which illustrates the larger problem with the "victim's rights" movement, in that it's been a catspaw for the expansion of prosecutorial power, using the victims as cover.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:16 AM on October 14, 2022
But the thing is that the appropriate amount of involvement or consultation for the family is none whatsoever. Their demands that injustice continue to be visited on Syed for their sake is reprehensible, and illustrates one of the reasons that criminal cases are tried by the sovereign, not the victim(s) and/or their families.
Which illustrates the larger problem with the "victim's rights" movement, in that it's been a catspaw for the expansion of prosecutorial power, using the victims as cover.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:16 AM on October 14, 2022
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Colin Miller: It's still sinking in. The State knew an alternate suspect said “he would make her [Hae] disappear. He would kill her,” & they didn't disclose it to the defense. As a result, an innocent high school student was wrongfully convicted & imprisoned for 23 years.
Rabia Chaudry: 23 years [Image of Adnan, now and then]
Susan Simpson: This is a huge step forward. After many months of their own investigation, the State's Attorney Office concluded his conviction lacks integrity, and they have now filed a motion to vacate it. And requested that Adnan be released pending further investigation.
Colin Miller: The craziest/most disturbing part of the State's motion in the Adnan Syed case. An alternate suspect had a motive to KILL Hae & said he would kill her. Who would have a motive to *kill* her, and what would that motive be? https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MDBAL
My prediction: Internet sleuths and the true crime junkies will uncover the identity the alternate suspects in less that 24 hours.
posted by peeedro at 6:27 PM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]