A Baltimore judge could rule that Adnan Syed can remain free as soon as Wednesday, no matter what happens to the decades-old murder conviction that gave him a life sentence.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Jennifer Schiffer is slated to hear arguments Wednesday over Syed’s sentence after the “Serial” podcast subject requested in December to have it reduced under the Juvenile Restoration Act.
A ruling in Syed’s favor could end the looming uncertainty over whether Syed, 43, will go back behind bars for his first-degree murder conviction stemming from the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee. But that wouldn’t mean it’s all over, as has been the case with Syed’s decades-long legal saga.
Though he may not serve any more time, Syed is separately seeking to clear his first-degree murder conviction. It was briefly vacated, but later reinstated by the Maryland Supreme Court, and Baltimore’s new state’s attorney, Ivan Bates, has not taken a position on whether the conviction should be vacated again. A judge has set a Feb. 28 deadline — two days after the hearing on reducing Syed’s sentence — for prosecutors to state their decision.
It’s unclear what Bates’ office will say later in the week. But the State’s Attorney does agree that Syed shouldn’t serve any more time in prison, which means that Wednesday’s hearing won’t feature traditional arguments between prosecutors and defense attorneys. Instead, Lee’s family is expected to be the main opposition to Syed being freed.
In a court filing last week, Lee’s family asked Schiffer to delay ruling on Syed’s sentence until Baltimore prosecutors decide what to do about his convictions, and until the state’s highest court rules on two Juvenile Reduction Act cases that they argue are related. And if the judge declines to delay her ruling, she should not reduce Syed’s sentence, attorneys representing Hae Min Lee’s brother, Young Lee, wrote.
Isn’t Syed already free?
Yes, Syed hasn’t been behind bars since 2022. But with his convictions again hanging over his head, he faces the risk of returning to prison.
Syed was allowed to walk out through the courthouse steps after the September 2022 hearing in which a Baltimore judge vacated his conviction. He now works at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, attends religious services at the Islamic Society of Baltimore and “is a valued member of his community,” his attorneys wrote in their December motion for a reduced sentence.
He splits his time between his mother’s home in Maryland and his wife’s out-of-state home, his attorneys wrote.
But Syed’s judgment of guilt was ultimately reinstated last year after the Maryland Supreme Court sided with the Lee family’s attorneys, who had argued that Young Lee was not properly afforded the right as a crime victim’s representative to participate.
The high court’s ruling set the clock on Syed’s case back to before the September 2022 “vacatur” hearing, which happened in the final months of former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s administration. With Bates now in office, prosecutors have to decide what to do about the pending motion to vacate Syed’s conviction. They’re due to state their decision on Friday.
Syed’s convictions are a slightly more complicated matterand are slated to be handled separately from his bid to reduce his sentence.
He’s asking the judge on Wednesday to reduce his sentence to time served. If Bates’ administration decides to vacate the convictions and not try Syed again — and judges accept that — Syed wouldn’t have to worry about going back to jail.
But it’s unclear what prosecutors will say on Friday when they are due in court again to state their decision on vacating Syed’s conviction.
Bates said on the 2022 campaign trail that Syed’s convictions should be undone though he’s insisted, since the state’s Supreme Court ordered a redo of the vacatur hearing, that prosecutors need to further evaluate the case for underlying evidence. A spokesperson for the State’s Attorney’s office declined to comment last Friday when asked if Bates had made a decision.
Lee’s family “fully anticipates” that the State will not renew its vacatur motion, attorney David Sanford wrote in last week’s filing, as there “has never been, and likely never will be” newly discovered evidence or information that calls the conviction into question, the required bar needed for prosecutors to move to vacate a conviction.
Evidence that supports a defendant’s innocence is known as Brady material, and prosecutors must disclose any such information to the defense before trial. Under Mosby’s administration, prosecutors’ motion to vacate Syed’s conviction hinged on information from a handwritten note that they claimed indicated there was an alternative suspect and was not disclosed to Syed’s original defense attorney.
The author later said the note was being misinterpreted, and Lee’s family contends that any alternative suspects are “red herrings.” Mosby’s administration then also cited last-ditch DNA testing of Lee’s shoes, which excluded Syed, when they moved to drop the charges.
Syed’s attorneys also filed additional information in court last week alleging that “faxed documents” in the original prosecutors’ file showed a conflict of interest, they wrote. Prosecutors knew that the law firm where Syed’s original defense attorney worked was also representing another man believed to be an alternative suspect, they wrote.
What’s the Juvenile Restoration Act?
Maryland’s Juvenile Restoration Act, sometimes referred to as the JRA, allows people convicted of crimes that happened before they turned 18 to ask a judge to change their penalty.
In many ways, Syed’ is “exactly” the kind of defendant that the law was designed for, said David Jaros, faculty director of the Center of Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Jaros pointed to the same factors that Syed’s attorneys did in his motion: Syed was 17 at the time of Hae Min Lee’s killing and has “conducted himself admirably” in the 25 years since he was originally convicted, his attorneys wrote.
In prison, he “followed the rules … completed programming, maintained employment, earned the respect of many inmates and staff,” and started getting credits toward his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, the motion says. Since his release, he’s followed the law, become gainfully employed and spends much of his time helping his family, caring for both his and his wife’s aging parents.
“Decades of law-abiding conduct, both in and outside of prison, demonstrate that Mr. Syed is not a danger to the public,” Syed’s attorneys wrote, stating that “the interests of justice will be better served by a reduced sentence.”
Lee’s family argued that because Syed has maintained his innocence, the judge should consider that Syed has not accepted responsibility or shown remorse for the 18-year-old’s death and rule against reducing his sentence.
“Despite overwhelming evidence that points to unquestionable guilt, Adnan Syed continues to profess innocence, never having accepted responsibility for the crime of murder and never having expressed any remorse,” Sanford said in a statement.
Syed may be the highest-profile defendant to request a sentence reduction under the JRA, though several defendants have used it in recent years to have their sentences reduced.
So far, the JRA has appeared to be “remarkably successful,” with few “incidences of problems down the line” for newly free defendants, Jaros said.
“The early verdict is, this is so far very successful,” Jaros said.
He said there shouldn’t be “a tension between” the idea that someone both seeks a sentence reduction under the law and claims innocence, as Syed does.
“It’s troubling to ask someone to drop their claim of innocence in order to see the light of day,” he said.
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